Now that we’ve spent a few days tackling the heavy-hitting topics of this problematic rom-com alongside the fluffier, fun ones, it’s time to wrap season 1 all up. Because as much as this show needs to be done and done (unpopular opinion of 1), it’s official - it WILL be back for a second go!
Per Vulture, it’s been green-lit for a second season and they are bringing in the Girls brass - writers Jenni Konner and Eric Caplan. Foster, who was a show runner in the first season will stay on as an exec producer.
So with that, here to discuss final thoughts, please welcome back
with a roaring round of applause. 👏 Oh yeah, and me. :)
And Just Like That….
Where We Left Off
Interfaith coupling, Jewish identity, and representations of Jewish American fam [Read here] 🔗
Synopsis about the show, our favorite characters, and our least favorite [Read here] 🔗
Ok, team. We are down to our final question.
Anything else you’d want to say about the show?
Beth: I’m going to switch gears for a second to another show - that quite a few readers of this Substack watch. Bad Monkey ended its ten episode run of season 1 this week on Apple TV+. It’s a show that takes place in Florida and whose penultimate episode and finale took place during a pretty aggressive hurricane in which there are casualties. I couldn’t help thinking two things as I watched the finale - 1) This isn’t boding well for viewer participation, given Florida’s current situation with Hurricane Milton and 2) For a 10-week show that started in August, effectively overlapping with hurricane season in peak hurricane touchdown path (Florida and off coast islands), to feature a deadly tropical storm, was particularly tone-deaf.
Bad Monkey - The eye of the Hurricane
With antisemitism on the rise and just this week the threats aimed at FEMA officials now being conveniently directed at Jews [see here], it’s irresponsible to put a show which chooses to show Jewish culture in such a light. Timing matters. In some ways, Jewish people are fighting for our right to exist, and at the very least, their state and homeland, these days. Think about Oct. 7th. It’s really hard to see these matters of Jewish faith and community be tooled around with so trivially and by people who don’t hold it with the type of care and love it deserves.
In a March 2024 article in The Atlantic, titled, “The Golden Age of American Jews Is Ending” [link] writer Franklin Foer makes the claim, much as the title of the article suggests, that the 90s (Seinfeld) in some ways were the last hurrah for Jewish culture on TV. Effectively, the ushering in of the 21st Century marked a substantial pull away from positive representation toward more vilified characterizations. If you read the article, you’ll see that some of this is in part due to sentiments on Israel changing course in light of U.S. political and economic events of the 2000s. All of these things are interconnected.
Back to Nobody Likes This. and its news of being green-lit. Ok, so I’m mildly encouraged by some of the writer additions to the show’s second season. Bruce Eric Kaplan worked as a writer on Seinfeld and on Six Feet Under. However, I’d prefer if Netflix took the money and made two shows - one with Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Reboot) and another with Aya Cash (The Boys, You’re the Worst). They could write and star in them. I don’t even know if Cash writes, but I’m sure she could.
Rachel Bloom and Aya Cash
Ingrid: I don’t know that we needed a second season. The show’s strongest aspect was its fun rom-com vibe. Will the guy and girl get together in the end? They did, and I had a relaxing Friday night binging it. Plus, I didn’t like the turn Sasha and Morgan’s relationship was taking.
All in all despite my critiques above, I do think the show had that certain “it show” quality to it.
I can see how it has become really popular. I think Seth Cohen has a lot to do with it— there’s a nostalgic OC feeling that definitely comes into play, and there’s a catchiness to the ‘hot rabbi’ concept.
Adam Brody in his Seth Cohen years from “The OC”
Lior: In it’s second season, I want the show to handle conversion. I want to see more from the side characters. I want Morgan to get her sh*t together! I want Rebecca to get her happy ending. I think that final scene was a cop out because it was building on season two. I will say the biggest problem of Nobody Wants This., for me as a Jewish professional, is how it muddles the religious with the personal. Noah’s family was envisioning a certain future for him, they loved Rebecca, she was a part of the family at that point, and so him living her and moving on so fast is a very understandable pain point, especially for someone like Esther who is her best friend.
But when that gets muddled with this demonization of anyone outside your religion and this idea of the “shiksa” (a word I ABHOR), that really has the potential to paint Jews in a bad light in a really precarious time for us in this country (something I know Foster has no intention of doing.) I’d want more diverse, full-bodied Jewish representation in season two, because I do think the show, aside from being well-written and a delight, gets at a lot of truisms about dating in your 30s and 40s, about unlearning toxic patterns in relationships — both romantic and familial (and I hope for more of the latter for Morgan and Joanne.) As a Jewish mom, I want to see the Bina character as someone with more depth too.
AND I DON’T WANT SASHA AND MORGAN TO BE A THING!! EW. But I do want more of Rabbi Shira.
Beth Side Note: I thoroughly endorse Lior’s use of the word “muddle.” The best use of the word “muddle” is in E.M. Forster’s Room With A View, when George’s father employs the word to explain to Lucy (Helena Bonham-Carter) how she has royally botched up her feelings for George (and vice versa) and to finally admit what we all have known all along - that she loves him.
Sheila: I’m definitely intrigued to see where they might take Season 2. I hope they speak to some of the criticism levied at the show regarding the depiction of Jewish culture, Jewish people. It would also allow them to grow and evolve the characters that could be satisfying.
As I said, I’d like to see Morgan grapple with some of her own issues. What I think makes this show worth keeping around and discussing is that it’s one of the first “fluffy-ish” romance type shows I’ve seen where issues of honesty, truth, and a genuine realness are centered. The show could make a lot more of the cultural divide (like Big Fat Greek Wedding or any other combination of a kind of “East meets West” pairing), but instead it takes the notion of a foundational difference between two people to explore how that invites us to meet each other and ourselves honestly and with honesty.
It’s either Joanne or Noah (I can’t remember which) who says that “opening up about something that makes you uncomfortable…helps people connect to you.”
Editorial Note: This is definitely a Rabbi Noah-ism.
I feel like this wants to be the spine of Nobody Wants This. - Asking the hard questions, such as, Can you be truthful? Can you live that truth? Can you deal with someone else doing the same? The title (Nobody Wants This.) itself sort of underlines the complexities that the show hints at–nobody wants the REAL YOU, nobody wants to be so exposed that it’s unbearable, nobody wants complicated, messy, hard, heartbreaking. But this is always where we find ourselves when we have the courage to be seen. And because life is not convenient by design.
One of the scenes I noted was when Joanne is on her date and the guy is showing her a headshot–cultivated, polished, not real. And then you overhear the other guy complimenting the woman on her sculpted body–cultivated, polished, not natural at least.
This is the moment we are living in–everyone is performing and working like crazy to hide their authenticity or tidy up their messes or be messy in the right way.
Editorial Note: By George, she’s got it! Couldn’t resist a line from Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, plus Sheila speaks truth.
Joanne is guilty of all of that until she meets Noah who says, “Just be real. Be you. Be uncomfortable in your truth and I will do the same.” I think that’s the “swoony” quality that viewers are responding to! Can the writers evolve, deepen, and sustain those elements for a second season or more? We’ll see.
Things we want to see in Season 2 - Lightning round style:
YES to Rabbi Shira. I loved her and think in a different show she and Noah would be circling each other or maybe this one (GASP!)
Sasha and Morgan: MORE, but platonic ONLY.
Esther: LESS caricature, MORE character– depth and complexity and vulnerability, please.
THE PODCAST: They refer to it like it’s on the same level as NATIONAL SECURITY (eye. roll.) Either make the damn thing top-notch and super relevant or let it dissolve. I don’t buy that it’s some kind of amazing cast that everyone is waiting on from week to week.
Editorial Note: Agreed!
Takeaways:
- Yes to a spinoff involving Rabbi Shira. If this can’t happen then Beth will settle for a Rachel Bloom rom-dram vehicle. Preferably, using the novel she’s already written, which lo and behold she’s already envisioned Bloom for the protagonist - a strong Jewish female lead.
I just want to take a moment to talk about the (maybe) OG hot rabbi. Jake Schram walked so Rabbi Noah Roklov could run. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, I’m referring to Ben Stiller’s 2000 movie Keeping the Faith. The movie was written by a Jewish writer, Stuart Blumberg and directed by Edward Norton. There are so many ways in which Keeping the Faith, which is all about a childhood love triangle between a rabbi (Stiller’s Rabbi Schram,) a priest (played by a very easy-on-the-eyes Ed Norton, who may be the OG hot priest, too) and their childhood best friend, Anna Riley (Jenna Elfman, who played the Jew-ish Dharma in “Dharma and Greg”), is better than “Nobody Wants This. It’s a much more profound exploration of Judaism.
Stiller, was after all, raised in a Jewish home and there’s something about bringing his lived Jewish experience to this role that makes it all the more impactful. It does such a good job at showing that the problem of interfaith dating is sometimes overblown, and it’s swoon-y and romantic and reverent. But it falls into the same trap that Nobody Wants This. does when it comes to Jewish women — in the movie, Lisa Edelstein plays a super crazy, unlikeable Jewish girl that Jake’s mother makes him go on a date. This clip of Lisa below — who is genuinely so good and funny in this role, it’s not her fault — is even more cringe-worthy than most of the Jewish women in Nobody Wants This. She literally beats a homeless man on their date!
Tick Tock Tick Tock
As much as I hate to say “goodbye” to this Season 1 review with the Pop Culturistas, the time has come. Due to overwhelming popularity, we will be back, however.
Thank you Ingrid, Sheila, and Lior for hanging on the virtual couch with me.
Let’s Discuss - Sound Off!
What do you hope to see in season 2?
Bad Monkey thoughts?
Any takers for Keeping the Faith? I might have to go back and watch it again this weekend!
Don’t Forget! We are Rebranding October “The Love & Healing” Month so Leave the Gore and the Horror Elsewhere
The October Romance Film Lover’s Club - Movie of the Week isPAST LIVES. [Trailer] I dare you not to tear up as you watch the trailer. It’s probably the most persuasive and moving film preview I’ve seen in the past few years. If it doesn’t make you want to watch it, I owe you a bagel.
Subscriber Chat [link] Will Start on Sunday, October 13th. While you’re there, visit our Roman Holiday thread. It was a blast! Thanks
Bad Monkey had great characters I enjoyed spending time with, and it'll be hard to come up with better baddies than Meredith Hagner and Rob Delaney. They were both outrageous and so much fun to watch.
I looked forward to Slow Horses more than Bad Monkey, but was disappointed there wasn't more Gary Oldman, who really makes the show for me. A panel on Slow Horses would be great as the critics' ratings are high but I wasn't as wowed by this season. Although Hugo Weaving and James Callis are excellent additions. But wondering if I'm alone in wanting more Gary!
Re: Bad Monkey, which I loved. I can see your argument about tone deaf. I loved the show (admittedly Toronto doesn't get hit by hurricanes.) There was a real karmic elements into it that really spoke to me. The finale was a bit *too* karmic but still worked.
Bad Monkey had great characters I enjoyed spending time with, and it'll be hard to come up with better baddies than Meredith Hagner and Rob Delaney. They were both outrageous and so much fun to watch.
I looked forward to Slow Horses more than Bad Monkey, but was disappointed there wasn't more Gary Oldman, who really makes the show for me. A panel on Slow Horses would be great as the critics' ratings are high but I wasn't as wowed by this season. Although Hugo Weaving and James Callis are excellent additions. But wondering if I'm alone in wanting more Gary!
Re: Bad Monkey, which I loved. I can see your argument about tone deaf. I loved the show (admittedly Toronto doesn't get hit by hurricanes.) There was a real karmic elements into it that really spoke to me. The finale was a bit *too* karmic but still worked.