Is “Nobody Wants That” a true story? Creator Erin Foster tells all

Sometimes a love story on TV seems too good to be true. In rarer cases, it's that good has to be true. Such is the case with the new Netflix romantic comedy Nobody Wants This.

The 10-part series, starring Adam Brody and Kristen Bell, tells the story of Joanne, the agnostic host of a no-holds-barred sex podcast who falls in love with Noah, a rabbi.

Set in Los Angeles, the series captures their journeys and beginnings as they reluctantly fall in love, aware of the challenges they face in the form of cultural differences and family expectations.

Creator Erin Foster didn't just create this show – she did lived It. “Nobody Wants This” was inspired by Foster's real-life love story with her husband, entertainment executive Simon Tikhman. Foster, a former reality star and actor turned entrepreneur, podcast host and producer, met Tikhman in her late 30s.

Although Tikhman is not a rabbi in real life, he practices Judaism. Foster converted to Judaism, a decision Joanne weighs in “Nobody Wants This,” before they married.

Speaking to TODAY.com, Foster talks about the line between truth and fiction.

“It’s not always tangible things that I can point to,” she says. “I would say the emotional journey is very similar to my experience when I met my husband.”

While Joanne and Noah are romantically attracted to each other, their family members and their own fears and inhibitions prevent them from fully surrendering to their feelings.

Part of Foster's experience had to do with being “set in its ways” when she met Tikhman in her 30s.

“‘That’s my worldview. Nobody will be able to change them. These are my habits. They are what they are,'” she remembers thinking. “And then you meet someone who completely turns that on its head, who makes you want to be a better version of yourself, and who makes you question all the things you thought were true .”

While Noah and Joanne's future ends in uncertainty at the end of the first season, Erin and Simon come to a much clearer conclusion: Foster converted to Judaism and the couple now share a four-month-old daughter, Noa Mimi.

According to Kristen Bell, Foster was extremely open to sharing her own story with her TV counterpart.

“Erin talked to us a lot about her experiences. She's such an open book and told us her whole story about meeting and dating her husband and her thought process about converting and about their differences and similarities,” says Bell.

Foster says Noah and Joanne's story is true to their lives, but emphasizes that most of the supporting characters are not based on their real-life counterparts.

“That worried me a lot and I consciously made the characters very different from people in real life because I didn’t want to get divorced,” she says. “My husband is really very private. Being married to someone like me is his personal hell. Today he literally said, 'Have a nice day. Good luck with the interviews. Please don't talk about me.'”

One character, however Is pulled directly from her life – and it's not her father, the musician David Foster.

“The mother figure is really, really based on my mother (Rebecca Dyer). I showed her the audition that Stephanie (Faracy) sent in and my mom thought it was really funny,” says Foster.

She added that unlike Joanne on the show, she has a “great relationship” with her in-laws. “She has nothing to do with the character,” Foster says of her mother-in-law.

In fact, they have such a great relationship that Foster gave Marina Tikhman a role in the series.

“She's actually in a scene in the opening temple. She sits next to Bina (Tovah Feldshuh), who essentially plays her, and that's why she supports me because I gave her an acting career,” she jokes, saying that her mother-in-law was a “huge diva on set. She wanted all the hair and makeup and all the attention.”

Foster says the goal isn't to recreate her story.

“I really want to show a romantic comedy with a male lead who treats women nicely and doesn't make him feel like a weakling,” she says.

She was motivated to show that a “good guy (could) also be the 'crushable' guy you want to end up with.”

She also wants people to see people dating in their 30s on TV.

“It’s hard to date in your 30s,” Foster says. “I met my husband when I was about to turn 36 and it's a really scary time. Like you think you're going to be alone forever, that you've missed the boat, or that time is up and you're focused on your career.” . Everything can’t happen at the same time.”

“So I hope people see the show and feel like it's a romantic comedy for not the 'young'.”