Nobody Wants This [Media Notes 148]

I watched the first three episodes of Nobody Wants This in a single sitting. Loved it. I eagerly anticipated watching the other seven episodes. Which I did over the next day or, I don’t know, was it three? Anyhow.

Don’t get me wrong. I still liked it. But not quite so much, perhaps that was because I’d become habituated to it. Still, if this sort of thing interests you, by all means, watch it. You’ll like it.

But then, maybe you won’t. Here’s what Jessica Grose had to say about it in The New York Times:

As I tore through the 10 episodes of this (admittedly) very bingeable show, I had the dawning realization that it seems to hate not only Jewish women. It seems to hate all women. Pretty much every woman on the show is depicted as superficial and relationship-obsessed.

Joanne and her sister have a successful podcast that neither of them can be bothered to do any real work for; at one point, Joanne is quick to blow off a business dinner that could net them a huge payday. They crave the affirmation and attention of teenagers and describe themselves as “mean popular girls” who are going up against the other mean popular girls — the Jewish women. Their mother is a New Age flake they’re very dismissive of, despite the fact that she’s sweet and seems to care deeply about them.

Yikes! So maybe you won’t like it. & maybe I should be ashamed of myself for liking it. Still, Grose and I agree on one thing, it’s bingeable.

&, u know, it’s TV, not real life. Nor do I hate women, at least I don’t think I do.

Anyhow, it’s a romantic comedy. Blonde shiksa, who’d never even heard the word until she meets hip Jewish rabbi. They fall in love, naturally, or perhaps not so naturally, who knows. It’s TV.

And she doesn’t fit into his world, not at all, except for him, and may his older, and much taller, brother, and brother’s daughter who’s having her bat mitzvah. There’s tension, and comedy. Anyhow, I’ve been a fan of Kristen Bell, who plays the shiksa, since Veronica Mars. So maybe that’s it.

But, come to think of it, the final episode did bug me. We’re clearly being set up for a second season, which is how these things go. As the show ends – spoiler coming up – what had been looking like a wedding-coming-up after all the storm and stress seems out of the picture. Why? Because she couldn’t talk herself into converting. And that bugged me, not that I wanted her to convert, but, maybe that’s it, that things were crashing and burning on that old work (his) vs. family conflict. He needs her to convert for the sake of his career. But she can’t bring herself to do it.

It’s as though this Jew/Gentile business has been used as a cover for that work/family business – see my post, The Family Man & work-life balance [Media Notes 146]. It’s a bait and switch. I suppose they’ll work it out in the next season. We’ll see.