Nobody Wants This creator Erin Foster has addressed criticism surrounding her show’s depiction of Jewish characters. Following the Netflix series’ premiere on September 26, Glamour published “Netflix’s Nobody Wants This and the Persistent Jewish Stereotype,” an opinion piece by senior West Coast editor Jessica Radloff. While Radloff enjoyed the series (more on that later), she did take offense to the way Jewish women are portrayed in the romantic comedy: from an unwelcoming mother to the “Jewish trope of controlling/annoying wife who can’t stand their other half.” Foster, whose real-life romance with now-husband Simon Tikhman loosely inspired the series, recently spoke with the Los Angeles Times regarding the backlash:
“I think we need positive Jewish stories right now. I think it’s interesting when people focus on, ‘Oh, this is a stereotype of Jewish people,’ when you have a rabbi as the lead. A hot, cool, young rabbi who smokes weed. That’s the antithesis of how people view a Jewish rabbi, right? If I made the Jewish parents, like, two granola hippies on a farm, then someone would write, ‘I’ve never met a Jewish person like that before. You clearly don’t know how to write Jewish people, you don’t know what you’re doing, and that doesn’t represent us well.'”
Nobody Wants This follows the unlikely relationship between Noah ( Adam Brody), the “hot, cool, young rabbi,” and Joanne ( Kristen Bell), an agnostic woman who hosts a sex podcast with her sister. While Noah and Joanne don’t exactly seem like a perfect match on paper, their romance blossoms quickly, and the two fall head over heels for each other, much to the disapproval of some of their closest friends and family. The opposition to their relationship comes mainly from the women in Noah’s family, his mother (who, despite taking a liking to Joanne, is adamant about the two not being together) and his sister-in-law, whose loyalties lie with Noah’s ex.
Nobody Wants This Has Been Criticized for Its Jewish ‘Stereotypes’
According to Radloff, Nobody Wants This paints Jewish women as “controlling, marriage-hungry women who want to plan dinner parties and alienate anyone who doesn’t share those same dreams.” Radloff also references a scene at the temple where the women are less than welcoming to Joanne, which the writer finds contradictory to the Jewish faith:
“This scene at the temple is the exact opposite of what we Jews are taught to do — welcome thy neighbor,” Radloff adds: “At a time when antisemitism is at the highest levels we’ve seen since the Holocaust, scenes like this hit me hard.”
According to Foster, the issues presented between Joanne and Noah’s family are purely fictional, as the show creator says she has always had a great relationship with Tikhman’s family. Foster converted to Judaism before marrying Tikhman (who is not a rabbi) in 2019.
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Despite her issues with Nobody Wants This, Radloff enjoyed the “genuinely funny” romantic comedy series. And she’s not alone. The series opened at the No. 2 spot on Netflix with 10.3 million views in the first four days of streaming and has garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews, with critics praising Foster’s writing, its hilarious cast, and Bell and Brody’s on-screen chemistry. And yes, seeing Bell and Brody on-screen is a real treat for millennials and fans of early 2000s television.
Nobody Wants This
is available to stream on Netflix.