Hulu’s New Sitcom Is The 2020s' Answer To Friends

On June 2, 2026, Hulu premiered the first three episodes of its newest ensemble sitcom, Not Suitable For Work. Based on the title and trailer, the latest television offering from Mindy Kaling seemed to be a 20-something workplace comedy, but the series is much more about romantic complications between two groups of roommates.

Ella Hunt plays AJ Pascarelli, a transplant new to NYC for her cutthroat financial analyst job, moving in with her best friend Abby, played by Mean Girls' Avantika. Across the hall, Kel (Nicholas Duvernay) has a massive and obvious crush on Abby, but his roommate Davis (Will Angus) happens to be AJ’s coworker, who falls in love with her at first sight.

AJ, of course, has a romantic history with Davis’s third roommate, Josh (Jack Martin), though she also has a burgeoning crush on her boss, played by Insecure’s charismatic Jay Ellis. The three-episode binge drop was necessary to establish the full backstory and overall tone. Two episodes will be dropped a week going forward, an unusual hybrid release strategy for Hulu.

A celebration of rom-coms has been the through line of Kaling’s work since she exploded on the comedy scene after writing and acting in The Office. While Not Suitable for Work was considered the third installment in Kaling’s unofficial young adult trilogy, following Never Have I Ever and Sex Lives of College Girls, it has more in common with Friends.

Not Suitable for Work might be about people in their early 20s, but it has the easy, familiar feeling of the best '90s throwback sitcoms. Despite the title, it is more of a romantic hangout dramedy than a Gen Z workplace sitcom.

Not Suitable For Work Is Like A '90s Throwback Sitcom

Not Suitable for Work's sensibilities feel closer to a nostalgic rom-com escape than a revelation about modern young adulthood. The series quickly reveals itself to be a romantic ensemble built around crushes, love triangles, and roommate dynamics.

The central conflicts have less to do with navigating modern professional life and more to do with figuring out who is secretly in love with whom. Nearly every major character is straight, conventionally attractive, and tangled in an increasingly complicated web of romantic relationships.

The workplace setting often feels secondary, with the characters' personal lives driving the story in much the same way relationships fueled Friends. In these ways, Not Suitable for Work resembles Friends more than many recent shows about twentysomethings.

The show is similarly aspirational. Characters occasionally complain about money or career struggles, but they spend most of their time inhabiting their spacious Friends-esque Manhattan apartments and moving through a version of New York that feels more romanticized than realistic, even if AJ does carry pepper spray.

Like Friends before it, Not Suitable for Work presents the city as an idealized backdrop for friendship and romance rather than a place defined by real-world problems — and there is nothing wrong with that. Comfort television remains popular for a reason, and Not Suitable for Work appears to be intentionally chasing the easy-to-watch appeal of a classic ensemble rom-com.

However, the result can sometimes feel less like a show created from a distinctly Gen Z perspective and more like a collection of familiar sitcom tropes transplanted into a modern setting without much new insight. Compared to a series like Rachel Sennott's I Love LA, Not Suitable for Work often plays like a nostalgic throwback dressed in modern clothing.

Not Suitable For Work Is The Opposite Of Mindy Kaling's Usual Style

For much of her career, Mindy Kaling has built shows around a very specific perspective. After breaking out on The Office, she created The Mindy Project, a romantic workplace comedy centered on a highly successful doctor whose personal life was far messier than her professional one.

The series established many of the themes that would define Kaling's work: ambitious women, pop culture obsession, and an unabashed love of romantic comedy tropes. Kaling later moved primarily behind the camera, developing a reputation as one of television's most distinctive voices for young, nerdy women navigating romance, identity, and sexuality.

Netflix's Never Have I Ever brought those sensibilities to high school, while HBO's The Sex Lives of College Girls tackled similar themes in a collegiate setting. Along the way, she frequently collaborated with Charlie Grandy on projects ranging from NBC's Champions to Hulu's Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Rather than focus primarily on the female characters’ perspective, Not Suitable for Work spreads its attention across a larger ensemble of roommates and love interests. The result is a broader romantic dramedy that often prioritizes twist-driven relationship developments over the character-driven humor that has traditionally distinguished Kaling's work.

Not Suitable for Work, much like Kaling's Running Point on Netflix, feels aimed at a wider audience than her more personal creations. Although Kaling remains heavily involved as creator and executive producer, she is not the day-to-day showrunner of either series. Not Suitable for Work suggests a creator increasingly interested in building broad crowd-pleasers rather than vehicles defined by her singular voice.

Release Date June 2, 2026

Network Hulu

Showrunner Charlie Grandy

Cast

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  Avantika

  Abhinaya 'Abby' Chilukuri

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  Jack Martin

  Josh Teitelbaum

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  Nicholas Duvernay

  Kel Washington