Entertainment
8 Incredible Mindy Kaling Written Episodes Of T.V. In Honor Of Her Birthday
Mindy Kaling is in kind of an amazing place in her life right now. She's the creator and star of her own show — a show that's growing more and more widely loved by the second. Kaling's writing her second book after her first book turned out to be a great success. She's highly quotable, whether it's a late night talk show or a speech to the next generation of world-changers. She's like the spunky niece to the Amy Poehler and Tina Fey generation of comedy writers and performers, seconds away from taking over the world.
It's good in times like these — AKA times of great prosperity for Kaling — that she provides the world a service not just through her public appearances and her portrayals of Mindy Lahiri and Kelly Kapoor, but through her writing. As Kaling noted in a roundtable in 2010, Kaling considers herself a writer first. In fact, as she campaigns for a Mindy Project Emmy this season it's good to remember that she is already Emmy approved: Her writing skills were nominated (also in 2010) for writing the Office episode "Niagara." So there's really no better time than her birthday — conveniently right in the middle of Emmy campaign season — to look back some of the writerly glory Kaling has wrought for the past decade.
"Niagara," 'The Office'
Jim and Pam will go down in TV history as one of the most beloved fictional couples of the new millennium, and Kaling played no small part in that. Jim and Pam’s wedding episode, which she co-wrote with Office executive producer Greg Daniels, is the perfect example of that. It was as hilarious as any of the best Office episodes, while also showing how epically romantic a relatively normal love story can be. Remarkably well-crafted.
Image: NBC
"The Dundies," 'The Office'
Michael Scott is in rare, Michael Scott-y form this episode — the kind of form that tips you off to why Mindy Kaling so heavily infuses The Mindy Project with the sort of manic rudeness that she does. The episode centers around the office’s annual awards, and also ends up bringing out the drunken wild-child in Pam. It’s pretty great.
Image: NBC
"Pilot," 'The Mindy Project'
After so many years writing for and performing on The Office, Kaling had a lot of people ready and rearing to take a stab at a show of her own. The Mindy Project we meet in the pilot isn’t the exact same Mindy Project we’ve grown to know and love (who even remembers her casual sex with Jeremy?), but it was a great way to meet Mindy Lahiri — and a whole new era of Mindy Kaling.
Image: Fox
"Harry & Sally," 'The Mindy Kaling'
This one — the first part of the two-parter “Harry & Sally”/”Harry & Mindy” — was co-written by Kaling and BJ Novak. Those two have a pretty well-known history as best friends and ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, and it’s a history that infused the episode’s When Harry Met Sally theme with a whole new level of weight and humor. If these two get married or murder each other one day, expect in-depth analyses of this episode as prior evidence.
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"Diversity Day," 'The Office'
This was only the second episode of The Office, and it was before the show really found its stride — but it was also one that did a really great job introducing the precise buttons The Office would so thoroughly love to push throughout its run. “This is an environment of welcoming, and you should just get the hell out of here.”
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"Danny Castellano Is My Gynecologist," 'The Mindy Project'
Another first season episode, this one really introduced us to what would become perhaps the show’s most rewarding dynamic. That game of chicken they played during Mindy’s gyno check-up? Beautiful. Beyonce Pad Thai, man; she’s a fighter.
Image: Fox
"The Injury," 'The Office'
Michael Scott burning his foot on A George Foreman Grill is one of the most memorable moments in Office history. We must always remember that Mindy Kaling was heavily responsible for bringing us that moment. Never forget.
Image: NBC
"Danny and Mindy," 'The Mindy Project'
The Season 2 finale of The Mindy Project was seemingly everything the show had been striving to be from the get-go: A lovely, irreverent homage to the romantic comedies the show’s heroine grew up looking up to. Nora Ephron would have been proud.
Image: Fox
