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Sep 26, 2024 By Lily Moayeri Photography by Adam Rose/Netflix Web Exclusive

What if The O.C.’s Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) dated Veronica Mars’ (Kristen Bell) titular character? That’s what watching Netflix’s half-hour romantic comedy Nobody Wants This feels like for the first five minutes. The fun part of the nostalgia factor persists in the 10 episodes of the series, but the personalities of Cohen’s Noah, a hip and cool rabbi and Bell’s Joanne, a non-Jewish sex/dating podcaster could not be more different than Seth and Veronica, or, each other.

Nobody Wants This is loosely based on the experiences of Erin Foster (granddaughter to Grammy-winning producer/composer David Foster) who converted to Judaism for her husband, music industry professional, Simon Tikhman. Aggressive and neurotic, Joanne doesn’t know what a good relationship looks like and responds to considerate gestures with caustic defensiveness. Noah is Zen and pragmatic, comfortably old-fashioned yet modern and not the least bit corny.

Their chemistry is undeniable, even if Joanne tries to resist it and Noah knows he must marry a Jew if he’s planning on his life’s calling which includes a promotion to head rabbi in the near future. Their banter is natural and clever. It’s frustrating when Joanne self-sabotages like so many women who don’t recognize chivalry and thoughtfulness because they’ve never experienced it. It’s reassuring when Noah persists in being a nice guy, even when it’s met with resistance.

Just as dynamic and even more hilarious are Joanne’s sister Morgan (Succession’s Justine Lupe) and Seth’s brother Sasha (Veep’s SAG Award-winning Timothy Simons). No matter who these two come into contact with, the interaction is filled with zingers, sharp and dry from the former, blundering and groveling from the latter. They develop their own platonic relationship, which is magic, if unbelievable, particularly as Sasha’s dynamite wife, Esther (Jackie Tohn) would rip him a new one if she got wind of it.

There is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief required for Nobody Wants This. How is a nice, good looking, mature rabbi single? How likely is it that two sisters with no celebrity cachet have a podcast that is so successful it’s being bought by a big production company for major cash? Not every relationship podcast becomes Call Her Daddy—which is namechecked in the second episode of Nobody Wants This. How did she land that insanely gorgeous apartment? And how on earth does Noah have an interior-designed house that is clearly remodeled from top to bottom? How old are Joanne and Noah? In their 40s? Considering the series is set in Los Angeles, it’s not surprising she’s single in the arid relationship landscape of the city.

Los Angeles puts on its prettiest outfits on Nobody Wants This. Its signature light, its fairy-lit trees, its al fresco café and beautifully designed bars and restaurants provide backdrop eye candy worthy of Bell’s and Brody’s television cachet.

The highly bingeable series has excellent comedy writing and a strong cast who move the episodes along at a quick clip. But even with all its on-point humor, Nobody Wants This has an undercurrent of seriousness, which puts it a few notches above the average sitcom. (www.netflix.com/title/81591296)

Author rating: 7/10