Fox demanded that a Mindy Project character be more of a "man"

When The Mindy Project left Fox for the more freewheeling shores of Hulu, it didn’t just get the freedom to put more sex and violence into the show, it was also freed from the demands of Fox executives who wanted certain, specific things from the show. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, creator/star Mindy Kaling revealed during a PaleyFest Fall TV event on Friday that Ed Weeks’ character Jeremy has gone through a conscious transformation since moving off of network TV. In the show’s original incarnation, he was sort of like Barney Stinson with an accent—a womanizing jerk who is generally still likable despite that. Since the Hulu transition, he’s become more awkward and goofy.

As it turns out, that’s more in line with the original vision for the character, but Fox sent down a “direct directive” that the Jeremy character had to “be a man,” and especially one who isn’t “dorky around women.” After moving to Hulu, the writers decided to move Weeks’ character more toward what they initially wanted, which seems to suit Weeks just fine. “It’s been a joy,” he says, adding that it’s been more fun to play Jeremy as the writers have given him “more vulnerability and sort of more nerdiness.”

The final season of The Mindy Project debuts later this week, on September 12.