Adults eventually matures into a promising hangout sitcom

There is a lack of fun, low-stakes hangout shows on TV right now. Every decade has had prominent comedies about tight-knit friends with unhealthy boundaries who spend an irrational amount of time gabbing in a coffee shop, bar, diner, or unusually large shared living space. This brand of sitcom (which includes Living Single, Cheers, Seinfeld, Happy Endings, How I Met Your Mother, among many other shows) has always provided comfort and laughs. Yet they’re getting rarer by the day compared to the rise of auteur-driven series, “serious” comedies, and ones with buzzy hooks (like, say, solving murders by starting a podcast, or dealing with grief as therapists). So what’s the current generation’s Friends or New Girl, the kind of show in which the journey is more important than the destination? 

FX’s Adults attempts to fill this void by chronicling the ups and downs of five messy roommates in their mid-twenties who aren’t prepared to be financially or emotionally independent. The series hails from co-creators Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold, former writers at The Tonight Show who got their jobs right out of college a few years ago. So they’re well-suited to dig into a story about grown-ups who’ve finally ventured out into the real world and must figure out their identities, career ambitions, and relationships, ideally with the help of trusted pals. What’s more, Adults‘ writers’ room has scribes from previous FX gems like What We Do In The Shadows and Atlanta, and Nick Kroll is onboard as an EP. Which is all to say that this comedy has some goodwill behind it. And the result of this team-up is an entertaining and offbeat—if at times over-the-top—series. 

Adults doesn’t rise to the occasion of being the next great hangout sitcom, at least not in the six of eight half-hour episodes provided for this review. But there’s plenty of potential here, thanks to laugh-out-loud moments (like a dinner party gone wrong or a gun-store interaction) and delightful guest stars. (Daredevil‘s Charlie Cox, in particular, has a blast playing a charming professor.) Most of all, the show taps into what life is like for older Gen Zs in the current socioeconomic and political climate. Stepping into adulthood during uncertain times is awkward and a challenge for the series’ five chums, who cope with the insurance troubles and lost jobs, adjust to the gig economy, stand up for political beliefs, or generally exist in this era of overwhelming dating apps, data tracking, and social media. And the writers weave in commentary about these topics à la Broad City and Search Party (although not as seamlessly yet).