Television series

Younger

Name: Younger
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: 2015
Cast: Hilary Duff, Sutton Foster, Debi Mazar, Nico Tortorella, Miriam Shor

Younger is a candy-colored fantasy about starting over: Liza, forty and freshly single, lies her way into a publishing job by passing for twenty-six, and spends six seasons trying not to get caught. It's warm, funny, occasionally sharp about ageism and ambition, anchored by Sutton Foster's effortless charm. Perfect for rom-com lovers who want a workplace comedy with real stakes underneath the fizz.

TVMaze rating

7.3

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Sex and the City1998

Younger's creator Darren Star built this world first — glossy New York women, career ambition, and romantic chaos, all narrated with the same wry, generous eye that makes Liza's story sing.

But Its sexual politics and fashion choices are firmly stuck in 1998, and some episodes have aged into unintentional comedy.

Ugly Betty2006

A magazine staffer hides who she really is to survive in a cutthroat, image-obsessed industry — same bones as Liza's secret, wrapped in telenovela sparkle and a much bigger heart.

But Broader and soapier than Younger, with plotting that leans hard into melodrama rather than office comedy.

The Bold Type2017

Three young women chase careers, love, and identity inside a magazine that feels like the fantasy version of publishing — optimistic, stylish, and completely unembarrassed about its own idealism.

But It's earnest where Younger is sly, and without a central lie, the stakes never quite bite as hard.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Big1988

Liza and Josh both fake their way through adulthood they haven't earned yet — Big just runs the age trick backwards, aging a kid up instead of a woman down, and finds the same tender comedy in the gap between who you're pretending to be and who you actually are.

A twelve-year-old wakes up in a grown man's body and has to bluff his way through an adult job — the exact engine of Younger's premise, run in reverse and decades earlier, with just as much heart.

But Broadly a family comedy rather than a romance, and its 80s gender dynamics show their age in places.

Emily in Paris2020

Another Darren Star confection about thriving in a glamorous industry you're arguably unqualified for — outfits, office flirtation, and a breezy disregard for consequence that Younger only occasionally indulges.

But Shallower and more tourist-brochure than Younger, with less interest in what the lie actually costs.

Grace and Frankie2015

Reinvention after life shoves you out of the lane you were told to stay in — funny, occasionally devastating, and unafraid of the idea that being written off is a lie worth fighting.

But Slower and more sitcom-domestic than Younger's workplace hustle, with a focus on friendship over career or romance.

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The same delicious tension of bluffing your way into a career you're not supposed to have, and the exhausting work of keeping the lie alive while everyone gets closer to the truth.

But Glossier and more procedural, with courtroom plotting that swallows up the comedy Younger runs on.

Jane the Virgin2014

A big, generous romantic comedy that takes an outrageous premise completely seriously, balancing heart and farce with the same nimble tonal control Younger pulls off week to week.

But Its telenovela structure and narrator asides are a bigger swing than Younger's grounded, character-first comedy.

Girls5eva2021no page yet

Women in their forties clawing their way back into an industry built to discard them the second they age out of it — filthy, quick, and laugh-out-loud about ageism instead of just living with it.

But Broader and sketchier than Younger, running more like a joke machine than a slow-burn character romance.

New Girl2011

A warm ensemble comedy about stumbling into your people in your thirties, finding a strange found family at work and at home — Younger's cousin in spirit if not in premise.

But No industry satire or hidden lie driving it — just pure hangout comedy, which is a different pleasure.

The Talented Mr. Ripley1999

Liza and Tom Ripley both construct a false self to buy entry into a better-dressed, better-connected world; Ripley just shows you the version of that con where the mask never comes off and the stakes stop being romantic.

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But A genuinely tense, morally bleak thriller — nothing about it is comforting, and it earns every ounce of its dread.

The Assistant2020

Same setting, more or less — a young woman starting at the bottom of a glamorous-seeming industry — but stripped of every joke and every crush, so the power imbalance Younger plays for laughs is left sitting there exposed.

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