Mindy Kaling in 'The Mindy Project.' FOX

The Mindy Project

Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. on Fox

"The Mindy Project" is a romantic comedy about a woman who is addicted to the belief—propagated by decades of click flicks and television—that there is somebody out there for each of us if only we can find him. This is not a new quest for humankind. The difference is that medieval literature was all about the heroine's journey to find Prince Charming while in modern takes we also hear about the creeps our gal met along the way. "Mindy" is not just soulful and amusing. It takes a genre full of clichés, adds something fresh and spins it into gold.

The Fox show comes from writer, producer and actor Mindy Kaling of "The Office" fame. Here she plays Mindy Lahiri, an OB-GYN who's always delivering babies but not finding a man of her own, let alone a good husband and father. Each date is preceded with prayers for good luck and desirability. Every development of the evening is analyzed against a mental library of romantic movies and their plot ploys. Will the date be more like "Notting Hill" or "When Harry Met Sally..."?

Whatever, Mindy is primed for love. So when she is trapped alone with an attractive man in a stalled elevator, she recognizes the moment for the movie-style "meet cute" that it is. As her hair conveniently comes undone, her heart pounds. "It's happening" she thinks, while an appropriate cinematic soundtrack swells in her head. It's happening!

Until he marries the Serbian girl who sold him bagels, leading to a drunken wedding-reception speech by Mindy (a la "Bridesmaids," or is it "My Best Friend's Wedding"?). Maybe the bride is a war criminal, she jests to the stunned guests. Hello? "Am I the only one who saw Angelina Jolie's movie?" Soon Mindy wobbles off into the night on a bicycle, yelling, apropos of some film or other, "I'm Sandra Bullock!"

Even sadness gets the movie treatment in Mindy's desperately seeking mind. Diving into a swimming pool, she spies a Barbie doll lying on the bottom, its yellow hair and party dress billowing. Cue the usual film music for emotional moments as Mindy asks the doll for romantic advice, and like the elusive Blue Fairy at the bottom of the sea in "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence," the Barbie answers. Only it's really mean.

Fortunately, Mindy is surrounded by affectionate friends and office workers. There is a dishy fellow doctor with an English accent (Ed Weeks) who is a waste of Mindy's time but physically irresistible, again and again. Also in the practice is the judgmental doctor Danny (Chris Messina) who serves as Mindy's often-disapproving sparring partner.

Mindy may not realize it et, but we see right away: Danny knows what women want. "Was he a man?" Danny asks after Mindy comes back from a first date. "Was this the kind of guy who, if you heard glass breaking in the middle of the night, is he gonna jump out of bed and say 'Stay here,' and look through the house naked with a baseball bat?"

Yes, Danny gets it. If enough men watch this funny and clever show, they may finally get it too.



Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on CBS

"Vegas" begins on a cattle drive in the West, with cowboys in the saddle and the lowing herd kicking up dust as it lumbers across the range. It might as well be 1860, but it's not. This is 1960, and the ranchers who live outside the growing town of Las Vegas are closer to extinction than they know.

But Ralph Lamb (Dennis Quaid) knows. Every plane that flies over his ranch and every group of passengers that disembarks deepens the scowl on his face and tightens his pursed lips. Yet Lamb soon is drawn into the world of people he despises (as was the real-life Ralph Lamb, a rancher turned crime fighter on whom Mr. Quaid's character is based.) As the CBS show unfolds, when the governor's niece is found dead, and the sheriff is away, the mayor of Las Vegas asks Lamb—who has wartime experience as a military policeman—to step in and work the case.

While Lamb recruits his brother (played by Jason O'Mara) and an Indian tracker (Gil Birmingham, aka Billy Black in the "Twilight" movies) to help him solve the murder, a larger cloud hangs over Vegas. There's atomic testing going on nearby, but the immediate threat is personified by the gangster Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis), just in from Chicago to grab a bigger share of the mob action that has polluted almost every corner of Vegas. The stage is thus set for an epic showdown between the dogged Lamb and Vincent, under whose calm facade lies a vicious shark of a man.

There's a big cast and lots of action—ranging from mafia hits to clashes between men on motorcycles and men on horseback. Filmed in the wide open spaces of New Mexico, "Vegas" is a nice antidote to those urban police shows where everything seems to be lighted by a single 40-watt bulb.

There's a scene in the pilot when Lamb and his posse burst through the door of a busy casino, rifles in hand, and into the mobsters' modernistic lair. In their Stetsons and boots, the ranchers might as well be the mounted Polish cavalry riding out to confront invading German Panzers at the start of World War II. Since the real Ralph Lamb is still alive, however, we can infer that these cowboys fared better than the gallant Poles.


Scott Speedman and Andre Braugher in 'Last Resort.' ABC

Last Resort

Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC

"Last Resort" is a mystery about the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine that finds itself in an existential struggle on a tropical island. After one episode it is far from clear where this ABC series is going. But the vibe so far is part "Hunt for Red October," part "Lord of the Flies."

Andre Braugher is perfectly cast as Marcus Chaplin, the submarine captain who receives an order to fire Trident nukes at Pakistan. His reason for disobeying seems sensible—and many of the boat's crew members agree. When they are attacked by U.S. missiles, the captain and surviving crew find shelter on an equatorial island that has NATO communications equipment. The island also hosts a motley crew of tropical beauties and criminal riff raff. Whatever fishy stuff is going on back in Washington, you get the feeling that before long plenty will be going down on that island, too.