Mindy Kaling’s new Hulu comedy Not Suitable for Work premiered Tuesday, bringing a New York ensemble built around love, work and the small humiliations that come with both. Set in Murray Hill, the series follows five young adults living in two apartments separated by a hallway, with professional ambition carrying more weight than it usually does in a romantic comedy.
The show arrives now because Hulu is adding a fresh Kaling creation to its lineup at a time when viewers are still looking for apartment-based comedies with a fast pace and a recognizable city backdrop. In this one, Josh, Davis and Kel share one apartment, Abby lives across the hall and AJ joins her just as the story begins, turning the building itself into the series’ central social map.
That setup gives the premiere its footing. Josh wants to be an investigative journalist, and he tries to win a job with TV anchor Wes Dryden by dropping his father’s name. It backfires. His new colleagues pull away, call him “Joffrey,” and leave him off the work chat, a small but sharp reminder that the show is as interested in class and credibility as it is in flirtation. Josh’s family money hangs over him even when he is trying to sound like someone who earned his way in.
The rest of the ensemble is drawn in the same social shorthand. Kel has known Josh since they were 12, Davis and Josh were college friends, and Abby starts the series as the new assistant to celebrity stylist Vanessa after her boyfriend moved to Nashville to become a country singer. Davis works in finance at a banking company, AJ has just been hired there too, and Kel lands a job as a substitute teacher at a private girls’ school through Kate. The characters are young enough to be building their lives and old enough to know how fragile those beginnings can be.
Davis is the loudest emblem of the show’s self-regard. He declares, “I am the complete package,” and then lays it out in full: “I am a straight man in New York City with a high-paying job and a great body — calves could use some work — who wants to wife up a woman and have four beautiful kids who go to private school.” The line is funny because it is so specific, but it also shows how directly the series is chasing status, dating and the performance of success. Twice, the story even heads downtown to Katz’s Delicatessen, a move that underlines how much the show wants New York to feel lived-in rather than postcard-clean.
That ambition is also where the series may divide viewers. Its apartment layout and close-knit cast recall the comparison to Friends, but the heavier emphasis on professional ambition gives it a more pointed edge. Josh’s attempt to cut corners with his father’s name, and the way his coworkers shut him out, lands as the episode’s clearest statement: in this building and in this city, status can get you in the door, but it can also make sure nobody trusts you once you are inside.
What comes next is the question the premiere leaves open: whether Not Suitable for Work can keep its romantic ensemble energy while making the career stakes feel as real as the dating stakes. For now, Kaling has put a new group of strivers in motion, and the hallway between their apartments may turn out to matter as much as any office, bar or first date.
