Your TV Girl Crushes Get Candid

On her TV show as a distraction from her mother's death: "Any person that's been in the business knows they're so lucky to have their show picked up — it happens to such a small fraction of shows. But I was lucky personally, because I needed a distraction so badly from my grief. Still my thoughts flutter toward her in scenes that I'm doing, every night before I go to bed, and every morning when I wake up."

Mindy's ex, best friend, and collaborator, B.J. Novak, on her success: "She's a gangster and guys respond to that. This is not a girl who waits by the phone. This is a girl who picks up the phone and calls whoever she wants."