This week on Dear Television:

• "Crazy Watchable," from Phil Maciak
   

Last week on Dear Television:

• "Thanksgiving Special," from Jane Hu
   

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"What If You Guys Had A Baby?"

Dear Phil and Lili,

IS THIS YOUR FIRST wholehearted thumbs up for a Mindy Project episode? I think so? While flipping through some reviews yesterday, it seemed like people considered New Girl the stronger episode but, like you, I didn’t see it that way at all. Sure, New Girl was classic New Girl – heartfelt, a little zany, and full of Weird Schmidt moments – but Mindy Project was both innovative and cohesive. Before I turn to the latter, let’s just set some things straight about the former.

First: Robbie’s back! In fact, contrary to what I surmised from his absence in the previous Thanksgiving episode, Robbie was neverrrr away. Things don’t look too good for him now, though, what with Robbie wanting kids in 10 years and Cece needing to start working on her future progeny now. Will there be much narrative continuity from this “Eggs” episode? Does it mean they have ten more seasons before Jess and Nick need to make any attempts at raising a family together? Does it mean Cece and Schmidt-who-just-realized-he-was-in-love-with-Cece are just a ticking marriage plot waiting to happen?

Then again, Nick’s unmoored premises week after week, are getting increasingly unsustainable and, dare I say, increasingly unsubstantial? Maybe he needs something like a baby to ground him. These days, Nick is featured in almost every B-plot and, if he’s lucky, Winston is sometimes a sort of shoddy B-Plot to Nick’s B-Plot (as in this episode). If New Girl were to milk the Jess and Nick romance, there wouldn’t need much more priming to realize Nick as a literal dad. One moment, he bonding with Jess’s dad, and the next he’s ready to be one himself. Flashbacks also basically frame Nick as a grandpa from birth.

But Phil – Winston isn’t even allowed to engage in the essential behaviors that constitute a natural life. First he can’t eat his dinner, and now he’s not even allowed to have a night (or day, in his “adjusted schedule” case) of uninterrupted sleep? The writers really do use Winston at their whim – he’ll just be sleeping, until you want to force him awake for someone else’s B-plot. This “adjusted schedule,” where Winston works at night and sleeps during the day, could essentially obliterate him from the show. This week, Nick woke Winston up for a drunken Hemingway adventure at the zoo. Nick is writing his zombie book, and he needs inspiration by surrounding himself with tamed and caged animals. But, really, who should be writing the zombie book here? Uhhh, maybe the dude who’s currently functio...