“Nobody Wants That” has a problem with a Jewish woman

AA millennial Jewish woman, the new Netflix series Nobody wants that intrigued me with a concept: “Adam Brody plays a hot rabbi.” And yes, when I actually watched the 10-episode romantic comedy was the star of The OK fulfilled all expectations in the role of Rabbi Noah Roklov. He's barely aged a day since he played Seth Cohen in the early 2000s, and he's charming in the self-deprecating way the actor has mastered over his decades on television.

Still, I couldn't help but feel disappointed. While the series expresses the fantasy of the ideal Jewish man in Noah, it seems to loathe Jewish women, portrayed as whiners, harpies, and the ultimate villains of this story. I wanted to be swept away by a romantic comedy. Instead, I was faced with the reality that maybe this show actually hates me.

Nobody wants that was created by Erin Foster, the daughter of music producer and composer David Foster, formerly the star of the short-lived reality television spoof VH1 Hardly famous in which she and her sister Sara played fictional versions of themselves in search of fame. In real life, Foster converted to Judaism in order to marry entertainment manager Simon Tikhman. Your wedding was covered fashion. Here she offers a glimpse into her own story. Her alter ego is Joanne, played by Kristen Bell, who, like Foster, runs a podcast with her sister Morgan (Consequenceis Justine Lupe), where they talk about their chaotic sex lives and their bad taste in men.

At a dinner party, Joanne meets Noah after initially assuming that a rather stereotypically Jewish-looking man was the rabbi she was expecting. Despite the accidental anti-Semitism in their meet-cute, Noah falls in love with this little firecracker. Of course, the fact that he is a rabbi complicates matters further: he is expected to marry a Jewish girl, and the very blonde Joanne is not Jewish at all. In fact, the most basic Jewish customs are almost shockingly unfamiliar to her, especially for a privileged person living in Los Angeles. Joanne, for example, doesn’t know what “Shalom” means. I grew up in the same circles in LA. A real Joanne would certainly have attended several bat mitzvahs in her time.

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In order to be with Noah, Joanne must overcome her own insecurities about relationships. In order to be with Joanne, Noah must figure out how to balance his career and faith with his choice of a woman. Standing in their way are a horde of judgmental Jewish women, including Noah's mother Bina (Tovah Feldshuh), his sister-in-law Esther (Jackie Tohn) and his ex Rebecca (Emily Arlook). While Joanne is by no means perfect – she's immature and messy – these brunette ladies are one-dimensional nightmares who together fuel stereotypes. They are needy, overbearing and evil.

The non-Jewish woman – also known as “shiksa” – has long been idolized by Jewish men in popular culture. In Annie HallWoody Allen's Alvy Singer falls in love with the title character, played by Diane Keaton, who tells him: “You are what Grammie Hall would call a real Jew.” With Elaine May The heartbreaking childCharles Grodin's Lenny Cantrow essentially abandons his Jewish newlywed Lila Kolodny (Jeannie Berlin) to chase Cybill Shepherd on the beach. In the musical The last five yearswhich will be seen on Broadway next year more than two decades after its off-Broadway premiere, writer Jamie sings an ode to his “shiksa goddess” Cathy. “I’m breaking my mother’s heart,” he sings. “The longer I stand there looking at you, the more I hear it splintering and cracking from 90 miles away.”

Nobody wants thatin contrast to, operates largely from the Shiksa perspective. Here she is as in love with the Jewish man as he is with her, but she is not convinced to adopt his culture as her own. And why should she be if it seems so unfriendly?

“Who the hell is that?” Esther asks Bina at the end of the pilot episode, after Joanne misses a date to show up at Noah's temple, where he is giving a sermon. Bina angrily replies, “A shiksa.” Esther then follows Noah and his brother Sasha (Veepis Timothy Simons) to the bar where they went out with Joanne and Morgan. Esther beckons her husband to the car by honking and calling the sisters “whore number one and whore number two.” Bina, on the other hand, has a strong Eastern European accent and appears a little threatening when she confronts her son about dating Joanne. Later, when Joanne meets her, Bina is briefly charmed, but then whispers with a smile, “You'll never end up with my son,” like a crime boss.

And they aren't the only Jewish female targets Nobody wants that. Rebecca comes off a little easier – she doesn't seem as mean on the outside and is genuinely heartbroken – but is still portrayed in an unflattering light. Noah breaks up with her after she presumptuously starts wearing an engagement ring before he proposes. She later lies to Morgan, whom she meets at a bar, about the status of her and Noah's relationship with the aim of torturing Joanne. Additionally, the other “wives and girlfriends” – or WAGS – of the boys on Noah's basketball team, the Matzah Ballers, are all superficial followers of Esther, either obsessed with her weddings, her children, or her tacky jewelry brands.

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They are all what some would call “Jewish American Princesses” or “JAPs,” a semi-insulting term that has been echoed by some Jewish women. For example, Crazy ex-girlfrienda show with a Jewish heroine played by co-creator Rachel Bloom (and, coincidentally, Feldshuh as a Jewish mother) staged a hilarious “JAP Battle.” But Nobody wants that has none of the lived knowledge that constitutes it Crazy ex Scene funny. Instead, it is a tourist's view of Judaism with an outsider's observation of Jewish women. The only one portrayed as entirely benevolent is a rabbi played by Leslie Grossman, whom Joanne meets at the camp where Noah works.

This is not intended to discredit Foster's claim to Judaism as a convert. But that doesn't stop them from pandering to cheap stereotypes for lame jokes instead of offering nuanced portrayals of complicated women. Joanne and Morgan are allowed to be misguided but lovable. Your opponents are just mean.

Incidentally, the men are portrayed in a much more relaxed manner. Sasha is a fun stoner who bonds with Morgan because she's the “loser sibling.” Sasha and Noah's father (Paul Ben-Victor) likes to sleep and take naps. You can see why Joanne would want to be married to a Jewish man; You can see why she isn't sure she wants to be Jewish.

This is the ultimate disappointment Nobody wants that. What should be a show about a woman entering and accepting Jewish culture instead perpetuates the worst ideas about Jewish women. I wanted to fall in love. Instead, I just felt targeted. And I'm not just bitter because the bitch's name is Esther. I promise it.