Adults

Every generation gets its own version of a “20-somethings hang out and make mistakes” sitcom. And Gen Z’s got Adults, a silly series about a group of friends cohabitating in Queens, New York – and it makes for fun and all-too-relatable TV fodder. Adults is back for its second season on Hulu, so today we’re revisiting our episode about the series. If you want more bingeable comedies, check out these episodes: ‘The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins’ is (30) Rock-solid https://www.npr.org/2026/03/03/nx-s1-5732328/the-fall-and-rise-of-reggie-dinkins-is-30-rock-solid Meg Stalter shines in the rom-com 'Too Much' https://www.npr.org/2025/07/16/1255755377/meg-stalter-shines-in-the-rom-com-too-much ‘Widow’s Bay’ is an island in the scream https://www.npr.org/2026/06/16/nx-s1-5855729/widows-bay-is-an-island-in-the-scream Connect with Pop Culture Happy Hour: Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/ / Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pchh Our weekly newsletter https://www.npr.org/newsletter/pop-culture Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org http://plus.npr.org/. See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:19Speaker 01

  Every generation gets its own versions of a 20-somethings hangout, make-the-stakes sitcom. Living Single, Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Broad City, and now Gen Z's got Adults, a silly new series about a group of friends cohabitating in Queens, New York. As always, trying to be responsible while being young, dumb, and barely able to afford health insurance is a challenge. The show returns for its second season for more fun and all-too-relatable TV fodder. I'm Aisha Harris, and today, in this encore episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're talking about Adults.

• 0:57Speaker 00

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• 2:01Speaker 01

  Joining us today is the former co-host of Slate's Icy Y My Podcast and former Pop Culture Happy Hour producer Candace Lim. Welcome back, Candace. Hello, Ayesha. Great to have you. We've got basically a little PCHH mini reunion of alumni. Also with us is author and freelance writer Kiana Fitzgerald, who also worked on Pop Culture Happy Hour as a producer once upon a time. Hey, Kiana, welcome.

• 2:26Speaker 03

  Hello. Thank you so much. So happy to be here.

• 2:29Speaker 01

  It's so great to be here and to talk about this show, of which I think we all have many, many thoughts, and it's gonna be fun. We're gonna, it's gonna feel like an episode of Adults, you know? We'll all get the vibe. So there are five main friends in Adults. Owen Theo plays Anton, who's highly sociable and has a job he barely cares about.

• 2:48Speaker 04

  Okay, can you guys do this in truly any other part of the house? I have to go off mute in a second and say, aha, or else I get an email.

• 2:56Speaker 01

  Lucy Freyer plays Billy, the type A hustler of the group.

• 2:59Speaker 05

  I literally sent myself to the hospital because of a work email. I mean, that is mortifying.

• 3:04Speaker 06

  It's not good.

• 3:05Speaker 05

  I'm done. I'm unclenching.

• 3:08Speaker 06

  Yeah?

• 3:09Speaker 05

  Yeah. I'm starting from scratch with a looser for your [BLEEP].

• 3:14Speaker 01

  Amita Rao is Issa, a flighty goofball. Her hookup-turned-new boyfriend is the kind-hearted and ditzy Canadian Paul Baker, played by Jack Inanan.

• 3:23Speaker 04

  So are you living chastely?

• 3:25Speaker 07

  Yes, super chastely. Chasty, chasty, chased the rainbow.

• 3:29Speaker 08

  No, that's, what's going on with you? No, that's not true, Father. We have sex all the time.

• 3:35Speaker 07

  Well, that is true.

• 3:36Speaker 08

  Thank you.

• 3:37Speaker 07

  To conceive.

• 3:38Speaker 08

  No.

• 3:39Speaker 07

  Yes.

• 3:39Speaker 01

  And finally, there's Samir, played by Malik Alassol. I'd say he's probably the messiest of the bunch.

• 3:45Speaker 04

  Social Security number?

• 3:47Speaker 09

  Um.

• 3:50Speaker 04

  You don't know you're social?

• 3:51Speaker 09

  No, I do. It's just that my mom, she knows [BLEEP] out of it.

• 3:56Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. Been there, been there. But at least, at least he's saving money by living in his childhood home with all these friends while his parents are away on a very, very long trip. It's like Gilligan's Island. I don't know, it's like a three-hour tour turns into weeks, months. It's strange, but good for them. The series touches on a lot of things 20-somethings face, including sexual assault, which will come up in the conversation today. Adults is streaming on Hulu now. And Candace, I'm gonna start with you. Tell me, are you an adult?

• 4:26Speaker 07

  Mmm.

• 4:29Speaker 07

  And I turn it back to you by asking, is this show a recession indicator? Mmm, because, okay, so here's my deal. I like this show enough. I think it is interesting that this show is coming out around the same time as another show on Prime called Overcompensating, which has like similar DNA. Overcompensating, it stars Benito Skinner, it takes place in college, this show is kind of post-college. This show is not as good as Overcompensating. I do think it's better than Sex Lives of College Girls, but I wonder if part of my middling okayness with it is the fact that Ben Cronenjoy and Rebecca Shaw, they are the creators of this show, they kind of came from the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

• 5:14Speaker 07

  world. They are one year older than me. We technically are in Gen Z, but I am at the tippy-toppie of Gen Z, so they are like tippy-toppie plus one. Is it possible that this show is written about people from a distance versus from a lived experience? There's something, something not fully connecting with me there, but I will say, if anything, I do like the chemistry. It reminds me a lot of sitcoms I love that you listed. I think it's most like How I Met Your Mother, but I don't cringe at it. I'm kind of okay with the comedic, like, timing of it all.

• 5:48Speaker 01

  That's interesting that you say you don't cringe at it, because, Kiana, we were talking before we started taping, and you said this was a very cringey show for you. Tell me more.

• 6:00Speaker 03

  Oh, my goodness. It was excruciating for me. I'm not gonna lie. Toward the later part of the season, I started to kind of feel better about it, but when I watched the first episode, I was like, okay, that's, that's what I'm in for, sure. And then I started the second episode, and I was like, I can't, I need a break. I just, I couldn't handle two episodes in a row. That said, there are some really fun, like, small moments throughout that make it worth it. There are a lot of, like, callbacks that run throughout the show that I think are really special and tie everything up together, but I don't know if it was worth it for me to experience as much as I did. There were so many moments where I just had to cover my face and not look at what was going on.

• 6:45Speaker 03

  I was like, I can't do this. So it's so interesting that Candace didn't feel cringey at all.

• 6:50Speaker 01

  Well, wait, can I pull on that a little bit more? Like, is it the sense of humor? Is it the, is it just too relatable? Like, what, like, does it hit too close to home? Like, what?

• 7:01Speaker 03

  That's a good question. I, you know, we've, we've all been in our 20s, we've all experienced some BS, so, you know, there are some relatable moments, especially when I think about, ironically enough, my NPR crew. When I first started as an intern, we were a hot mess. I feel bad saying that publicly, but we were. And it reminded me a lot of that in some moments, but for the most part, it was the lengths and the depth of the cringe. It was just, that was intentional, and that's the point and the purpose, but I don't know if everybody enjoys that kind of content. But I still feel like I connected better with the show toward the end.

• 7:39Speaker 01

  Mm, yeah. I think I lie kind of in the same general area as both of you. I felt, and this is, I think, just common for most sitcoms like this, and any TV show that's first starting, but like, especially with such a show where it's like, we're all gonna hang, and we have to expect, like, these characters have been friends for a very long time, and it's like, that chemistry has to be there out the gate. Like, it has to be there from the beginning. And for me, it did feel, I've listed all those TV shows, I also was getting, to some extent, like, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I feel like it has some similar vibes going on there, especially because the very first episode is focused on a character, a side

• 8:23Speaker 01

  character, who's not like part of the main group, but a side character who is accusing someone else of sexual assault, which leads Samir to question whether he has ever gone too far with some of the women he's dated, and to search and literally ask them, like, have I gone too far?

• 8:39Speaker 10

  Hey, you don't think I've ever, like,

• 8:41Speaker 07

  What?

• 8:42Speaker 10

  Like, crossed the line?

• 8:44Speaker 07

  What?

• 8:44Speaker 10

  Sexually?

• 8:45Speaker 07

  Samir? No, obviously not. I mean, when would you have crossed the line?

• 8:49Speaker 10

  I don't know. You just said that men don't realize half the time, so half the time, I wouldn't realize.

• 8:53Speaker 01

  That premise itself feels very, we're throwing you in the deep end right from the beginning, and you're gonna learn to swim, or you're not. You're either swimming with us, or you're not. I wanted it to feel a little bit less derivative of all these other shows that I, I was thinking of, especially, I mean, I think Issa, Amita Rao, she's very funny, but she also, I feel as though someone could have told her, you're going to be the Alana Glazer of this show.

• 9:19Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 9:19Speaker 01

  And I don't think it's her so much as it is, like, the dialogue and what is written.

• 9:24Speaker 11

  I'm having, like, the worst time at this hospital today. And I know that sounds cringe, because there are, like, cancer kids here, but I'm just, like,

• 9:34Speaker 07

  My friends just weren't taking me seriously.

• 9:37Speaker 01

  But it did feel, oh, man, I wish you could find your own groove. And I do think by the end of the season, it finds its own groove in a way. I know the people who, as you said, Candace, the people who wrote the show, they are like cuspers, I guess, just on the edge of Gen Z. But like, it kind of pushes back on this idea that Gen Z doesn't go for cringe humor, it doesn't go for that. But like, I'm curious what you think about, does this feel like a Gen Z show? Like, does it feel specific to the times?

• 10:05Speaker 07

  Yeah, so this is me talking about my community. Thank you so much. So I think the main question I ask when walking into a sitcom surrounding a friend group, and let's be very specific, they are also housemates, is would I hang out with these people? I'm going to say no, because I think this show is trying to be different for a few reasons. The first one is that, marketing wise, you know, they put the first episode on TikTok, broken up into like 13 parts. That's what Paramount did when they put Mean Girls on TikTok. And so a part of me was like, okay, they're clearly trying to get at Gen Z. They're trying to get at the audience that the show is about, that's allegedly who wrote the show as well. I do want to talk about the socioeconomics and the dynamics of the show,

• 10:50Speaker 07

  because I think four to eight years ago, if this show had come out, I would hate it for a million reasons. One being like, it's so politically insensitive. The way that they have no boundaries with each other is wild. The way they're going to the restroom is wild.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  What's wrong? Period cramps?

• 11:06Speaker 07

  No, she's two weeks out.

• 11:07Speaker 01

  Oh, I'm sorry, Bills. Okay, open up.

• 11:08Speaker 07

  What?

• 11:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm gonna pee between your legs. You've been in here like all day.

• 11:11Speaker 07

  Anton, no!

• 11:12Speaker 05

  He's the best at that.

• 11:12Speaker 07

  But the other thing is that, like, four years ago, I think the biggest criticism would be the fact that none of these people seem below upper-middle class. I think this show has like a stealth wealth hidden underneath it, which is that I think this show is about not feeling bad for a friend group, who I think are pretty much variations of the exact same person and ethos, and not feeling bad that they grew up without struggles. I mean, for example, Samir doesn't have a job. He like falls into a fintech job, and he actually bunks the interview for a very valid reason.

• 11:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:48Speaker 07

  But he just becomes a gig worker just because. The fact that his parents own the home in Queens that he lives in with his friends, and they don't pay any rent. I mean, the question that they never bring up is like, if I was Samir, I would spend every single day of my waking life asking, are my friends really my friends because they want to be my friend? Or is it because I give them free rent? I'm their landlord. I'm their landlord. It doesn't really come up. But on top of that, I think this is a group of friends who started on second base, and they don't have the ambition or energy or grit to even try to go to home base. And the question is, can you live with that? Or is that cringe to you? Or do you know people like that? Or is that you?

• 12:27Speaker 01

  Mmm. Ah, Candace dropping gems and not like-

• 12:31Speaker 07

  And they're uncut.

• 12:33Speaker 01

  I want to, I want to come back to those uncut gems. But Kiana, can you respond to that? Like, what, does that make sense?

• 12:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I really appreciate Candace for being so like in-depth and specific about the optics of it. Because watching it, I was just like, you know, in hindsight, yes, they are privileged. Like, it's very clear, like, every step of the way, they are displaying their privilege in great, great amounts. So it does feel as though they are not pretending, but they're moving through life in a way that they're acknowledging that they do need help. Candace, you are, you're on point.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  They seem stunted in a way.

• 13:13Speaker 07

  I mean, my whole thing too is I think the show is willing to say, just because you have friends does not mean you have community or accountability.

• 13:21Speaker 01

  Okay, so I see your point, and I absolutely think you, again, you have blown my mind in ways that I haven't really thought about. But I also do think, and maybe this is part of the like Trojan horsing, it's the stealth wealth thing. Like, this show, to me, stood out because, A, you do have all these people living in the same house who, like, most of them are not paying. Well, none of, I don't think any of them-

• 13:45Speaker 07

  None of them are.

• 13:45Speaker 01

  I mean, if you were in your twenties, if I was in my twenties and I could do that, I absolutely would do that. Come on, now, it's expensive. I guess what I think is interesting is the fact that they are, you know, living in Queens, and they do seem to struggle a little bit. Like, there's an entire episode dedicated to one of them maybe not having health insurance, or like rushing to do the health. So like, it's a tricky balance to strike, but I also do understand your point, Candace.

• 14:12Speaker 07

  No, no, no, go in, go in.

• 14:13Speaker 01

  I, I guess what I'm curious about is, one of the things that comes up is that Paul Baker is Canadian, and he, his, his visa is coming up. And that also feels very, very timely. What did you make of that? Like, what, in, in, in general, just like, what do you make of the political tones that this show tries to strike? Kiana?

• 14:35Speaker 03

  Yeah, I feel like they're definitely trying to inject a lot of perspective and opinion into it. You know, Paul Baker's character is notoriously fluid. He has some moments with another character on the show that are surprising, but toward the end, we kind of see how it all comes together.

• 14:53Speaker 01

  I feel like I saw that coming from a mile away, but maybe that's just me.

• 14:56Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 14:58Speaker 03

  I mean, I guess I was just like, I saw it like in motion, but it, I was like, are they gonna do this? And then, of course, I should have known that they would, because they did everything else. So, yeah, I think the Paul Baker character, he's probably my favorite. I, I think he's incredibly adorable. Um, he's, he's the least stressful. Uh, I think that's probably why I gravitate toward him. In terms of the way that they kind of, not shoehorn, but like the last two episodes feel like they take a sharp turn. And we just kind of start getting all of this information that we didn't have before. So, yeah, there is kind of like a transition at, at the end of the, the season that I feel was not quite earned.

• 15:36Speaker 07

  Mmm, I agree. I think this show changes like its tone every two episodes. There are times that I'm like, oh, it's this girls. No, it's Broad City. No, is it like Search Party? Is it edgy New Girl? And the thing is, the benefit of a show like this, which historically has been on networks like ABC and Fox, is like, because it's on FX, they can be edgy. They can have storylines where a girl who's about to get an abortion says, take me to where they filmed 9/11. Was a joke that killed me, but the thing is like, that's the tone, that's the tone of like this show, which is that you're, you have friends who are offensive sometimes, and they just kind of roll with it. But I think in terms of like who I gravitated towards,

• 16:19Speaker 07

  I loved Owen Thiel as Anton. He's also in overcompensating, which is also really interesting, but-

• 16:25Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 16:26Speaker 07

  The episode that I think actually kind of hit for me the most was episode three. It's when this neighborhood stabber-

• 16:36Speaker 07

  This neighborhood stabber is being looked for, and Anton finds out that he has been texting with him. And the entire episode is like Anton kind of flirting with the neighborhood stabber.

• 16:48Speaker 05

  Seriously, Anton, you can't just soul bond with every person you meet. It's not normal.

• 16:53Speaker 03

  Uh, why not?

• 16:54Speaker 05

  Uh, because some people stab people.

• 16:56Speaker 07

  I loved that episode because it went into classic ABC storyline. The A was like Anton, you know, flirting with the stabber. And B was Paul Baker and Samir trying to sell a gun. Like, it's so, it's so wild, but that stuff reminds me of like Modern Family, right? Where like everything starts way out here, it comes together at the end, and you're like, oh, my god, finally they, they finally, they landed the plane, and you're so happy. But I have to admit, I don't think the show ever picked up to that point. I'm not so faithful in like the next season, just because I don't think these characters are ever gonna change. I think this is who they are.

• 17:34Speaker 01

  I, I do wonder if this was like a traditional network sitcom and had more time to flourish. If we, like, the show might have benefited. To that point, though, I, I do think for me, the last two episodes were the ones where I was like, okay, I, I think I could continue on with this show. I especially loved, as you've already mentioned, the abortion storyline, which is not even actually really about abortion, but like, they basically take in for the weekend a teenager who has come to New York specifically to get an abortion, because she can't get it where she lives. I thought that was just handled so well. That's the best of them trying to meld all of those different tones together.

• 18:13Speaker 04

  I hate you two. I wish I was having this abortion at Sarah Jessica Parker's house. Okay, Annabelle, we all wish we were having this abortion at Sarah Jessica Parker's house, okay? With Matthew and Andy and Brooke Shields and Marcy [BLEEP] line. You, you are the least interesting gays I have ever met. Hey, he is fluid!

• 18:31Speaker 03

  That's when it got funny to me.

• 18:32Speaker 07

  Oh!

• 18:33Speaker 03

  Because before, I was just stressed. But I was able to kind of like see the, see the humor between them and see the moment that they were creating.

• 18:40Speaker 07

  Yeah, I don't know if we've had a cast that's been largely unknown like this in like a year, two? I mean, Owen Thiel is actually, to me, the most famous person on the show.

• 18:51Speaker 01

  Owen Thiel was the only one I knew because of theater camp.

• 18:54Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 18:55Speaker 01

  He was a very small role in theater camp, and I was like, oh, I remember this kid. Yeah, yeah.

• 18:59Speaker 07

  Yeah, the only person I know is Owen because he like has a podcast. And everyone else was super unknown to me. And, I mean, the fact that they were able to get Julia Fox on one of their episodes, to me, was super keying in of like, ah, like, this is very much Instagram. Book like a bunch of unknowns, and then to kind of bet on their chemistry, which I do think works, is a jump and a risk, and I like that. And so, if anything, I don't think the friendship sitcom is dead. I wonder if the friendship sitcom just will not be viewed in the traditional way it has been before. And all I mean by that is like, maybe it's like vloggers who end up making the new friendship sitcom, you know?

• 19:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, the chemistry seems to be there. It goes down easy, I think. Uh, cringey, but easy.

• 19:49Speaker 03

  Once I got into it, I was like, okay, I get it now. I get the rhythm. So, I would agree.

• 19:53Speaker 01

  Yes, we are mostly pro-adults, safe to say. That brings us to the end of our show. Candace Lim, Kiana Fitzgerald, thanks so much for being here. And honestly, like, you helped me decode and like understand the show on a completely different level. This is why we need more intergenerational conversations happening.

• 20:12Speaker 07

  Yes, yes. We should have booked the 70-year-old on this pod. Yes.

• 20:19Speaker 01

  Thanks so much for being here, y'all.

• 20:22Speaker 07

  Thank you.

• 20:22Speaker 01

  Thank you. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katsof, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello, Kamin provides our theme music. And thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Aisha Harris, and we'll see you all next time.

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