Entertainment

'The Letter' Fans Will Love These Shows

by Kayla Hawkins

Giving thanks, giving back, taking time to try new things? You can make almost any TV series feel seasonally appropriate if you try, and the end of Season 1 of Freeform's new series The Letter certainly feels like the type of things a group of friends would (and maybe should!) do to push themselves out of their comfort zone by crowdsourcing an important way they could stand to grow and challenge themselves. And, given its character-building premise and seasonally-appropriate vibe, will The Letter return for Season 2? I won't say it would be a holiday miracle, but the chances of the show returning are moderate at best, given that ratings for The Letter haven't reached infamous just yet.

Freeform has yet to announce whether it will bring back the series, but if it did, it wouldn't be hard to produce another series rather quickly. After all, there's practically no cast, a limited crew, and no scripts to write — just a group of friends to film. So if there are new episodes, they may take a year to reach audiences, but the show could, conceivably, return much more quickly. But while The Letter may be still waiting on an announcement from Freeform, there's plenty of other recent or upcoming series that feature female friendships front and center.

Girls

Female friendship and finding oneself: That's what Girls has been perfecting over the past five seasons. And for its conclusion, the series will not be backing up and backing down on how it depicts its version of mid-20s Brooklyn gentrifiers.

Insecure

While the relationship in Insecure was a little bit uneven, the central friendship definitely rang true. The last episode, which includes some examination of how friends change when they're all together in a group, shines an accurate, but less-than-positive light on group dynamics.

Younger

This series doesn't often come up when people are listing their TV comedy favorites, but it should, especially when it comes to the show's group of female characters. Imagine a kinder, gentler UnReal (sans reality TV). The women bond, sometimes obscure the truth, and work hard, while most of the guys are either eye candy or hopeless romantic pawns.

Gilmore Girls

Family that doubles as friends. It's a little codependent and weird, but, for the Gilmore clan, that's what works. The Netflix revival has placed the beloved series back in the spotlight, and the generations of, well, Gilmore Girls, are the best friends any of them will ever need.

Jane The Virgin

From one show about the power of family to another — Jane Gloriana Villanueva's life may be ruled by romance, but it's buoyed by her close relationship with her mother and grandmother, as well as her drive to befriend almost any other woman she crosses paths with, including her nemesis Petra.

Broad City

This duo is a disaster, but they still love one another and they're incredibly hilarious even while stumbling their way through life. And the end of 2016 means that another season is closer to premiering — one of many reasons to happy that this year is coming to an end.

Whether or not The Letter returns for Season 2, it's part of a much larger trend in depicting female friendships on TV lately, so its impact should live on.

Images: Matt Petit/Freeform; Anne Marie Fox/HBO; Scott Everett White/The CW