The New Face of the Sitcom?: ‘Adults’, ‘Overcompensating’, and ‘I Love LA’
“Oh - there’s a paywall.”
- Jack Innanen as Paul Baker in Adults (FX, 2025)
All of the classic sitcoms we might think about now - Friends, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother - they feel like they exist in their own worlds, like they are locked in time. Their popularity has hardly dwindled, however, if anything it’s increased with obsessive rewatching that has turned them into a lot of peoples’ comfort shows. It’s hard not to find them appealing, when most of the time they include an inseparable group of people you’d love to be friends with and everything feels… peaceful. The problems that arise in sitcoms aren’t permanent, nothing feels overly threatening - it’s calm, safe. These characters are also free from the shackles of the greatest power in the universe: social media. Or what it has become, at least.
Friends is the most obvious example here, the quintessential sitcom following six friends living life in their twenties, in an overly nice apartment for people who don’t seem to have high-paying jobs, but don’t seem to struggle financially at all. They have a huge dating pool, are somehow always meeting new people. They live in New York and never seem to worry about rent. It almost feels untouchable - so distant from the reality of what your early twenties feel like now.
Since shows like Modern Family or The Big Bang Theory ended, the genre of the sitcom has had what seems like a slow decline. Perhaps it’s the age of streaming, or maybe the format - minimal locations, small recurring cast, 24 episodes a season - isn’t really the style of show being made anymore.
The shape of comedy itself has changed, but maybe the closest thing to a modern sitcom that we have is FX’s Adults, which I would describe as Friends for the 21st century. It’s just as appealing because the five twenty-something year olds that the show revolves around are such a mess! None of them really know what they’re doing in life, their love lives are chaotic to say the least and all they can really rely on is the empty house of one of their parents’ that they live in free of charge, and each other.
Adults is a vibrant, complicated, fun portrayal of a city where young people are struggling to live, make money - anything to do with being a stable, well-rounded person. The characters are loveable so quickly, and they immediately work well as a collective. Billie, Anton, Samir, Issa and Paul Baker are immediately believable as a group of friends, both because of the actors’ chemistry and the writing. There are pre-established running gags and inside jokes - for example, consistently calling Paul Baker, Paul Baker. Why? Who knows? Who cares. It’s Jack Innanen.
The humour is so obviously written by people in their twenties as well, which is so refreshing compared to a lot of tv that tries to be geared towards younger people, but misses the mark. It also reminds me of Modern Family occasionally, due to the miscommunication setups that get these characters into absolutely ridiculous situations. My standout episode of the season is episode six, ‘Roast Chicken’, in which Billie is trying to pull off a successful adult dinner party for her new boyfriend/ex-high school teacher (played by Charlie Cox), but he’s incredibly high and the chicken is raw and Julia Fox is also there. It’s complete chaos and it works so well.
I also just love how relatable it is when it comes to adulting: mail, VISAs, promotions, interviews, medical issues… guns? You name it, they manage to fuck it up.
In a similar vein, but perhaps less in the sitcom genre and more of an all-out comedy show, is Prime Video’s Overcompensating, created by and starring Benito Skinner. It follows Benny, who is a closeted college freshman who puts all his energy into appearing as the straightest man alive, which includes hooking up with a girl in the first week of college. That girl is Carmen, who has her own mess going on that Benny only seems to add to.
Overcompensating also deals with its fair share of chaos, which is only piled onto by the stellar cast of side characters and star appearances, such as Yates University’s very own Charli concert. Puth? No, XCX. Everyone is overshadowed by Chelsea Elizabeth Holmes as Carmen’s roommate Hailee, however. She gives us absolutely every iconic line in the show, stealing every single scene she appears in. I don’t think I could mentally or physically keep up with being friends with her.
The show also delves a bit deeper into issues such as personal identity, sexuality and PTSD, but balances it so well with the humour that I would say it is still more comedy than drama, which is why it makes this list.
And finally, a show I finished last week and the inspiration for this post: the untitled Rachel Sennott project. More commonly known as HBO’s I Love LA. Once again, not as close to the typical sitcom style, I’m well aware. But it just captures that fun, comforting, more often than not ridiculous feeling that I get from sitcoms.
(I’m relying heavily on vibes here when I’m calling all of the shows on this list ‘sitcoms’).
This one comes with a warning, however, and that is not to take the title lightly: this show is very LA.
Most of the time I can feel and understand that this show is relying a lot on satire for its humour, but there are moments (or characters) that are so out of touch I almost can’t tell whether it’s supposed to be funny because its poking fun at young people in LA or whether it’s supposed to feel relatable. I think the answer is a bit of both. but there were definite points in which I was blinking at the screen like… are we being for real?
I Love LA follows Rachel Sennott’s character Maia, who works at a talent agency, and her group of friends as they try and ‘make it’ in LA: celebrity stylist Charlie (who styles a British pop artist played by Ayo Edebiri - the accent is everything), nepo baby Alani (played by real life nepo baby True Whitaker) and Maia’s client and ex-best friend Tallulah Stiel, played by Odessa A’zion. You also can’t forget Maia’s boyfriend Dylan (Josh Hutcherson), who provides such a grounding presence and a little bit of a reality check. Seeing him get swept up in the group’s chaos was one of my favourite parts of the whole show.
Many escapades and celebrity cameos ensue - including Elijah Wood as himself.
If you’re going into this show, just know that everyone is annoying and everyone is vapid. It’s kind of part of the charm.
The thing that ties all these shows together, though? There are only eight episodes in each. The era of twenty four episodes for a sitcom season is well and truly over. Perhaps it is thought that audiences no longer have the attention span or desire to dedicate themselves to a season of tv that is over twelve episodes.
I, for one, would love to start a petition to make sure that season two of Adults is at the very least twelve episodes long. I could easily watch another ten seasons.