Cristin Milioti stars in “A-to-Z”

Television and film draw inspiration from real life, so it isn't surprising that romantic comedies are so popular. Everyone has fallen in love, had their heart broken and likely been oblivious to being hit on. All of the potential mishaps and communication gaffes that could strike a fledgling couple provide endless material for show-runners to draw from. The freshman series "A-to-Z" is trying to put a modern spin on the genre and returns with a new episode Thursday, Nov. 6, on NBC.

"A-to-Z" centers around Andrew Lofland, played by Ben Feldman ("Mad Men"), and Zelda Vasco, portrayed by Cristin Milioti, who is fresh off her role as the titular mother in "How I Met Your Mother." While that beloved series dragged out the reveal, "A-to-Z" has a very definite timeline. According to NBC, Zelda and Andrew's relationship will last for a frightfully specific eight months, three weeks, five days and one hour, and the episode titles each reference a letter of the alphabet -- "A Is for Acquaintances," "D Is for Debbie," for example.

The tight timeline will be interesting to watch as it plays out. On one hand, the writers have a bit less freedom to play around with outlandish story lines. On the other, it's easy to avoid jumping the shark with a show that naturally lends itself to ending after two seasons. The entire relationship spans less than a year, but luckily for holiday fans, it seems "A-to-Z" will cover Christmas, which is a hotbed of relationship plot lines and misunderstandings.

Contrary to many successful rom coms, in which the man is uptight and the woman is searching for her prince, Andrew is a hopeless romantic. Zelda, meanwhile, is a lawyer with a strong sense of independence and need for control. Andrew, in particular, has been imagining finding his perfect woman, obsessing over a woman in a silver dress whom he saw two years earlier but never met.

The two meet by chance while they are working in adjacent buildings after Zelda is sent on a horrible date by the online dating company Andrew works for. Both are immediately drawn to each other, and they quickly end up on a date. Andrew is convinced that Zelda is the woman he saw in the club years earlier, but his insistence weirds out Zelda. Unable to let it go, Andrew keeps digging. By the end of the first episode, Zelda admits that she was at the concert in a silver dress, although she believes their meeting is chance and not fate like Andrew thinks.

Milioti is no stranger to romantic television, and her doe eyes and wide smile certainly look the part. Opposite the equally adorable Feldman, the pair exhibits stunning chemistry, both on and off the screen. Of course, their relationship can't be a simple affair, and the rest of the cast does an admirable job of interfering.

Cristin Milioti and Ben Feldman as seen in “A-to-Z”

Zelda's coworker and roommate, Stephie (Lenora Crichlow, "Being Human"), is obsessed with falling in love. Despite the fact that she isn't in a relationship at the moment, Stephie has a Pinterest page dedicated to her imaginary wedding. She is actually partly responsible for Andrew and Zelda's first real meeting, as Stephie set up Zelda's online dating profile in the first place.

In the first episode, Stephie goes on a date with "Scatman Desmoines," who turns out to be none other than Andrew's own coworker and roommate, Stu (Henry Zebrowski, "The Wolf of Wall Street," 2013). A classic womanizer, Stu takes advantage of the online dating app his company developed to create fake personas and bed women. Despite his own lack of success in life and love, Stu freely offers advice to everyone -- whether they want it or not.

Also employed at Andrew and Stu's company, Wallflower Online Dating, are Hong Chau ("Trenches") and Parvesh Cheena ("Squad 85"), as programmers Lora and Dinesh, respectively. In the "A-to-Z" premiere, Lora and Dinesh snoop through Zelda's online photos at Andrew's request. While they are searching for proof that Zelda is the mysterious silver-gowned woman, they fail to locate anything conclusive. Even worse, Zelda overhears Lora and Dinesh reporting to Andrew and accuses him of stalking her.

Christina Kirk ("The Gates," 2013) rounds out the main cast as Lydia, the general manager at Wallflower. While she manages a dating service, Lydia, also known around the office as "Big Bird," sees her role as a purely economic job. Her focus is to keep customers paying, regardless of their success -- or lack thereof -- in love.

The episode that airs Thursday, Nov. 6, is entitled "F Is for Fight, Fight, Fight!" While the quirky couple continue to navigate through their budding relationship, Andrew figures it's a good idea to show off his big and tough routine to Zelda. Things backfire for the wannabe macho man, and Zelda is left to fend for herself, as she regularly does.

"A-to-Z" is already garnering favorable feedback from critics and viewers alike, and this new episode is sure to pack a punch. With a limited number of episodes on the docket, you don't want to miss a new episode of "A-to-Z" airing Thursday, Nov, 6, on NBC.