On September 26, a new American comedy series “Nobody Wants This” appeared on Netflix. The main roles in the show were played by Adam Brody and Kristen Bell. Their screen partners include, among others: Justine Lupe, Timothy Simons, Paul Ben-Victor and Tovah Feldshuh.
Plot focuses on the unusual relationship between the “liberated” podcaster Joanne and the devoted rabbi Noah. The characters meet at a party and feelings immediately develop between them. Due to their very different lifestyles, all possible obstacles stand in their way to love, especially their families.
There are 10 episodes available on the website. The producer is Kristen Bell herself, and the executive producers include Sara Foster, Danielle Stokdyk, Oly Obst and Craig Digregorio. The latter is also the showrunner of the series. The script was written by Erin Foster and Steven Levitan.
“Nobody wants this” Shortly after its premiere, it jumped to 2nd place in the TOP series ranking in Poland. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, where critics and viewers can publish their ratings of film and series productions, the show achieved 94% positive reviews!
Honestly, I’m not surprised that “Nobody Wants This” immediately jumped into the Netflix series top list. It’s a short, easy-to-digest story that offers the basic elements of everyday entertainment: there is a love story, a few plot twists and sharp jokes. Taking into account that the main character runs a podcast with topics for adults, it is also a series that fits into the current trends in the labor market. Plot-wise, the production with Kristen Bell and Adam Brody was destined for streaming success.
There is one element in “Nobody Wants This” that really captivated me and I am grateful to the writers that they decided to devote the main axis of the series to it. Joanne and Noah meet at a party organized by a mutual friend. They immediately catch each other’s eye and from that moment on they begin their first stage of infatuation.
Few series about adult love – because there are many about teenage love – show this period in the relationship. It’s about the moment when we just get to know the other person, but we already start to have some feelings for him or her and we fall into a vortex of excessive thinking, many doubts and awkward situations. We just really want the other person to like us as much as we like them. And this is what the story of Joanne and Noah presents us on screen for 10 episodes.
Unfortunately, that’s where my positive feelings about the series end. The disadvantages that I found in it are three times as many as the advantages – yes, I made a whole list.
The truth is that “Nobody wants it” is great it would work as a movie. I can’t quite understand why the creators decided to present this scenario as a series. There are 10 episodes, but each of them is no more than 30 minutes long. It does not fit into a full-fledged series, nor is it a mini-production, and it certainly cannot be classified as a sitcom. Netflix has released a bizarre structure that could fit into a two-hour viewing, and I suspect that those who have already enjoyed the story of Joanne and Noah would be equally pleased.
Especially since sympathy for the production is growing slowly. I had to reach episode 5 to admit for the first time that “the main characters are charming and I wonder if they will succeed.” Nevertheless, even this thought quickly disappeared from my mind. This is probably also due to the choice of actors. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody are great artists and I think they did their job very well, unfortunately their performances are forgettable. The characters do not stand out in any particular way, neither in terms of appearance nor in terms of character. They are extremely one-dimensional.
I appreciated the main plot, but the side plots deserved to be scolded. Every time something unrelated to the relationship between lovers came up, I asked myself: “why do the creators show me this?” Many side plots add nothing to the story at all, and even if they have some minimal significance, they are only in one or two scenes and the series moves on, completely ignoring what happened before.
Finally, humor. The dialogues in the series are based on strong, cutting jokes, which often contain ambiguous messages or vulgarisms. There would be nothing wrong with it if they were used at the right time and in an adequate manner. However, the scriptwriters definitely exaggerated their number and as a result we hear something obscene in every second sentence. After two episodes, my ears were already hurting.
One of the jokes on which the series is based is also mean behavior towards loved ones. Yes, I often heard siblings or couples jokingly calling each other malicious names, but I never understood the phenomenon. I can’t understand why someone would find it funny to be mean to their loved ones and I find it reprehensible that the series promotes such behavior.
Do I recommend watching “Nobody Wants This”? Absolutely not. Will many people see the series anyway, maintaining its top position? Probably yes, and that’s a good thing – there’s no accounting for taste. I do not intend to follow the fate of Joanne and Noah’s love, but many viewers will probably be happy if the production is resumed for a second season. For my part, I can only say that there are better productions of this type, for example “Bridget Jones’s Diary” or “Kocha, likes, respects”. Some people will accuse me that these are not TV series – yes, but just like “Nobody Wants This”, you will also watch them in one evening.
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