Young & Hungry

Young and Hungry premiered on ABC Family (which eventually became Freeform) in June 2014 and lasted for five seasons ending in 2018. The series had 71 episodes. Young and Hungry is a sitcom that focused on a food blogger who gets hired as a tech entrepreneur’s personal chef and things get complicated when they have a one night stand. The show starred Emily Osment as food blogger/chef Gabi Diamond, Jonathon Sadowski as tech entrepreneur and millionaire Josh Kaminski, Aimee Carrero as Gabi’s best friend and roommate Sofia Rodriguez, Kym Whitley as Josh’s housekeeper Yolanda, and Rex Lee as Josh’s publicist Elliot Park.

There are Massive Spoilers

Young and Hungry ended on a cliffhanger after five seasons. The series ended with Gabi proposing to Josh, but an answer was not given. At the time of filming the episode it was believed that the show would get renewed for a sixth season. After the season was filmed it was announced that the show would be ending. Young and Hungry season 5 consisted of 20 episodes which would be split in half. 10 were in the first half and 10 were in the second half. The first half of season 5 premiered in the spring of 2017. The last half premiered in the summer of 2018. Freeform announced in between cycles that the series would be ending. At that time, it was also announced the series would get a wrap up movie. After the series ended, it was announced the movie was not moving forward. Young and Hungry has been dealt several blows during its run. While the show was on there were plans for a spinoff for Sofia. There was a backdoor pilot in season 4 that also featured Ashley Tisdale as Logan Rollins. Logan had guest starred on the show before and she would have been Sofia’s boss. Ashley Tisdale was a producer of Young and Hungry. The show would have been called Young and Sofia and was ultimately not picked up as a series. If it had moved forward, it was unclear if that meant Sofia would have had to exit Young and Hungry or if something would have been worked out to have her do both shows.

The big draw of Young and Hungry was Emily Osment. Young and Hungry premiered three years after Hannah Montana ended. Emily Osment was best known for playing Lily Truscott the best friend of Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) on the series. Young and Hungry was one of the first major post Hannah Montana projects for Emily Osment. Young and Hungry was a fun show. Gabi and Sofia got into many hijinks over the years and there were some big guest stars including Jesse McCartney, Betty White, and Carl Reiner to name a few. A huge part of the series was the will they or won’t they of Josh and Gabi. The series kicked off with Gabi and Josh having a one night stand. Gabi was hired as Josh’s personal chef. During season 1 Josh was engaged complicating Josh and Gabi’s one night stand. Eventually Josh and his fiancé (Mallory Jensen) break up. Eventually Josh and Gabi get together and then they break up and they get back together and it becomes a rollercoaster that Sofia, Yolanda, and Elliot get involved in. The will they won’t they and all the ups and downs of their relationship take center stage consuming everyone in its path.

Besides Josh and Gabi’s relationship, what really makes the show is Sofia, Yolanda, and Elliot. Truth be told, sometimes it could get annoying of the constant back and forth of Josh and Gabi’s relationship. One episode they love each other. The next they can’t be together. They date other people and pine for each other. What helped balance it out is Sofia, Yolanda, and Elliot. They helped bring balance to the show. If it was solely the Josh and Gabi show it would have been difficult to watch at times. Sofia, Yolanda, and Elliot got their own time to shine. Sofia had her own storylines independent of Gabi. Yolanda and Elliot had a great love/hate dynamic. Their relationship was mostly hate, but deep down they didn’t hate each other as much. Besides Sofia’s failed spinoff, I could have seen a show for Yolanda and Elliot. It would have been a lot of fun.

Young and Hungry had a passionate fanbase and it is a shame that the show did not get a proper ending. The audience invested a lot in Gabi and Josh’s relationship. I know fans would have liked to have seen a wedding assuming Josh was going to say yes to Gabi’s proposal. It was revealed by Emily Osment that Gabi and Josh would have gotten married eventually.

Young and Hungry lasted five seasons and it deserved better. It was one of the longest running sitcoms on ABC Family/Freeform. It lasted one season longer than Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy lasted six seasons. Grownish which is a sitcom/drama recently wrapped its fifth season and was renewed for a sixth and final season. Young and Hungry was also one of the longest shows for the network in general. Pretty Little Liars was the longest lasting seven seasons. Switched at Birth and The Secret Life of the American Teenagers both lasted five seasons. There have been a few others that it to a fifth season. Many ABC Family/Freeform shows have only lasted at most three or four seasons. There are a fair number of shows that lasted even less. Given Young and Hungry made it to five seasons, it deserved to have a proper final season if Freeform did not want to keep it. When it was announced that Young and Hungry was ending, the show should have been allowed to do a proper finale. Could there ever be a movie down the line? Realistically, probably not but anything is possible. Maybe in five years there will be a reunion series. If it were to happen it would probably be on a different network or streaming service.