Though it’s still early in its first season, I Love L.A. is already being compared to previous character-driven sitcoms about aimless young people in big cities, namely Girls — only there’s an element of that show that’s noticeably missing from this new one.

I Love L.A. follows aspiring talent manager Maia (Rachel Sennott) and her tight-knit group of friends, including her formerly estranged, influencer bestie Tallulah (Odessa A’zion), whom she represents as a client. Right off the bat, it’s clear the show wants to establish the sort of relatable, “which one are you?” type of TV ensemble. However, their personalities, aside from Maia’s straight-man boyfriend, aren’t all that distinguishable. Maia, in particular, is an oddly nonspecific protagonist whose voice resembles Twitter more than an actual person. Everyone speaks in the same dry, “cool-girl” tone. Maybe this is an accurate depiction of Gen-Z Angelenos nowadays, but it doesn’t really work for a show that’s aiming to make you invested in its characters.

This could very well change as the season progresses. Still, sitting through I Love L.A. brings to mind a larger question: Are we in a TV character drought? Will we ever have someone as iconic and knowable as Carrie Bradshaw or Don Draper on our screens again?

It’s been declared ad nauseam that TV is in its “mid” era, post-Succession. The explosion of streaming has wrought countless shows that are perfectly adequate or plainly bad. It isn’t just the streaming that has made TV protagonists less of a fixture in pop culture, though. If TV characters seem less relevant now, it might be that the confluence of reality TV and social media have allowed ordinary people to replace these imagined figures.

Key Takeaways

• Iconic TV characters take time to cement themselves. But the overcrowded and “mid” landscape of TV right now doesn’t offer much hope that we’ll find another Carrie Bradshaw or Tony Soprano.
• The rise in “casual viewing” programs has limited our investment in stories and the characters who drive them. As writing becomes simplified and seemingly designed for virality, characters become less important.
• Ordinary people — from reality TV stars to influencers to podcasters — are now being treated like “characters,” who consumers can follow and interact with on social media. Why spend a series of episodes trying to uncover the nuances of a protagonist when you can have an intimate, parasocial relationship with a stranger on your phone?

TV is being made differently

To be clear, the sort of TV character that you can easily reference in conversations and dress up as for Halloween isn’t totally obsolete. The Roys from Succession, Carmy from FX’s The Bear and, more recently, Dr. Robbie on

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