Now there are admittedly some shows that are coming to a television near you at the time of my writing that have the power to downright lower property values, sabotage a fairly good portion of healthy brain cells (are you hearing me Big Brother?) and even result in bouts of identity crises for the overly impressionable; there exist certain such programs today, where one may be convinced based on the evidence of the coming attractions alone that what your eyes are about to be privy to is a bona fide train crash sans the trains naturally well scratch that please, I can all but guarantee the inevitability of an impending series that is based on the very subject of trains colliding in the night. And every now and again you may find yourself somewhat nonplussed when you discover that modicum of redemption somewhere around the dial. And one such welcome surprise is the new ABC Family channel comedy series that has been airing this summer created by David Holden, (The War At Home) Young and Hungry.
Now the premise is admittedly light on the frills, as it concerns a twenty-something year old food blogging, aspiring gourmet chef (Emily Osment) who just happened to land the job of her dreams, toiling for a nouveau-riche tech wizard named Josh (Jonathan Sadowski),( an engaged one at that who Gabi takes a (consensual) trip on the couch with during her interview) The schemes and the themes of this series are often limited to the confines of an all mod-cons kitchen somewhere in a high-rise building somewhere in San Francisco but there is always some fancy cooking there.
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| The kitchen clutch - Whitley, Osment and Lee |
And with all that said, there is still something deeply enchanting about this series, okay, okay I will confess to being a tad partial to the fact that in each episode there are puns-a-plenty - mainly expectorated from the gob of Osment's character Gabi, whose geek-chic boyfriend/computer super-genius Cooper (Jesse McCartney) recently purchased for her a domain, affectionately titled Bon Gabetit, and just how could that not be absolutely appetizing. And by the way Cooper with his hacking skills can sort out late electricity bills too. And kudos to my cable company for an on-demand feature as I was able to feast on nine episodes in one sitting and my hiatal hernia didn't even act up the once.
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| Nothing can be finer than Carolina in Versace in the... (the lovely Mallory Jensen) |
The supporting cast all bring something delicious to the table, Elliot Park (Rex Lee), publicist and resident drama king, a ragin' Asian who loves to goad the gang, particularly housekeeper Yolanda (Kym Whitley) and this duo trade sleights like Don Rickles night at the Friars Club. And you do receive your fair share of did they just actually say that moments, one such at a dinner party where Gabi's latina roommate Sofia (Aimee Carrero) gets referred to as a 'caramel-coated' angel, an affront delivered by the unfiltered Caroline portrayed by Mallory Jensen, Josh's high maintenance but low-level operating wife to be.
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| Gabi and Cooper kissing on the job |
There's a myriad of madcaps and other assorted madness on this series if your knees are in need of a smack and you don't have to be a stargazer to notice that Gabi is the true object of Josh's desires and this notion was never more prevalent than as seen in episode 10 :Young & Thirty where a careless Caroline blanks Josh on his milestone birthday and ultimately bamboozles him by passing off a knitted blanket that was actually painstakingly put together by Gabi as her incredibly thoughtful birthday pressie for Josh, but when it all comes out in the wash (some stubborn stains on that blankey) Josh discovers it was indeed Gabi that made the grand gesture believing this was fate as it recreated his long lost childhood blanket and Gabi must then be the gal for him, but timing as they say is everything. When Gabi's estranged lover Cooper returns to her arms all the way from China to pick up where they left off, we find a dejected Josh Wuthering Heights style at the window of Gabi's apartment discovering the newly reunited (and it feels so bad) pair snuggled on the sofa, sniffle sniffle.
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| Couch trips still exist |
Young & Hungry is currently on hiatus and hopefully ABC Family won't be putting us on any dietary restrictions and we all get treated to a second helping soon.