Forget 'Emily in Paris,' Netflix's Bold 7-Season Comedy Series Is Your Next Obsession

Kendall Myers is a Senior Author with Collider. As part of the TV and Movies Features team, she writes about some of the most popular releases before, during, and after they premiere. In three years, she has written over 900 articles with topics ranging from classic sitcoms to fantasy epics.
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Netflix's Emily in Paris has become popular for good reason. Over five seasons, the romantic comedy series has consistently delivered surprising twists and messy love triangles, and that is what the audience wants. The series' longevity speaks for itself, especially with Emily in Paris' sixth season rapidly approaching. Yet, for many fans, the next installment cannot come soon enough. Luckily for those who can't wait for more content, there is another option. Before the Netflix series, creator Darren Star made Younger, which has all the drama, chaos, and ambition Emily in Paris thrives on, making it the perfect series to tide fans over until the new season.
The 2015 comedy may not be quite as well-known as Emily in Paris, but it has a lot to offer fans. Younger features a divorcee who returns to the workforce by pretending to be 20 years younger than she is, and that is only the beginning of the messy situation she finds herself in. The series lasted seven seasons, telling a story about hard-working women and surprising romance, much like Emily in Paris. Despite its seemingly ridiculous concept, Younger is more grounded than the Netflix series. Still, the two shows share several similarities, making Younger the perfect choice for any Emily in Paris fan looking for a new series to try.
What Is 'Younger' About?
Younger follows Liza Miller (Sutton Foster), a woman in her 40s who just went through a contentious divorce and now must return to work in New York's publishing industry. Unfortunately, following years spent as a stay-at-home mother, jobs are hard to come by. Yet after her longtime friend, Maggie (Debi Mazar), gives her a makeover for a night out, she meets Josh (Nico Tortorella), a tattoo artist who mistakes her for a 26-year-old, and an idea strikes. Pretending to be in her 20s, Liza applies for a job as the assistant to Diana Trout (Miriam Shor), Empirical Press' demanding Head of Marketing, and she gets it. Though the premise is unlikely, Younger uses its ridiculousness to explore ageism.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun
Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner.
🧢Dustin(Stranger Things)
🗼Emily(Emily in Paris)
🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday)
🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game)
01
How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it.
02
What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours.
03
You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it.
04
What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected.
05
What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are.
06
You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks.
07
What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap.
08
Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get.
The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…
Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your life would be like.
Dustin Henderson
You do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he. What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the plan.
- Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense, enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind.
- You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous, and they last for decades because of it.
- He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously, which is far rarer than it sounds.
- You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet.
Emily Cooper
You are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she. Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with yourselves.
- Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion, which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy levels.
- You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when something was happening somewhere else.
- She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly, publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts.
- She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very good photo.
Wednesday Addams
You have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this list.
- Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for an enormous amount.
- You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally incapable of offering you anything else.
- Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a performance out of caring.
- Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you.
Seong Gi-hun
You look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend.
- Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself.
- You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long after anybody would blame you for leaving.
- He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes back and tries again, which is more than most manage.
- He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it.
The only problem is that she must keep up her ever-growing double life with her new coworkers. At her new job, Liza meets Kelsey (Hilary Duff), an editor who is actually young, which contrasts with Liza's story as she attempts to seem youthful. But the biggest complication is that Liza develops feelings for Empirical Publishing's head, Charles Brooks (Peter Hermann), whose experiences she can relate to through her adult life. Throughout the series, Liza must navigate her interest in Charles and her new, young boyfriend Josh, while maintaining the double life she created for herself. This love triangle and the constant drama of Liza's fake life create a hilarious story that is impossible to look away from.
'Younger' Has a Lot in Common With 'Emily in Paris'
Not only do they share the same creator, but Younger is reminiscent of Emily in Paris with its focus on work and unpredictable love triangles, though it is slightly less over-the-top. Rather than highlighting the elegance of France, Younger explores the publishing industry in New York, yet both shows highlight career-driven women seeking new experiences. These shows highlight female friendships, with the Netflix series exploring Emily (Lily Collins) and Mindy's (Ashley Park) friendship and Younger spending plenty of time on Liza's dynamics with both Maggie and Kelsey. Perhaps the biggest difference is that the 2015 series dives deeper into the characters than Emily in Paris. This is especially true of Liza because her lies color every choice she makes, raising questions about how far she will go for her career.
With hilarious situations that satirize the publishing industry and the generational divide, Younger stands out from the average show and proved successful. The series ran for an impressive seven seasons and still holds a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes. With a talented cast and a unique concept, Younger is an addictive binge-watch, and the many similarities make it ideal for anyone impatient for Emily in Paris.
Younger is streaming on Netflix in the U.S.
- Release Date
- 2015 - 2021-00-00
- Network
- TV Land, Paramount+
- Showrunner
- Darren Star
- Directors
- Peter Lauer, Steven K. Tsuchida, Todd Biermann, Andrew Fleming, Jennifer Arnold, Tamra Davis, Tricia Brock, Brennan Shroff, Darren Star, Miriam Shor
- Writers
- Joe Murphy, Rick Singer, Lyle Friedman, Sarah Choi, Jessie Cantrell, Terri Minsky, Eliot Glazer
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