A popular new TikTok show deals with bad Gen Z roommates in NYC apartments

A new TikTok show tackles a perennial New York City problem: what to do about a tricky roommate.

In “Roommate Court,” comedian Michael Abber is the "Judge Judy of New York," but instead of traffic violations, he’s hearing cases of chaotic cohabitation.

In a typical, two-minute episode, he grills a pair of feuding roommates to determine who’s in the wrong — and determine what, if anything, they can do to make amends.

The show was created by Damion Bucenec and produced by Adam Faze’s content powerhouse, Gymnasium (also the company behind another TikTok hit, “Boy Room.”)

The first episode, titled "Throuple From Hell," dropped in early May and racked up over 400,000 views. It blew up faster than Abber expected.

“IM OBSESSED AND TUNING IN EVERY EPISODE,” said one commenter.

“This is already the best show ever, and you’re in NEW YORK? Endless roommates situations to mediate,” said another.

Just like the pilot’s stars, Abber started his New York journey in Bushwick after a childhood spent in Los Angeles and college at Northwestern.

“Where else does a young homosexual go to grow up?” he joked over iced tea on a recent Friday afternoon.

In the first episode, two very Gen-Z roommates — one, Maisie, rocking a septum piercing, mullet and vintage deer shirt; the other, Dennis, donning an oversized hoodie — battle it out over their lease and their shared lover.

Dennis moved his girlfriend into the apartment, but after they broke up, she started dating his other roommate, Maisie.

“I don’t see why we can’t just ride it out,” says Maisie in the video.

“I just don’t see why you have to date the girl I was just dating,” Dennis fires back, leaning over a courtroom stand.

“Ooooh,” exclaims Abber (or “Judge Michael” on the show), dressed to the nines in a gray suit and red tie. He prods the roomies for details about their friendship — turns out, they’ve been best buds since freshman year — as he prepares to make the “final ruling.”

The series features real roommates grappling with real problems, Abber said, between bites of a “Pig in a Bed-Stuy” pastry at his local coffee shop, Welcome Home.

The roommates air their frustrations in a desperate attempt to iron out their issues — and, of course, provide a bit of entertainment for TikTok’s reality TV-obsessed Gen-Zers. Abber swore that he didn't know anything about the feuds until he met the roommates on the day of filming.

Abber, whom the Gymnasium producers tapped to be the star of the online series, said the show’s creators find roommate disputes by browsing Craigslist. That has led to episodes such as “Cat Daddy Custody Battle,” “Finance Bro vs. Bartender” and a new installment set to drop Wednesday.

Unlike Judge Judy, who was a former Manhattan judge, Abber has no legal expertise. But he loves the drama. “Being judgmental does run in my blood,” he admitted. “My grandfather was a court judge.”

Part of the show’s appeal, he said, was that people need a place to vent about whom they’re living with. It’s a tale as old as time.

“And they need the loudest person possible, me, to come in and give them permission to yell at each other a little bit,” he added.

He hasn’t suffered through roommate nightmares quite like Dennis and Maisie, but he said he’s done his time in some fairly bizarre dynamics.

“Queer housing in New York is like saying, gun to your head: who do you want to live with from the Renaissance Fair?” he said, quoting his friend, comedian Bridget Foley.

Although today, he’s finally signed a new lease with some good friends in the comedy scene.

“We're a very loud apartment,” he said. “Our neighbors certainly aren't pleased with us, but we're quite pleased with ourselves.”

Before joining "Roommate Court," Abber was performing standup in local bars across the city and had no experience with TikTok.

“I didn't make a TikTok until I got this job,” he said. “I really am very unplugged. Everything is always new to me, and if I can't read about it at the library on 66th Street, I don't know about it.”

His approach is in stark contrast to Faze’s philosophy and business model, in which TikTok shows are the wave of the future.

“Young people just consume TikTok as television at this point,” said Faze, who’s the mastermind behind a wave of TikTok shows like "Boy Room" and "Left on Read." “It's replacing the habit of coming home and putting on the TV and scrolling the channels.”

Despite his eight hours of screen time per day, he agrees with Abber on one key point: People are obsessed with drama, both off and online.

“We call TikTok the yapping app,” said Faze.

And while “Roommate Court” is set in New York, it’s gained a nationwide following: “I think we're all not as different as we think we are,” said Faze.

“At the end of the day, the 'For You' page is becoming a shared water cooler conversation of the content we're all consuming. So while it might seem like Bushwick is a meme of itself, there's a Bushwick in every city in America,” he said.

Lance Strate, a Fordham professor who has spent decades studying new media, added that TikTok is just the latest evolution in the shortening of attention spans. Ever since the telegraph, people have been craving snappy, short content. He pointed out that Gen-Xers grew up watching music videos on cable.

“The demand for bite-sized entertainment has only increased as we have moved into the 21st century, and viewers have increasingly obtained their entertainment through the web and streaming services,” said Strate.

But regardless of form, Abber believes the appeal of roommate drama is timeless.

“I once had a Hebrew school teacher who would always say, it all goes back to the Torah,” he said. “I think it's kind of like that. The same stories get told.”