I Love LA is HBO Max’s newest young adult sitcom/comedy series with a total of six episodes out so far. It airs every Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. EST/ 8:30 p.m. PST. Actor and comedian Rachel Sennott wrote the show and stars in it alongside True Whitacker, Josh Hutcherson, Jordan Firstman, and Odessa A’zion. The show was greenlit in September 2024, and Deadline wrote an article about it titled “Rachel Sennott Comedy Pilot Picked Up To Series By HBO”. This was one of the first times the cast was announced while the project was still untitled. Some of these actors are Rachel’s close friends, and you can definitely see the chemistry they have while watching the show. I think it’s really cool that she cast a show with her friends. The show is a chaotic mix of life in Los Angeles while balancing careers, fame, friendships, romance, and all the messiness that come along with it.
The show follows five young adults in their 20s. The character Maia is played by Rachel Sennott. She is an aspiring talent manager currently managing one of her old friends named Tallulah who is played by Odessa A’zion. Tallulah recently moved to L.A. and keeps getting caught up in drama. Charlie and Alani are Maia’s L.A. friends. The character Charlie is played by Jordan Firstman. He is a celebrity stylist, and the character Alani is a “nepo baby” played by True Whitacker. Maia’s boyfriend, Dylan, is a teacher. From the six episodes out so far, he doesn’t play much of a role in the show outside of being her supportive long-term boyfriend that she lives with, but he’s played by Josh Hutcherson and who doesn’t love Josh Hutcherson?
When I first heard about the show, I got really excited because it’s a young adult show about L.A. and I love L.A. I’m an east girl to the core, but these past few years, Los Angeles, California has been calling my name. I finally took a trip there this summer and there’s really nothing like it. I hope to live there post college and pursue my dreams as a writer and actor. Another reason I was excited about the show is because within the past few years, there’s a lack of Gen Z television for young adults that are in their 20s. However, recently there’s been a few new shows like Adults and Overcompensated.
I’ve loved television since I was a young girl and as I’ve gotten older, my love for it has grown. I love analyzing shows, the characters’ relationships, storylines, and everything in between. I’m on TV show Twitter/X and love classic teen dramas, but now I’m starting to move out of that genre. It’s something I’ll always hold dear, but I’m a college senior in my 20s and I want to see more shows that I can relate to know that I’m 21. I think a lot of other young adults agree and want to see more television aimed at our age.
I’ve seen mixed reviews for the show on social media, mainly on X/Twitter. One user said, “i love la is the funniest series we’ve gotten in a while”. The tweet got 4.4k likes, so many agreed with it, however there were comments and people in the quotes who didn’t agree. There’s some who love it and others who think it’s ridiculous and not funny at all. I was unsure of what to think about the show, despite my original excitement. I’ve seen three episodes that are out, and so far, my favorite is the third. The first episode didn’t grab me as I thought it would, and neither did the second. But it’s hard to get a grasp on a show with 30-minute episodes and so little episodes out so far. So, I continued watching, and by the third episode “Girl’s Girl”, I felt like this is a show I wanted to keep watching.
The specific scene that hooked me was when Maia and Tallulah were talking outside a restaurant at the end of the episode. A worker from the restaurant came out to give Tallulah a mason jar full of rice from one of the chefs who Tallulah had been talking to (it seems random, but if you watch it, it’ll make sense but I’m not going to spoil it). Tallulah opened the jar and on the lid was the chef’s number. She was ecstatic because she liked the chef and Maia was excited for her friend. They were both jumping and screaming with joy. It felt so relatable to me and reminded me of my friends and I going out and thinking that someone’s cute and then getting their number or Instagram and the excitement you feel in that moment. It was a representation of the shared beauty of girlhood that transcends into womanhood. My friends and I watched the episodes together, and we’re going to continue to tune in to the new episodes every Sunday night. It’s a fun watch and the show just got renewed for season 2, so if you watch it and end up liking it, there’s another season on the way!