‘Younger’ TV Review: Post Truth

TV Land’s Younger is a sophisticated dramedy about a 40-year-old recently divorced single mom who returns to the workforce to realize entry-level book publishing jobs are going to millennials, so she becomes one — by docking 14 years to become 26. This week was the summer series’ fourth season, and Liza has been lying about her age all this time but finally ’fessed up to her boss, 26-year-old Kelsey, as they head the Millennial imprint. But now that Liza is technically not a millennial, they have to collaborate amid the drama to make the public believe Liza can represent the brand.

The takeaway from the episode is the self-branding. Though Liza is not a writer, more of a writer hunter, she has to be attractive online for writers to find her. Her imprint signs millennial writers, so after one who’s an entertainment reporter discovered last season that Liza wasn’t honest about her age, she threatened to blackmail her — with forcing Liza to buy her novel told from the point-of-view of her labradoodle. Yeah, Kelsey turned that one down, but Liza saw her dream job slipping if her secret got out.

To throw other millennial writer sleuths off their trail of fabrication, Kelsey concocted a plan to create Liza’s online brand. She didn’t have one, which wouldn’t sit right with the average millennial. 

It’s the same way for writers to find book publishers and agents. We have to up our social media game in our obsessively connected world to find each other and get a feel for a personality through a screen. As Liza’s secret unravels, it’ll be interesting this season to see how it will impact the Empirical publishing house as a whole and the budding imprint for youngish writers. And if any self-branding mishaps ensue, writers should take note.