By Mya Copeland
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SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains plot details from Season 2 of “Adults” now streaming on Hulu.
It’s Season 2, Paul Baker; we’re doing a classic sitcom.
In only eight episodes, the second season of FX’s “Adults” has managed to capture the spirit of a classic sitcom that has felt somewhat elusive since the slow death of the 22-episode season.
The raunchy friend group comedy, created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, follows Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), Issa (Amita Rao), Anton (Owen Thiele), Billie (Lucy Freyer) and Samir (Malik Elassal). While Samir’s parents are away, the friends are bunking together and navigating their twentysomething lives in his childhood home in Queens, New York.
Following the premiere of the second season (but before the promise of a third), Innanen spoke with Variety about Paul Baker’s arc this season, the limits of delivering sitcom goodness within an eight-episode season and his hopes for a Season 3.
Other then a few network sitcoms, the 22-episode season has fallen out of fashion with the rise of streaming services. Now, fans are lucky to get 10 episodes in one season. “Adults,” with the addition of Paul Baker’s origin story prequel episode, now clocks in at an uneven 17 across two seasons. “If we had 22 episodes, we could do ‘stuck in the elevator’ episode,” Innanen says. “We could do the beach episode. We could do so many fun filler episodes. But it’s just born too late.”
But the show has the trappings of a classic sitcom, despite its shortened airtime.
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Courtesy of FX This season kicks off with the camera winding its way through the Queens house as Issa delivers the meta line, “It’s Season 2, Paul Baker; we’re doing a oner.” The first season set a high bar for guest stars, with Julia Fox playing herself, but the sequel season ups the ante with Raven-Symoné entering as Anton’s sister Talia, to the tune of her own personal laugh track.
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