Young & Hungry is an American sitcom created by David Holden, and executive produced by Ashley Tisdale. The multi-camera series stars Emily Osment, Jonathan Sadowski, Aimee Carrero, Kym Whitley and Rex Lee, and premiered on ABC Family (now Freeform) on June 25, 2014. On March 7, 2016, Freeform renewed the series for a fourth season, which premiered on June 1, 2016, and concluded on August 3, 2016. On October 24, 2016, Osment announced via Twitter that Young & Hungry had been renewed for a fifth season.
Set in San Francisco, wealthy entrepreneur Josh (Jonathan Sadowski) hires food blogger Gabi (Emily Osment) to be his new personal chef. The series follows the couple and their friends after the couple's one-night stand dilemma.
Main
Emily Osment as Gabi Diamond, a young chef, lives in San Francisco with her best friend, Sofia. She loves cooking and she can even figure out what people like to eat. Her mother died while she was still a teenager and she has been on her own ever since. Despite not having enough credentials for the job to be Josh's personal chef, Josh agrees to hire her if she can make a dinner for his girlfriend Caroline that will make her say yes to his marriage proposal. After Caroline breaks up with Josh the same day, he feels distraught and he and Gabi have a one-night stand. They decide to keep it a secret, which causes her to have complicated romantic feelings for Josh.
Jonathan Sadowski as Josh Xander Kaminski, a wealthy young tech entrepreneur and self-made millionaire. He is extremely smart, charming, and sweet and always goes with his gut feeling. He and Gabi have a drunken one-night stand, which he decides to keep secret in order to propose to his vain and materialistic girlfriend, Caroline. Despite the fact that he and Gabi slept together, he wants to keep their relationship professional. Nevertheless, he takes an immediate liking to Gabi, often giving her life advice and looking out for her as a protective figure. In the season 1 finale he figures out he is in love with Gabi but never tells her, making their friendship complicated.
Aimee Carrero as Sofia Rodriguez, an ambitious banking intern and Gabi's best friend and roommate. She is a strong-minded and career-driven young woman. Her job consists of fetching coffee for the clients at her firm. She fully supports Gabi, gives her advice, and often gives her pep talks about keeping her job. She also knows about Gabi's hookup with Josh and unexpectedly becomes friends with Caroline when the two bond over singer Lorde in the episode, "Young & Secret." Her full name is revealed to be Sofia Maria Consuela Rafaella Rodriguez.
Kym Whitley as Yolanda, Josh's housekeeper. She is very loud-spoken and says what is on her mind. She is sassy with a bit of an attitude and was the first to find out about Gabi and Josh's hookup. She and Elliot constantly bicker.
Rex Lee as Elliot Park, Josh's publicist and right-hand-man. He is openly gay. He fully depises Gabi as he very outspoken about the fact that he'd much rather have a professional celebrity chef than Gabi. He constantly bickers with Yolanda, when it comes to her appearance or weight. He would do anything to make Josh happy and cares for him. However, he sometimes fantasizes about him. He is one of the few people who knows about Gabi and Josh's hookup. He and Gabi have a battle of wits on occasion, but they are ultimately good friends.
Mallory Jansen as Caroline Penelope Huntington (season 1), Josh's girlfriend turned fiancée. She is very materialistic and vain, caring more about her possessions and physical appearance than Josh. Josh realizes that she is stuck-up and conceited, however he looks past this when she says she loves him. Gabi tries to impress her, but Caroline sees Gabi as unprofessional and untrustworthy.
Jesse McCartney as Cooper (season 1–2), a computer hacker that Josh hires to work for him and has a romance with Gabi, much to Josh's dislike. He breaks up with Gabi after finding it increasingly difficult to keep their relationship a secret from Josh and moves to China as revealed in the episode "Young & Getting Played". After a grand romantic gesture, they resume their relationship. They have a brief fight when he discovers that Gabi and Josh slept together, but reconcile when she tells him she loves him, and he decides to move back to San Francisco.
Bryan Safi as Alan (season 2–present), Elliot's husband. He's had a crush on Elliot since college and was brought back into Elliot's life when Gabi accidentally set the two of them up. He's also the owner of a popular gay karaoke bar of which Elliot isn't a huge fan.
Jayson Blair as Jake Kaminski (season 2–3), Josh's brother Jake. Jake is introduced in episode "Young & The Next Day". Jake initially did not know what future he held, but he decided to become a chef. Josh asks him and Gabi to cook for Allan and Elliot's wedding. He falls in love with Gabi and they date. He and Gabi travel to Coachella in their food truck. In "Young & Coachella", he and Gabi break up when Josh confesses his feelings for Gabi. He later sleeps with Sophia, they then start dating for a little while, but then breaks up.
Ashley Tisdale as Logan Rawlings, who publishes a "30 under 30" list for a popular magazine. When she appears to be attracted to Gabi, Eliott sets them up to go on a date in the hope of securing Josh a spot on her list.
Kylie Minogue as Shauna, a tech reporter for ABC News that Josh dates. Shauna has two children including an estranged adult daughter, Danielle that Gabi strives to reunite her with.
Keegan Allen as Tyler, a drummer Sofia pressures Gabi to date to deal with working for Josh again. A double date with Josh and woman from Gabi and Sofia's building reveals Tyler is actually homeless.
Cheryl Hines as Kathy Kaminski, Josh's mother, who drinks wine frequently.
Jerry O'Connell as Nick Diamond, Gabi's father who becomes romantically involved with Josh's mother, Kathy, much to the shock of Gabi and Josh.
Betty White as Ms Wilson, Gabi's neighbour, who gives her romantic advice.
Heather Dubrow as Natasha Cook-Campbell, a celebrity chef and lifestyle guru, as well as Gabi's idol.
Development and production
The show is inspired by San Francisco food blogger, Gabi Moskowitz. On August 23, 2013, ABC Family placed a pilot order. The pilot was written by David Holden and directed by Andy Cadiff. Ashley Tisdale, Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum, and Jessica Rhoades serve as executive producers.
Filming for the pilot started on April 21, 2014. On January 6, 2014, ABC Family placed a series order on Young & Hungry, with the premiere on June 25, 2014, alongside the comedy Mystery Girls. On September 29, 2014 the network renewed Young & Hungry for a second season. On June 24, 2014 the first webisode was released with Gabi Moskowitz starring.
Casting announcements began in September 2013, with Emily Osment first cast in the lead role of Gabi Diamond, a blunt and klutzy food blogger who not only has a true gift for cooking, but also the ability to figure out what it is people want to eat. Aimee Carrero was the next actor cast in the series regular role of Sofia Rodriguez, Gabi's best friend and an ambitious banking intern. Shortly after, Jonathan Sadowski and Rex Lee were cast in the series, with Sadowski playing the lead role of Josh Kaminski, a young tech entrepreneur who hires Gabi as his personal chef; and Lee cast as Elliot Park, Josh's high-strung personal aide and right-hand-man. Kym Whitley was the last actor cast in the series regular role of Yolanda, Josh's housekeeper. MTV announced Australian singer Kylie Minogue as a guest star in the second season as a potential new love interest for Josh.
Young & Hungry has received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the first season holds a rating of 43%, based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 48 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
In a double review with fellow ABC Family series, Mystery Girls, Mary McNamara of the LA Times gave Young & Hungry a mixed review. Whilst praising the comedic skills of Osment, McNamara opined "Young & Hungry feels much more Disney Channel than ABC Family" and criticized the pilot as "overwrought". McNamara finished with hope that if the series "settled down", it would "give Osment the successful starring role she deserves".
The first season ended with a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 900,000 total viewers.
In Australia, the series premiered on July 25, 2015 on FOX8.
In Turkey, the series airs on Dizimax Drama.
In the Netherlands the series started on August 21, 2016 on Comedy Central.
In the UK the show started on November 14, 2016 on E4.
During April 2016, it was confirmed that Young & Hungry would possibly spawn a spin-off series titled Young & Sofia. In May 2016, cast details surfaced with Aimee Carrero starring and center on her character Sofia Rodriguez, an ambitious banking intern and the best friend and roommate to Gabi (Emily Osment) from the original series. Other cast members include Ashley Tisdale as Logan Rawlings, Sofia's overbearing boss at Clic'k Media, Steve Talley as Kendrick and Ryan Pinkston as Leo. The spin-off was introduced in the eighth episode of season four. The spinoff was not picked up.
