‘The Mindy Project’ season 3 receives six more episodes; ‘Halt and Catch Fire’ star to appear

Think of today’s announcement about “The Mindy Project” as a double-dose of good news, and also probably a little bit of a sign that Fox really is treading water right now to find programming for their schedule.

First of all, the network has ordered another six episodes of the Mindy Kaling comedy, which brings its overall order to 21 for the season. The good news that goes beyond this? The show will be a little more assured of a fourth-season renewal due to this, since it would mean the show getting enough episodes to make it to the 88-episode threshold needed to make it to syndication these days.

However, that is hardly a lock these days. Syndication is not as popular as it once was before DVRs and Netflix existed, and Fox does not own the comedy. NBCUniversal does. Basically, it could be a situation where there are negotiations over a licensing fee in order to get Mindy back on the air again.

Now, back to news of the present: Lee Pace is coming up! The former “Pushing Daisies” star, now a regular on AMC’s great “Halt and Catch Fire,” is going to be coming on board as Alex. E! News reports that this guy, now a wealthy man in the tech industry, took the Mindy character’s virginity back when she was in college. This is a great get for the show, mostly because we imagine this being the case of a cult comedy really capitalizing on getting another cult favorite on for at least one episode.

We’ll have more on “The Mindy Project” and other comedies soon, but for now let us know what you think about this casting in the comments!