Not Suitable for Work: A 2020s "Friends" with two breakups, two meet-cutes, three d*cks (two visible), fashion, finance, and a gay guy turned straight.

Link to the n*de dudes

The first three episodes of Not Suitable for Work (2026) just dropped on Hulu.  It's advertised as "five twenty-something professionals" in Manhattan struggling with careers and relationships.  

Sounds familiar.  I've already seen New Girl (with Max Greenfield, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) Happy Endings (with Zachary Knighton),  Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (with Victor Rodriguez III), and the grandad of them all, Friends:

The first episode synopsis of the new series gets all creepy: "Whoa -- two girls live across the hall from three guys. Yeah, I'd watch that, leer leer."  But according to Decider and Meecham Meriweather's blog, there's a gay character, Kel, played by Nicholas Durvenay.  So I'll watch for gay representation.

There are five interlocking plotlines.  I'll separate them for clarity.

Dudebro Davis

Behind a giant stock ticker, Dudebro Davis (Will Angus) is getting yelled at by HR for having an office romance: "relationships with coworkers are forbidden." 

"If I have to choose between love and work, I'll choose love!"

The next morning, Dudebro tries to bring his girl breakfast in bed, but she's dumped him.

He asks his roommates why girls keep breaking up with him, even though he has a great body and a high-paying job.  

"Maybe you come on too strong, falling in love instantly."

He heads to work. Coworker Jocelyn (queer actress May Hong) notes that she hurt her Achilles tendon, but the nurse at Urgent Care was kind of cute.  She doesn't specify a male nurse, and most nurses are ladies.  I'll bet she's queer.

Coworker Dileen renewed his vows with his wife over the weekend.  Dudebro responds with "God, I'm so lonely!"  You had a girlfriend like 30 seconds ago.  You haven't had a chance to become lonely yet.   Dileen advises him to start off as a friend, then move gradually into romance.

But when Dudebro walks into work the next day, he is so stunned by the sight of the Girl of His Dreams that he drops his coffee.  And she turns out to be his new coworker!   He stumbles over himself trying to "welcome" her, introducing her to the coworkers, giving her the company password, and so on.  But when he offers to help with her assignment, she's offended: "I graduated from a top university with a degree in this, and I've done it 38,000 times on two internships with top firms!  I don't need help!"  Uh-oh, you're blowing it.

Gay Dude Kel

At medical school, the teacher announces that today they'll be examining cadavers, including their genitals, "which may be swollen."  Gay Dude Kel doesn't want to do it: "Is there a vegan option?" No.  He removes the sheet and exclaims "That dude's real dead" -- and faints. Haven't you studied anatomy, bro?

 

Cut to Gay Dude discussing a call-back for an acting job with Rich Kid Josh (below). 

"How can you handle acting and med school?"

"It's easy.  I just don't sleep."

On his call-back audition, he is asked to do a monologue where he tells his dad "I'm nothing.  I'm useless."  Next he is asked to do a freestyle rap.  It wasn't mentioned in the audition call. He tries, performs badly, and is ushered out.  

Back in the cadaver lab, Gay Dude decides that he doesn't want to cut open an "uncircumsized cadaver." So it would be ok if he were circumsized?  He doesn't enjoy med school, so he's quitting.  Right now.

When Gay Dude breaks the news to the guys, they are shocked.  "But you don't have a job, and when your mom finds out, she's going to kill you."

"Who cares?  Now I can concentrate on my acting."

The next day, Gay Dude meets his sister  at the coffee shop and explains that he hates medical school, and is droppping out.  "I just need you to help me think of how to tell Mom."  Uh-oh, the sister invited Mom.  Here she is, wanting to take the Christmas card photos with her talented doctor children.  Gay Dude chickens out of telling her.

Rich Kid Josh

Rich Kid Josh (Jack Martin) and his girl are doing stuff. Shirtless, but he moves around too much for a good screen shot  He stops to check his cell phone, which annoys her. It would annoy me, too.  You're literally in the middle of the act.  But he has to check the time of his interview --a PA job on The Wes Dryden Show, a big deal. 

You've seen Jack Martin as the villainous RA in Pizza Movie.

Later, his roommates complain about the girlfriend taking up so much space, so he offers to move with her into the apartment next door.  It's occupied by Fashionista Abby (below), but she's living there illegally, so he'll order her to move out.

In the morning, Rich Kid appears at his interview.  He tells Boss Patricia that even though he's the CEO's son,  he wants to go through the ranks like anyone else.  "Nope, it's not going to happen. You're not qualified.  Next!" 

On the way out, Rich Kid runs into Wes Dryden (Victor Garber), flatters him, and drops CEO Dad's name. "Oh, and I'm applying for a PA job on your show."

Cut to Rich Kid announcing to the guys that he got the job!  

The next day, Wes Dryden introduces Rich Kid as the new PA. Boss Patricia is angry: she wanted to hire a girl who's been interning there for two years.   She calls Josh into her office and asks "Do you know how I got this job?  I married Wes."

Victor Garber's d*ck is on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

Update: it was very small and blurry, so I got rid of it.

"But you're both gay."

"It was the 1990s.  He needed a lavender marriage for his career, and I needed a promotion."  The point is, she's angry that all Rich Kid had to do was say his name, so she's going to keep him from moving up in the industry.

That night, the girlfriend brings Rich Kid  "his favorite" (that's so annoying; all anyone ever eats on tv is their favorite). 

In other news, she's dumping him.  She fell in love with a real estate agent, brother to The Property Brothers (stars of a Canadian DIY show). 

More after the break

"Black Monday": Downlow financier, closeted Congressman, and a photocopied dick in the homophobic 1980s

  

  Link to the NSFW review

Black Monday, October 17, 1987, is named after a stock market crash that resulted in a drop of 22.6% in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and $500 billion in losses in the U.S., 1.7 trillion dollars worldwide.  I didn't hear anything about it at the time: in West Hollywood we didn't concern ourselves with such trivial matters as finances.  But apparently in the straight world, it was a big deal.  

I still find the world of finance immensely boring, but I happened to notice that an episode of the 2019-22 Black Monday tv series showed Andrew Rannells having sex with a guy -- the scene I used as an illustration for my Gideon-Keefe fan fiction -- so I checked out Episode 2.4, "Fore."

Scene 1: Bosses Dawn, a middle aged black woman, and Blair (Andrew Rannells) , a swishy white man, show horndogs Wayne and Yassir(Horatio Sanz, Yassir X) a photocopy of an enormous penis. They've received an anonymous sexual harassment complaint.  Blair yells at them: "The women in the office don't want to look at that, and neither do I."  

And this is a bad time: Congress is about to pass deregulation, so we'll be getting generational wealth. You'll be able to set up your kids' kids' kids If Amerasavings gets wwind of this,.... Ugh, economics and politics.  Let's get some zombies up in here.

The guys protest that it wasn't them, but they are punished by being placed in the "Rubber Room" for a month, and they have to apologize to every woman in the office.  Then Blair leaves --- he has to go play golf with Congressman Roger  (Tuc Watkins, Andrew's real-life boyfriend) to ensure that he will vote for deregulation.  Dawn can't come, because she's not a white man. Wait -- he calls her "babe."  Are they romantic partners, too?

Scene 2:  The horndogs figure that they've been framed, targeted by "some lying bitch" for being the last old-school "women should enjoy getting their butts grabbed" horndogs in the office. Their plan: find out who issued the bogus complaint, apologize, and then "get revenge." 

Scene 3: Blair goes back to his apartment -- still under construction -- and starts making out with his boyfriend -- Congressman Roger!  

Meanwhile, a lady bursts into the office to yell at the "home-wrecking harlot" who's destroying their marriage.  She wasn't expecting a middle aged black lady: "Blair" sounds more like a young, giggly blond, like the girl from Facts of Life.   

"This is a mixup from the tits up," Dawn assures her.  Blair is a man.  He goes golfing with Congressman Roger to push for his deregulation vote.  A downlow romance!  Neither of the wives know!

"But they golf all the time, in Palm Springs, San Francisco, Fire Island,,," Gay meccas, har-har.

"Standard business trips." A perfect example of heteronormativity: gay men cannot exist, so everything must have a heterosexual explanation.

The Wife, Corky, insists: "Blair and my husband are having sex...with other women, and using each other as alibis."  Come on, no one is that stupid!

Dawn calls Blair to prove that he is playing golf -- just as he is about to.... The wives will be driving out to the country club to meet them on the golf course.  "um...what hole are you in?"  Har-har.

Uh-oh, Blair knows nothing about golf, and it's too late to learn!

Scene 4: The horndogs try to play "good cop/bad cop" while interrogating the women. Except Yassir thinks they're supposed to both be bad cops, because "all cops are bad."

Scene 5: On the way to the country club, Wife Corky complains that Congressman Roger has betrayed her with a "nancy."  Dawn insists that Blair isn't gay, but Wife  Corky meant "a Nancy Reagan," who stole future President Reagan away from his first wife, Jane Wyman. Har-har.

She does happen to be the daughter of a Jerry Falwell-like homophobic televangelist.  He sells a special cologne that can "spray the gay away."

More after the break