Lamar Reviews - "Nobody Wants This" (Airdate 10/11/2024)
This is a series on Netflix. If you pull it up and don’t think it’s for you, watch the first episode. Then decide.
Here is the plot, Kristen Bell plays Joanne, and Justine Lupe plays her sister Morgan. The two of them have a podcast called “Nobody Wants This”. This series is loosely based on a real podcast called ‘The World’s First Podcast with Erin & Sara Foster.’ It started in 2021, it has the two sisters talking about everything from relationships, dating, and sex to things related to family, motherhood, and anxiety, plus much, much more.
In the series the running gag is Bell’s character, Joanne has a terrible dating history of picking the wrong guy every time and her sister’s relationship history is no better. Their podcasts subjects mirror the podcast this is based on. Example: the latest Nobody Wants This podcast is called “dildo’s and dildon’ts”.
Joanne is a sarcastic-agnostic/atheist gentile and she meets Noah Roklov, a progressive Jewish Rabbi, played by Adam Brody. Noah, who is referred to as “Hot Rabbi”, has just broken up with his longtime girlfriend, who both his and her families were fully expecting him to propose to. The attraction between Joanne and Noah is instant, on fire, forbidden, and impossible to resist. Forbidden because a romantic relationship between a Rabbi and a Shiska, Jewish slang for a gentile woman, is basically impossible to pull off. Hence the Title “Nobody Wants This”.
What makes this series so good is the chemistry between Bell and Brody. They have not only worked together before, but they are also friends in real life. The on-screen chemistry is not only off the chain in the romantic scenes, but more importantly, in the bantering conversations between them. This series has some of the best dialog I’ve heard in a long time.
This season has 10 episodes, a little less than 30 minutes an episode. Rated TV-MA for language.
Justine Lupe as Morgan is perfect as Joanne’s sarcastic sister, and Timothy Simons is great as Noah’s goofy brother Sasha. In fact, the entire cast, is excellent.
The series is very funny but the emotions are real Two different cultures, two families with different values, a man who’s faith means everything, and a woman who has no interest in anything spiritual. But they are crazy about each other and determined to make it work.
Regardless of how you feel about Rom-Coms, as I said, you need to watch the first episode. If you like it, keep going, it gets better with each episode. This is season one and there will definitely be a season two.
It is a very different Rom-Com than I’ve ever seen.
My Score: A full 6pk