Good sitcoms are so back: ‘Adults’ provides a fresh take on a timeless genre
When we reunited for junior year this August, my roommates and I commenced a random but much-needed “Friends” rewatch of all ten seasons from start to finish.
It’s a classic sitcom that I think many of us grew up on, but watching it season by season now as a 20-year-old reminded me just how close to perfect that show is. The character archetypes and familiar humor make it a masterclass in ensemble comedies.
Just a couple of weeks after we finished our rewatch, one of my roommates asked me if I’d ever seen the FX show “Adults.” She said it was advertised as a Gen Z sitcom, our generation’s version of “Friends” or the millennial masterpiece “New Girl,” and she wanted to see if it could live up to the classics. I told her no, I hadn’t seen it, but I’d heard of the show and wanted to see what she meant.
We watched all of “Adults” over the course of two evenings (unfortunately, there’s less than 10 episodes per season.) The show was delightful, uproariously funny and proof that a good sitcom is still possible.
“Adults” follows five codependent 20-somethings navigating early adulthood together. The first episode introduces longtime friends Billie, Issa, Samir and Anton who are all living together in Samir’s parents’ house in Queens. They meet friend number five, Paul Baker, at a marathon that Anton pretends to be running in, and he eventually moves in with the group.
Interesting characters are the heart of a good sitcom, especially one that centers around a group of friends. Each requires a distinct personality with specific characteristics, bits and quirks in order to generate conflict.
“New Girl” is a classic example. Each character (except for maybe Cece) is ridiculous and absurd in their own special way, so you never know what each will bring to a situation. You just know it’s going to be hilarious. This is paramount when a show’s premise is literally just funny characters interacting with each other in funny situations — their conflicts are the comedy engine.
Maybe it’s because I am their target audience, but what makes the characters in “Adults” stand out to me is how accurately they reflect the organic diversity and behavior of my generation. Older sitcoms often struggled with representation. “Friends” famously created a version of New York City that barely reflected its actual demographics. This show manages to capture Gen Z’s diversity without making it feel like forced representation. Instead, unique perspectives are just the baseline reality of their peer group.
Anton is a sharp and cynical gay Black man who wears cashmere and works in advertising. Billie is a bisexual, neurotic blond who desperately wants to be the “mom friend” while her life is actively spiraling. Then there’s Paul Baker, a queer Canadian guy with a mustache and painted nails whose extreme politeness causes nonstop chaos. None of their identities feel like tokenism because the show understands that it’s a sitcom first. It allows them to exist as deeply funny individuals and doesn’t reduce them to demographic markers.
Beyond just the characters, “Adults” nails two other crucial elements that make classic sitcoms work.
It seems like the vast majority of today’s TV shows are heavy and emotionally draining, obsessed with high stakes and life-or-death drama. But the genius of a sitcom is in its levity. “Adults” embraces the low-stakes storytelling of classics like “Seinfeld” — which was literally called “the show about nothing.” The characters suffer plenty of real-world stress — burnout, career uncertainty, the state of the American economy — but the show refrains from turning bleak. It filters those anxieties through the comforting lens of low-stakes comedy.
Similarly, the show creates a shared “third space” where conflict occurs. Just like Central Perk in “Friends” or the loft in “New Girl,” Samir’s house provides a shared space for the characters to interact with each other. Five codependent people sharing a house, and even bedrooms, creates constant and hilarious intimacy because the characters have to confront each other head-on.
Right now, my generation is suffering from a drought of physical third spaces. Much of our social lives are lived through phone screens and group chats rather than genuine face-to-face conversations. A show that follows friends partaking in the lost art of “hanging out” is refreshingly simple and makes for entertaining TV. This is the defining characteristic of a good sitcom.
The success of “Adults” proves that the ensemble sitcom is not an obsolete relic. It’s a return to the basics: flawed, hilarious people figuring out life together in a culture that’s starved for genuine connection. I was pleasantly surprised by its humor and its heart.
As long as writers respect the formula of conflicting archetypes and shared living rooms, the sitcom will never die.
