“ Nobody Wants This ,” Netflix ‘s new romantic-comedy series about the burgeoning relationship between a rabbi (Adam Brody) and a sex podcaster (Kristen Bell), has come under fire since its Sept. 26 release for including what some viewers perceive as “stereotypical” Jewish characters. Series creator Erin Foster responded to the backlash in an interview with the Los Angeles Times and said the show’s goal is to “shed a positive light on Jewish culture.
” Foster converted to Judaism after falling in love with her husband. Several days after “Nobody Wants This” started to stream, author and Glamour senior west coast editor Jessica Radloff published an essay titled “Netflix’s ‘Nobody Wants This’ and the Persistent Jewish Stereotype” in which she wrote that the show’s Jewish characters “come off as controlling, marriage-hungry women who want to plan dinner parties and alienate anyone who doesn’t share those same dreams.” Radloff also took issue with the show’s pilot episode for the scene in which Brody’s character’s mother refers to Bell’s character as a “shiksa,” a negative descriptor for a non-Jewish woman.
“This scene at the temple is the exact opposite of what we Jews are taught to do — welcome thy neighbor,” Radloff wrote. “At a time when antisemitism is at the highest levels we’ve seen since the Holocaust, scenes like this hit me hard.” Radloff was not alone in her criticism.
Time magazine’s review of the series c.