‘College Sex Life’ and ‘Me Never’ Creators Explain What It’s Like to Work on Both at the Same Time

Mindy Kaling doesn’t stop. Since she brought Kelly Kapoor to life in ‘The Office’, where she also worked as a screenwriter, She has established herself as one of Hollywood’s foremost and in-demand comedy writers, with six Emmy nominations to her credit.. Currently, Kaling is preparing his Velma-focused modern take on ‘Scooby Doo’ and triumphs with two hit series on air (or rather, streaming): ‘I never ever’ and ‘The sex life of college girls’ , both irreverent youth stories in which it is easy to recognize their personal touch.

‘I never’ is one of the most popular comedies on Netflix. After premiering its third season last summer, next year we will say goodbye to Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), family and friends with what will be its last season. While working on ‘Never Have I Ever’, Kaling began developing another teen series with one of his producers and writer, Justin Noble, this one set in college. ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’ became one of the breakout comedies of 2021 and just returned to HBO Max for its second season.

Kaling and Noble are very busy but made time for us in their busy schedule to talk to us this new phase for Essex undergraduates, where the issues are getting bigger (and hotter). In our interview with them, we asked them how they approached the new episodes after the success of the first season, their views on the treatment of sex in the series and what it’s like to work on two teen comedies at the same time. That’s all they told us.

eCartelera: Before we talk about Season 2 of ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls,’ let’s go back to Season 1 for a moment. With it you managed to create magic with this cast and these characters. How do you continue a series after achieving success? Has people’s reaction changed the trajectory you had in mind for her in any way?

Mindy Kaling: Thank you for saying we create magic. I liked it. After that compliment, I stopped listening because I was so excited.

Justin Noble: Yes, we are very excited to continue the journeys of the girls characters after the previous season ended. As is often the case with a sitcom, we put a lot of obstacles in their path to match their characters and they become fun threads to follow in the next season. So a big part of our job is to make sure we deliver on those promises that we made at the end of season one. We had a lot of fun doing it. For example, Leighton (Renée Rapp) comes out, Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) dates Canaan (Christopher Meyer), we explore what will happen to Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet), who may lose her scholarship and her stay in the Essex is in danger. There are lots of fun threads to draw from. We hope people enjoy the path we have chosen for all of them.

EC: The problems in this second season are bigger, more important, right?

MK: Let’s see, I’m still in college, let’s deal with the very real and emotional issues that often occur at that stage. But yeah, at that age, all feelings are magnified and rejection, whether romantic or academic, is something we like to dramatize. What’s funny about this season is that the characters are in very different places, so we’re dealing with different topics like bullying in a girl group or micro-aggressions against women of color in academia. But the best thing is that we address these issues by trying to make them close and funny, telling stories that you don’t see in other series.

EC: It’s great that we’re living in a golden age of Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble show business. You developed ‘The Sex Life of College Students’ and ‘I Never’ at the same time’. What are the differences between working on a series set in high school and one set in college? Does one influence or include the other in any way?

MK: What an interesting question. I met Justin while he was working with him on ‘Never Have I’ and we’re having the same experience doing two different series about young people. But I don’t think we ever talked about doing them differently. For us, ‘I never’ – and I say this with all my love – is a smaller series. It is set in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles) and is about family, grief of loss, and several generations of Indian women in different immigration states trying to get by in the world, looking for boyfriends and stuff like that. And that’s bigger in the sense that we’ve got a lot more characters that we’re creating kind of a very vibrant college world in terms of themes. And well, sexuality. Don’t you think, Justin?

JN extension: Yes, I think sexuality and how we behave around it is the big difference between the high school and college approach. In college, there’s a lot more experimentation, going out, being away from your family for the first time, and what happens when suddenly no one’s watching. It’s something very specific. And maybe that’s the key to how different the two series really are. Because, honestly, we didn’t develop chapters at the same time that could conflict with each other. It was something we could easily predict. I could call Lang Fisher, the co-creator of “Never Me,” and say, “My God, we’re doing the same storyline in episode six or episode eight.” But we’re actually at such different stages in terms of how the characters react to their own inhibitions and desires, that we don’t step over each other or overlap.

EC: One of the main features of ‘The Sex Life of College Girls’ is how sex-positive it is, bold, yet challenging and refreshing. How does it feel to have created four sex positive references in these four girls and what impact do you think they can make in the world?

MK: I am very negative towards sex. [Risas] That’s why I think working with Justin was really cool, because I’m a prude. I like sexy situations, but I feel very uncomfortable writing them, or even being on set while they are being filmed. But I think that’s good because people like to watch fun, uninhibited, consensual sex on TV. Who doesn’t like it? That’s why I think this series has made me grow and stretch my limits, because I’m very negative towards sex by nature.

EC: Finally, I wanted to tell you that if you set out to set the record for most shirtless guys in a series, I think you will. [Risas]

MK: Thank you!

JN extension: I love.

The first three episodes of the second season of ‘The Sex Life of College Girls’ are now available on HBO Max.