Adults could be the best sitcom of our generation – but it has a major problem

After watching countless TikTok edits, discourse and mounting excitement, I decided it was finally time to switch on Adults.

For those somehow not in the know, the Disney Plus sitcom follows a group of mid-20s roommates living in one of their parents’ houses in Queens, New York.

We meet no-filter, ‘weird lil guy’ Issa (Amita Rao), fluid Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), the friendly-to-his-own-detriment Anton (Owen Thiele), by-the-book burnout Billie (Lucy Freyer) and token straight friend Samir (Malik Elassal).

In a TV landscape which is just getting to grips with portraying Gen Z on screen without making me want to cringe out of my skin, I was at once curious and sceptical going into this show.

But soon enough I realised it was a boisterous ball of energy, and if you simply surrendered to the chaos, then you were bound to have a good time.

As I jumped on this bandwagon upon the release of season two, I had the delight of bingeing both seasons back-to-back over the course of a couple of days – in total 17 episodes. Nine episodes in season one and eight in the second.

While season one has a strong outing, by the second season it’s clear our main cast have settled into a delightful dynamic, know their characters like the back of their hands and have, for the most part, shucked the teething issues of the first season.

With each episode a bite-sized 20 minutes, it was too easy to just play on after the next without even thinking twice.

The way it captures the sometimes self-deprecating, sometimes arrogant, sometimes edgy Gen Z temperament is near-perfect (and even at its most ridiculous, you’re able to indulge in the sitcom-like caricature).

Unable to hold down a job, directionless in their careers, clinging to the last vestiges of innocent youth and accepting of the fact that they’ll never really be able to afford anything under late-stage capitalism, it’s the comedy capturing our times.

As someone who’s still in denial that they’re careening into their late 20s faster than the UK is making its way through Prime Ministers, the humour at times felt a bit too close to home – but it was all in good jest.

Online, the show has been compared to the modern-day equivalent of Friends (with everyone considerably less well-off). Others have said it is to Gen Z’s what New Girl was to millennials. Some have even gone as far as to say it taps into the cultural capital of gamechangers like Girls.

There’s a gaping issue that means that, for me, it can’t quite reach its potential, however. It’s appallingly short season length.

Some of the very best parts of the aforementioned iconic shows are the filler episodes, the holiday specials, the multiple-season slow burns.

Chandler and Monica’s first dalliance happening after over 80 episodes is delicious; it takes five seasons for Nick and Jess to kiss. You’re given time to know and love these characters and really root for them as they slowly build their lives.

Instead, Adults’ greatest failing is trying to stuff shocking romance twists into two short seasons and skipping over much of the well-earned character growth of these longer shows.

Ultimately, it’s a series that demands more episodes if it wants the chance to reach legendary status; otherwise, they’re fumbling a surefire bet.

Adults seasons one and two are available to stream on Disney Plus now.