Becoming a mature adult is one of life’s most difficult challenges, and it doesn’t get easier when you’re trying to grow up in the costly yet unpredictable landscape of Los Angeles, California. In season 2 of the acclaimed comedy series ADULTING, two newcomers to the Golden State – Katie (Cassidy Davis) and Charlie (Mallory Fuccella) – see for themselves how hard the transition into adulthood can be as they embark on five more eye-opening millennial misadventures.
“In season 2, Katie and Charlie struggle to settle into their L.A. lives. Now that they have an apartment and can (mostly) pay their rent, how do they go about building a community in a new city? How do they balance working and living out their 20’s? What does self-care even mean? Despite the never-ending curveballs of adulthood, Katie and Charlie try their best to find the answers through horrible dates, boozy brunches, and unexpected visitors,” says Davis, who also created ADULTING, of its second season arc.
While ADULTING’s signature comedy still hits home with millennial viewers, so does its representation of (almost) all of the issues that the show’s audience deals with every day. “…This season, we wanted to tackle the second stage of adulting,” Davis adds. “Now that the girls are more settled into their everyday lives and they have started to build a life in L.A., they are faced with the next round of struggles: how do people afford to have fun? How do you make friends as an adult? And what do you do when your therapist falls asleep on you?”
Cassidy Davis (as Katie) and Mallory Fuccella (as Charlie) return for another season of millennial mishaps on ADULTING.
Even though the same problems bedevil Katie and Charlie in season 2 of ADULTING, both women encounter an amusing assemblage of characters over the season’s five episode run.
“In episode 1 of season 2, both Katie and Charlie go on a bad first date. So we meet Jordan (Kolton Kolbaba), a brooding artist from Orange County who dreams of living off the grid, and we meet Mike (Eric Lewis-Baker), a pharmaceutical sales rep who has traveled the world and wants everyone to know about it.”
Attempting to cope with the struggles of being a millennial, Katie and Charlie get some well-meaning yet questionable help.
“In episode 4, we also meet Katie’s therapist, Ronda (Lisa Cole), who has been doing this for way too long and is just ready for a Palm Springs vacation,” notes Davis. “We meet Charlie’s personal trainer, Jared (who goes by “Jare”, portrayed by Samuel Hawkins), who is a total meathead. Although he tries hard, he almost always says the wrong thing.”
ADULTING’s supporting cast of characters also includes what may be the show’s most “high maintenance” personality: “The biggest guest star of the season is Brooke (played by Paige Gallagher), Katie’s pretty, perfect friend from back home who comes to visit in the season 2 finale,” Davis explains. “Brooke was the most popular girl in school and Katie always looked up to her, so when she comes to see Katie’s L.A. life, the girls pull out all the stops to impress her.”
With filming of ADULTING’s second season undertaken by a predominantly female crew that included co-executive producers/co-writers Davis and Fuccella, director/co-writer Jenna Simmons, co-executive producer/assistant director Sammi Begelman and director of photography Mariscela Mendez, the upgraded quality and expanded size of the series’ production led to an improved product.
Like the quality of what viewers see and hear in ADULTING, though, the series’ humor aesthetic has also been refined. “I think the show’s style of comedy has evolved in maturity,” Davis says. “Now that the girls are going into their next phase of adulthood, I felt like the writing, too, matched this rise in maturity. The style of comedy is slightly less innocent this season, and a little more nuanced, which was very fun to write! I also think we worked really hard this season to include more jokes per page than I did for season 1, and I think that comes through too.”
In developing the stories for each episode, the source of ADULTING’s creativity remains rich and consistent for the show’s team. “Our own experiences almost always inspire our writing for ADULTING,” comments Davis. “We are women in their mid-20s who are trying our best to thrive here in L.A., so unfortunately for us, we have plenty of material to choose from when writing the episodes.”
Like Davis, Fuccella and Simmons, ADULTING’s millennial viewers will immediately latch on to the show’s comedy.
“I think pulling stories from our everyday lives will inevitably make the comedy relatable because they are true stories that have happened to us, so it’s likely that someone else in the world can relate to a similar struggle,” comments Davis.
“But mostly, we write what we think is funny. If we are laughing when reading the scripts, and if we get good feedback during our table reads and talkbacks, then we are excited to produce it and bring the script to life.”
Even though ADULTING is a sitcom made by and for millennials, Davis, Fuccella and Simmons know that its comedy must also meet their standards – and that of the show’s.
“…Although our goal is definitely to make the show relatable, I don’t think we tailor the style of comedy to be relatable,” Davis adds. “I think we tailor it to what is true for the show, for the characters, and what we, as writers, find funny to write and watch. My favorite part of making a comedy is watching the crew when we’re filming. If they are holding in laughs during takes then I know we’re onto something.”
3 of ADULTING’s latest episodes prove the strength of its writing team’s storytelling. “Mallory wrote episode 1 based off of some horrible first dates we have both been on. Yes, someone really did call me ‘sort of pretty’ on a first date and it was too funny to not include in the show,” recalls Davis.
“Then, I wrote episodes 2 and 4 and they were both pulled almost exactly from my real life. There was one brunch in particular (where) my friends and I got too drunk that inspired the premise for episode 2, and then my therapist really did fall asleep on me during one of our sessions, which inspired episode 4. I wish I were making that one up!”
Another popular element of ADULTING’s first season carries over into its second: the physically-based comedy of its pre-episode teaser scenes. Though not always related to a given episode’s specific storyline, the teasers are a wacky yet relatable peek at how the process of adulting comes with what feels like an impossibly steep learning curve.
“Ultimately, those cold opens are meant to highlight that adulting is hard for everyone by pulling in other scenarios that we struggle with in our day to day lives,” says Davis. “We do this because we want to show that everyone in this world is failing at being an adult, (and) not just the two girls. Because adulting is truly hard for everyone.”
In penning the scripts for ADULTING’s second season, Davis, Fuccella and Simmons ingeniously connected some of those teasers to the episodic action.
“Our biggest hurdle when writing the cold opens is trying to figure out how it can blend into Katie and Charlie’s world,” Davis explains. “We always include a crossover shot from the cold open to the show, so figuring out how to blend those two things is a big hurdle for us in the writing. Then we also want to write what is most funny to us. For example, in episode 2 we see the girl who struggled to get out of her parked car, played by Miranda Lensky, walk into the same brunch restaurant as Katie and Charlie.”
The connection between ADULTING’s cold opens and the show’s core characters also pays off. “In episode 3 we see a girl struggling to record a podcast, and then we hear that Katie is listening to her podcast as she wakes up from her hangover,” responds Davis. “This is always the trickiest part of the writing for us, but it has allowed us to get really creative this season, which has been so fun! In the season 2 finale, Katie is watching the same web series as the girl in the cold open!”
ADULTING’s second season has concluded, but Davis remains dedicated to keeping the show going. “From a production standpoint, I hope people see the incredible work that everyone in our cast and crew put into this season. Everyone worked so hard and put so much blood, sweat and heart into this season and I hope people can see that and celebrate that. I am so proud of our ADULTING family,” Davis says.
Whether you’re a millennial or have ever been one, life continues to have as many ups and downs as a rollercoaster. For Davis, ADULTING is a series that can help as many adults as it entertains. “From a writer/actor/creator standpoint, I hope people feel less alone when watching the show. Adulting is hard. It’s something that we all struggle with every day, and I hope that after watching the show people feel comforted in their day to day struggles, and maybe even find a little humor next time they find themselves in a total ‘adulting’ moment.”
(NOTE: Davis says all 5 episodes of ADULTING will be closed-captioned/subtitled.)
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