The success of Nobody Wants This seemed to take everyone by surprise last year, even its creators.
Maybe it shouldn’t have; the series teamed up millennially beloved TV stars Kristen Bell and Adam Brody for a light romantic comedy about a messy podcaster and a hot rabbi who unexpectedly fall for each other. But romantic comedy can be difficult to pull off in longer-form media, and subsequent word of behind-the-scenes chaos served as a reminder that creator and showrunner Erin Foster, who based the show’s premise on her own experiences with converting to her husband’s faith, was relatively green as a sitcom writer. And honestly, some signs of an underdeveloped show full of placeholders were there even before the news trickled out, semi-inexplicable Emmy nominations notwithstanding.
For its second season, the show has brought in the big guns as far as relatable grown-up immaturity goes: a whole bunch of Girls. Specifically, Jenni Konner, who worked closely with Lena Dunham on that HBO series, joins Foster as a showrunner, as does Bruce Eric Kaplan, who worked on Girls as well as Seinfeld and Six Feet Under. Konner, Kaplan, and fellow Girls writer Sarah Heyward are all credited on multiple episodes; frequent Girls director Richard Shepherd helms a bunch; and that show’s Alex Karpovsky (Ray!) also turns up in a small role.
The show hasn’t undergone a complete transplant; several staffers from the previous season are credited with episodes here, including Foster. So how does the newly reconfigured Nobody Wants This 2.0 fare?
Call it two steps forward, one step back. These 10 episodes, dropping on Netflix Oct. 23, do feel guided by surer hands who better understand the shape of TV dramedies. Last season, several episodes failed to clear the 20-minute mark (or at least needed the end credits’ help to get there), feeling more like anecdotes than stories. Here, episodes about Valentine’s Day, or Noah (Brody) and Joanne (Bell) introducing their respective parents at a Purim party, have a better grasp of structure and conflict.
The broader storylines, though, still feel strung out. The season’s overriding concern is when and if Joanne will convert to Judaism. Noah is eager for it to happen, but claims he wants it to be on her terms, not for him. Joanne, for her part, sees elements of the faith that appeal to her, but doesn’t want to just jump into it.
It seems like an eminently solvable problem, which makes fine fodder for a single movie like Keeping the Faith. As a plot engine for an entire season of TV, though, the show never quite makes the case, especially when Noah chafes at his longtime home temple because of the congregation’s collective discomfort with him dating outside his faith (at least for now). If he’s ready for a fresh start and Joanne likes going to Shabbat with his family, why is any of this a real problem?
If Nobody Wants This was more focused on the mechanics of its comedy, maybe the flimsiness of these dilemmas would be fine—comforting, even. But the show seems to want to be about the hard parts of relationships without providing much insight. In an initially promising storyline, Joanne’s sister and podcast partner Morgan (Justine Lupe) reveals a surprise relationship with her former therapist—a bright red flag that Joanne feels like only she is seeing.
Somewhat bafflingly, especially considering how self-consciously Nobody Wants This clearly regards Morgan as its breakout character, the show only plays some of this situation for laughs. Funny moments, like how Noah’s goofy brother Sasha (Timothy Simons) takes an instant liking to “Dr. Andy” (Arian Moayed), are muffled by the same old sidetalk banter, full of filler phrases like “that’s not a thing,” gestures at melodrama, and side characters who repeatedly trail off without any sense of resolution.
One such character is Noah’s friend Lenny (Miles Fowler). Early in the season, Morgan asks him for an honest assessment of her charms after he shows no romantic interest in her. Lenny starts with compliments, calling her hot and adding “I can tell you can be funny. Not my sense of humor, but I can tell girls really like it.” That’s a very Girls-style line, and while it’s a little gendered to apply it directly to Nobody Wants This, it has the ring of truth. There’s a constant, visible struggle on the show between genuine comedy writing and the sensibility of someone who has been told repeatedly that they’re funny.
As such, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the primary project of Nobody Wants This is using talented performers to whitewash a lot of objectively annoying behavior. Noah whines that his girlfriend isn’t converting to a new religion fast enough. Joanne snipes at her sister, who in turn justifies ludicrous decisions. This is distinct from shows like You’re the Worst or, yes, Girls, which explored genuinely toxic traits with acid wit and secret tenderness. Nobody Wants This does a lot of talking about its various relationship statuses, but even with some improvements, it’s not really putting in the work.
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