Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, is the newest addition to the world of long-form romantic comedies. Kristen Bell returns to the rom-com scene as Joanne, an agnostic podcaster whose life takes a turn when she meets Noah, an offbeat rabbi played by Adam Brody. The on-screen chemistry is as bubbly and flirty as the froth on your cappuccino. We love it when a series takes its time to let romance happen. I still smile about HBO Max‘s Love Life and repeatedly rewatch K-Dramas like Crash Landing on You; which have a way of captivating audiences leading to TikTok edits and replays of favorite scenes.
Created by Erin Foster and premiering today, Nobody Wants This grabs the complexities of modern romance—especially when different worlds collide—and whirls it around until we’re giddy. The series finds the humor and the insecurities in the nuances of faith, family expectations, and personal growth by embracing the tropes we adore in rom-coms. Sometimes it’s ridiculous and we shout, “No, BB, no!” At other times we pat our chests because we’ve felt just as silly, angry, or scared as Joanne and Noah.
The supporting cast, including Justine Lupe as Joanne’s sister Morgan and Sherry Cola as the savvy agent Ashley, enrich the story with relatable and endearing woman-to-woman relationships. Noah’s relationship with his brother, Sasha (Timothy Simons) is another smile-inducing one. In some ways, the cultural interplay between Joanne and Morgan’s ‘whatever feels good’ family and Noah and Sasha’s devout Jewish one, offers a similar inside view as something like Prime’s With Love—an underrated series that likewise delves into the places where love and culture meet and how crazed they make us.
As a K-drama fan, I’ll confess, it is BIG satisfying to watch a romance play out over multiple episodes, where we see the upsides and shadows of the main characters as they fall for each other, while we get to know the people they love too. When we arrive at the end of a good rom-com series, we know we’ve witnessed a love built to last. Long-form rom-coms are at their best when they make us laugh, feel, and believe in serendipitous love. Nobody Wants This delivers prickly, authentic characters who stumble, grow, and ultimately find connection in a chaotic world—to which they keep adding more chaos. With snappy writing and relatable performances, this 10-episode series is a love note that’s good for the giggles. But is ‘The End’ of season 1 a happily ever after or the intermission for a longer romance? [cue your favorite love song], and let’s see how the story unfolds.
