Good morning and good week Treat-A-Weekers!

I’ve a busy day and week ahead of me so let’s jump right in!

I am currently obsessed with the show Younger.  Haven’t heard of it?  Well, I am not surprised because it airs on something called TV Land, stars Sutton Foster (a well-known Broadway actress) and Hillary Duff (yes, of Lizzie McGuire fame) and was just kind of off my radar.  My husband travels a ton for work and I try to find quick shows to watch that he would not be interested in when he’s away.  These shows serve as my before-reading, before-bed treat at the end of a long day spent initially on my own, then with three great kids running around to activities, but ultimately, generally with minimal meaningful adult interaction or contact.  Ladies, this is the perfect solo binge show — each episode is about 25 minutes long and is a short, sweet, fun, sometimes angsty slice of life in the Big Apple, but with a slightly different and unique recipe.  The main character in the show, Liza, is not herself an angsty twenty-something in the City, rather she just pretends to be one.  Mistaken by a very cute twenty-six year old tattoo artist at a Brooklyn bar one night to be in her twenties (go figure, she has taken great care of her skin?), Liza gets the idea to pretend to be far younger than she actually is (40) to  get a job as an editorial assistant with a publishing house after being a stay at home mom for 15 years who is having trouble getting back into the workplace following a demoralizing separation with her husband.  Somehow the ruse and her lie goes undetected, she gets a cool new job and takes on a whole new persona including becoming besties with a fun, young, ambitious co-worker played by Hillary Duff, and you guessed it, dating the intriguing tattoo artist.  I know this sounds like pure silly, but stay with me, there’s a lot more….

First, this show is a Darren Star creation. Remember him — he was also behind Sex and the City?  My sister and I were talking about Younger and she said to me, “I really like this show, but what rating is it? I feel like it’s all pretty mild and then something really racy happens…” which is true, so be warned, not necessarily something you want to watch with an impressionable little one around.  Next, like SATC, at heart this is a story about women’s friendships and the exciting aspects of New York City living. I myself have never lived in NYC and never really wanted to, but I can see it’s appeal every time I visit and love shows like this that give you delicious little bites of the Big Apple without having to really go there.  Third, unlike most shows I’ve seen like this, Younger is a balanced portrayal of the joys of being young and experiencing life head first while also exploring the comforts and pleasures of being in your forties.  Liza vacillates back and forth in terms of which lifestyle is more appealing to her and I think that’s why this show is ultimately so hopeful in addition to being frothy fun.  It celebrates the joys and wisdom of life lived at two very different stages of life and suggests that each time period in life is as amazing or lackluster as we choose to make it.

So, that’s it for today — try and search around to find this show on your cable tv provider, Hulu, or the Internet – if you really need a little treat, it’s worth it.

Until next Monday.

Yours truly,

M