MTV has always spoken to the younger generations, but their newest scripted series, Underemployed, skews slightly older than their usual high school crowd.
Centering on a group of friends only a year out of college, Underemployed showcases the struggles of young adults who thought they were going to set the world on fire — only to find they are barely scraping by. True to form for MTV’s brand, though, Underemployed is out to explore complicated relationship dynamics and introduce some fun new catchphrases and terms for its audience to adopt.
What can you expect from Underemployed?
“What you see in the first episode, in the pilot, is how hard it is. It’s hard out there! And we go into it, and I think it’s really cool and refreshing, and I think that’s why people will really relate to the show,” Inbar Levi told Celebuzz when we caught up with some of the Underemployed cast in Los Angeles this week.
“The struggles will be in both — in the professional and the personal lives — because they always come together. There’s no separation. If you’re in a place where you’re struggling in one area, it automatically reflects the rest.”
Levi plays Raviva, an aspiring musician who moves out to Los Angeles after graduation, breaking up with her boyfriend Lou (Jared Kusnitz) first, only to find herself back on his door nine months later. Her career cut short — or at least put on hold— because she is pregnant, the young couple try to make it work as a more traditional family in the middle of what the cast calls a “framily.”
“This is a guy trying to do right by everyone in the world, and sometimes it might come off in a negative connotation, and other times, he does really [well], but it’s truthful,” Kusnitz said of Lou, who will put his own dream on hold to buckle down and get a “real job” in order to provide for his new family.
“There’s no bow tied onto every episode. Something happens, and it’s not immediately resolved. It leaves you sometimes hating one character more than another or loving one character more than another. It’s not always one big, happy family.”
But it’s not all serious! Kusnitz also promised lots of “cuteness” and shirtless scenes to come. At least for him.
Sophia (Michelle Ang) is also growing up in a big way in Underemployed. The drive and focused aspiring writer was so studious she got to speak at graduation — but she worked so hard during those four years she never had a relationship. In fact, she’s still a virgin…
“My character is a little bit behind the eight ball in terms of love and romance. She’s just discovering herself, and I think in the series you’re going to see her take some more risks [and] see her get to know herself more,” Ang previewed.
“With anyone’s first moment, it always feels like the whole world. Sophia’s off the starting block, so she’s going to learn what love is like.
Daphne (Sarah Habel) may have the perfect job in the industry she studied to enter into, but it hasn’t been paying her. Literally. At all. Still stuck as an intern, she is in a rut different, but perhaps deeper, than any of her friends. Habel promised, though, that things won’t be that way for long:
“She definitely mixes things up,” Habel told us. “Daphne leaps before she looks, which is why she’s such a wonderful, cool, fun character to play. She gets herself into some situations, and she starts to get [results].”
The cast of Underemployed feels the characters and situations within their show should feel familiar to you — because show creator Craig Wright has plucked from their lives, as well as the lives of his own family and their friends. While they all say this helps create a “refreshingly honest” look at a very specific generation, he has also created a way of speaking specific to his characters that even the most casual viewing audience may not be able to help picking up.
“The world of Underemployed is going to throw out some little catchphrases that we hope people adopt and use because they’re really fun,” Ang told us.
An example?
“Whamp!” She laughed. “It’s [used] for when stuff hits the fan. Whamp!”
Underemployed premieres on MTV on October 16 at 10 PM.
Which of these characters do you so-far best relate to? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
