Kristen Bell dates a rabbi in new Netflix romantic comedy series

Adam Brody, best known from his long-running role as Seth Cohen on ‘The O.C.’ portrays the rabbi in question.

Kristen Bell and Adam Brody in ‘Nobody Wants This.’ Photo by Stefania Rosini/Netflix

By Benyamin Cohen August 29, 2024

How’s this for a meet-cute? A non-Jewish woman who has a sex podcast and a newly single rabbi fall in love, but can their relationship survive their varied backgrounds and meddling families?

Netflix on Thursday dropped the trailer for the new series, called Nobody Wants This, starring Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, The Good Place, Frozen) and Adam Brody (The O.C.). Steven Levitan (Modern Family) is an executive producer.

The series was created by Erin Foster (Barely Famous) and is based lightly on her own life: she converted after getting engaged to a Jew. (Granted, he’s a music executive, not a rabbi.) “The rabbi who converted me, Rabbi Shapiro, is so cool and made the ceremony feel so personal and relatable instead of being generic,” Foster told Vogue.

That inspired her to create the character played by Brody, 44, who Netflix describes as a “charming rabbi.”

“The show is not making any political statements because I’m not the person to make that statement,” Foster said. “I didn’t grow up Jewish, I converted as an adult. I wanted to tell a Jewish story, but from an outsider’s perspective for someone who chose Judaism.”

Actress Tovah Feldshuh, who has portrayed everyone from Golda Meir to Dr. Ruth, plays the rabbi’s mother in the show. “You’re never gonna end up with my son,” she warns Bell’s character.

The 10 episode first season debuts on Sep. 26.

Benyamin Cohen is news director at the Forward. He is the author of two books, My Jesus Year and The Einstein Effect, and has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post. He lives with his wife in West Virginia with their three dogs, a cat and a flock of chickens known as the Co-Hens.

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