Mindy Kaling is moving through the stages of life. With Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever,” the comedy mogul took on high school; with HBO Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” she (literally) graduated to college. Hulu’s “Not Suitable for Work” — Kaling’s first show with sole creator credit since “The Mindy Project,” showrun by her longtime collaborator Charlie Grandy — continues this progression into the uncertain time after the diploma, with characters struggling to establish both careers and adult relationships. But while college shows are notoriously difficult to nail, making the three-season run of “Sex Lives” a notable achievement, and “Never Have I Ever” painted a specific portrait of an Indian American family in Los Angeles as narrated by John McEnroe, “Not Suitable for Work” is a bland take on a well-trodden setup. The glimmers of a more biting, memorable take on young people juggling jobs and love in New York City throughout the nine-episode season end up being just that: glimmers.
The series was originally titled “Murray Hill” after the notoriously basic (sorry, residents, you know it’s true!) neighborhood just south of midtown Manhattan. “I’m not cool enough for Brooklyn — they’d eat me alive!” says AJ (Ella Hunt), one of five ambitious singles split between two apartments across the hall from each other. AJ works long hours at an investment bank as a first-year associate with her neighbor Davis (Will Angus) and lives with aspiring celebrity stylist Abby (the mononymous Avantika). Davis rooms with his childhood friends Kel (Nicholas Duvernay), who quits medical school in the premiere to pursue his dream of acting, and Josh (Jack Martin), a journalist whose idealism and sense of ethics do not extend to using his media CEO dad to land a gig as a PA on a news show.
