That lack of reality is perhaps the show’s biggest problem. Satire pokes fun at its subjects and can be extremely effective when used properly. (See: “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”) But most of the choices these characters make feel different from how someone would behave in real life. Reducing characters to their least desirable traits without sufficient comedic payoff ultimately just feels petty.

“I didn’t see their behavior as reflective of the experiences I have with Jewish women in my community,” says Ava Feldman, based in the San Francisco Bay Area (who is not related to the author of this story). relationships

To Foster’s credit, the Los Angeles Times noted in an interview that “on her way to the writers’ room, she said she purposefully surrounded herself with colleagues who were born Jewish.” But when asked what she thinks about critics calling Jewish characters “stereotypical,” her answer left me wanting more. (She did not return a request for comment on this story at the time of publication).

“I think we need positive Jewish stories right now,” Foster told the LA Times. “I think it’s interesting when people focus on, ‘Oh, this is a stereotype of the Jewish people,’ when you have a rabbi in charge. A hot, cool, young rabbi smoking weed. That’s the antithesis of how people view a Jewish rabbi, right? If I made two granola hippies on a farm for the Jewish parents, someone would write: ‘I’ve never met such a Jew. You clearly don’t know how to write Jewish people, you don’t know what you’re doing, and that doesn’t represent us well. ”

Maybe. Don’t know. I think of television shows like ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” or films like “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” which Feldman said “felt very authentic as a representation of a modern Jewish family dynamic.” And I wonder what “Nobody Wants This” would have looked like if it had explored complicated family relationships without reinforcing diminishing and potentially harmful stereotypes.

Most people I spoke to ended the series with similar feelings: they both really enjoyed it and were disappointed with it – especially, in some cases, the ending.

“I thought Joanne had come to a very mature conclusion, and the idea that someone would give up their entire career for someone they had been dating for less than three or four months felt very extreme,” Feldman said.