Age is just a number in the new TV Land series, Younger. The show, which is created by Darren Star (Sex & the City), revolves around Liza (Sutton Foster – Bunheads & Thoroughly Modern Millie), who is a 40-year-old recent divorcee and mother. She once worked at Random House Publishing for three years where she became editor and then left her job to raise her daughter.
Now, fourteen years later, her daughter goes on a mission trip to Mumbai and Liza is left alone and needs a job to support her and her daughter. But the publishing world has changed during her hiatus and she’s finding she can’t even get into the glass room to hit the glass ceiling because of her age.
To soothe her bruised ego, she and her best lesbian friend, Maggie (Debi Mazar – Entourage), go out to drink the pain away. While they’re out, Liz is hit on by a 26-year-old, Josh (Nico Tortorella – The Following), who believes her to be that same age. Empowered by this ego boost and with the understanding of “people believe what you tell them,” Liz goes to another interview pretending to be 26 and eventually gets the job.
From there, Liz has to keep up with the fast-paced environment of publishing, the advances made in marketing with technology, and the unfiltered office chatter with her new friend, Kelsey, played by Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire).
The only downside I see to this show is that it is on the TV Land network. I picture the target audience of this show to be more ABC Family than TV Land. The idea behind the rebranding of the TV Land network is due to the conclusion of their hit series Hot In Cleveland, which starred Betty White, Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli, and Jane Leeves.
Hot In Cleveland drew in a wide-range audience for the network with sharp humor and established stars. In need of a fresh new comedy, TV Land picked up Younger in the hopes of holding onto that wide-ranged audience. The redeeming factor of this show is that, through success, failure, and life that happens in between, Younger is a story that will be relatable to viewers of all ages.
With a fantastic array of actors, Younger proves to be highly enjoyable – regardless of your age.
Younger premieres on March 31st on TV Land. The “Pilot” episode is available for steaming courtesy of Hulu and available for free download on iTunes and Amazon.
Check out the series trailer below!
— Michael Cotter, Blogger & Assistant Poetry Editor
