It's hard to find a sweet, funny rom-com these days.
There's no new Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie waiting in the wings. Modern romances often involve "friends with benefits" or absurd situations that in no way resemble real life.
We're looking at you, Sydney and Glen.
That's why Netflix's "Nobody Wants This" struck a chord. Nice guy Rabbi Noah (Adam Brody) falls hard for decidedly not Jewish podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) and complications ensue.
Oy!
The show, created by Erin Foster, poked fun at Jewish as well as secular life in ways that were warm and funny, not mean-spirited. The leads had palpable chemistry, which never hurts. Their first kiss was one for the ages.
Sadly, the second season suggested it should have been a one-and-done affair, at least programming-wise. Sometimes, the TV magic is in the early courtship, not the eventual bickering and reconciliations.
Now, there's a bigger issue looming over the show, which just released its third season on the streamer. Brody started the kerfuffle, going the Full Macklemore. He virtue-signaled to far-Left GQ Magazine that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Sure, that's what all the cool Hollywood kids are saying these days, but he's playing a Rabbi on a show that likely has a large Jewish audience. Plus, Brody sounded impossibly glib on the subject.
Put me down as thinking it’s a genocide. Put me down as wanting a free Palestine." Brody is 46, by the way.
The comments came weeks before the show's third season debuted. Talk about timing! Foster, to her credit, tried to defuse Brody's disastrous comments.
While I love Adam, I also disagree with him... and that’s okay...
That being said, everyone is entitled to a different opinion than me. I can just tell you what I created this show for, what the intention of the show is.
Foster loosely based the show on her own love story. She met a Jewish man, fell in love and converted. It's rare for a modern show to embrace aspects of Jewish culture in ways that are informative and balanced.
All that got upended by Brody's comments.
Now, the show's matriarch is weighing in on the imbroglio, and she took off her gloves to do so. Tovah Feldshuh, who plays Noah's mum on the show, didn't mention Brody directly in her comments to The New York Post.
She didn't have to.
To accuse the Jewish people of genocide is wild ... It’s right out of Hitler’s playbook. You take the victim and you make the victim the perpetrator.
Life on the set just got much more complicated. That's assuming the show gets greenlit for another season. Foster is on record saying there's more to this love story, and she's rooting for another round of "Nobody Wants This."
'Nobody Wants This' hasn't been renewed for Season 4 yet, but creator Erin Foster says there is still "more story to tell" for Joanne and Noah after their Season 3 wedding drama. Read what she had to say about the show's future: https://t.co/B80B29AleD https://t.co/CcKW0rcIvu
— What's on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) October 26, 2026
The Brody news cycle can't be good for the ratings, and the subsequent fallout could make the production even more tense than what's seen on screen.
