Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s romantic-comedy drama series, ‘Nobody Wants This,’ Kristen Bell plays the role of a podcaster who doesn’t believe in god or religion and ends up falling for a rabbi. The protagonist, Joanne, is known to talk about sex and relationships, among other things, in a podcast, drawing mostly from her own experiences with failed relationships and bad dates. When she meets Noah, who is fresh out of a long-term relationship, sparks fly, and neither can deny the immediate chemistry between them. However, with Noah being a rabbi, a clash of culture and beliefs happens, which pushes the plot forward. What makes the 2024 series even more interesting is that it is pulled from the real experience of the show’s creator, Erin Foster.
Nobody Wants This is Loosely Inspired by Erin Foster’s Romance
For the most part, ‘Nobody Wants This’ remains a fictional story. However, its roots are found in the life and experiences of Erin Foster, who bears quite a resemblance to Bell’s character, Joanne. Foster is married to Simon Tikhman, who is Jewish and for whom Foster converted to Judaism. While they are happily married now, there were lots of ups and downs in their relationship, and looking back at it, especially her conversion process, Foster felt that it would be “a fascinating impetus for a really good show.” Due to this, she initially wanted to name the show ‘Shiksa.’ There are, of course, some major changes she made to the story. To begin with, her husband is not a rabbi. He is a record label owner and a talent manager. In the show, Joanne meets Noah at a friend’s house party. Foster met her future husband in 2018 at a gym.
When it came to writing the characters, Foster drew upon her own personality to craft Joanne. Initially, Foster had thought to play the role, but Kristen Bell was brought on board, who added her own flair to the character. While writing Noah, Foster thought of her husband, but she found it better to make him a rabbi than a music executive to add more drama. This change also fits well with the theme of the show, which explores the importance of religion in the relationship. A lot of Noah and her family’s backstory and how they are with each other is based on what Foster saw in her husband and his family. Making Noah a rabbi elevated these things, highlighting the difference between him and Joanne and raising the stakes for both of them.
Foster also drew upon the difference in opinion about privacy and making things public. Like Joanne, Foster has been pretty open about her relationships and other things, while her husband prefers to keep things more private. When Foster decided to write a show about their relationship, she had to consider how her husband would feel about it. When she eventually told him, he gave it the green light because he trusted her sensibility about how the differences between them and their families would be portrayed in the show.
The Nobody Wants This Podcast is Inspired by Foster’s Real Podcast with Her Sister
One of the major plot points in the show is Joanne’s podcast, ‘Nobody Wants This,’ which she hosts with her sister, Morgan. In real life, Foster, too, hosts a podcast with her sister, Sara. It is called ‘The World’s First Podcast with Erin & Sara Foster.’ Started in 2021, it has the duo talking about everything from relationships, dating, and sex to topics related to family, motherhood, and anxiety, to name a few. Much like in the show, the real-life sisters are pretty candid about the things they talk about on the podcast, often referring to their own experiences. Their relationship has also been through many ups and downs, and they haven’t shied away from talking about that in the podcast either. Their collaboration doesn’t just stop at the podcast. The sisters, both of whom have also been actors, were part of the VH1 reality show spoof, ‘Barely Famous.’ They were briefly involved in Bumble, have collaborated on several Hollywood projects, and have even invested in a few start-ups together.
Erin Foster Mixed Reality and Fiction in Nobody Wants This
With ‘Nobody Wants This,’ Foster focused on the “write what you know” principle. Still, she decided to fictionalize the show enough to keep a safe distance between her personal and professional lives. In an interview with Vulture, she said, “I intentionally made characters different so I wouldn’t get divorced.” Still, she kept enough to keep the story grounded in reality. For instance, in the show, Joanne is immediately disliked by Noah’s family and friends, who want him to end up with his ex, Rebecca. Joanne particularly faces pushback from Noah’s mother. In real life, Foster didn’t have to face as many hurdles as Tikhman’s parents were much more welcoming to their relationship. Still, there was a clear cultural gap that needed to be bridged before the couple could take a step forward.
Foster also revealed that she drew upon small things in the journey of her relationship with Tikhman to embed in the show, but she also found that her experiences resonated with other writers on the team, and this relatability factor encouraged her to include these experiences in the story. For instance, the sixth episode of the show, titled ‘The Ick,’ is borrowed from the real incident when Tikhman met Foster’s parents for the first time. He brought huge flowers and tried so hard to impress her parents that she found herself turned off by it. At the moment, she thought she would break up with him, but eventually, things worked out between them.
While there are several other things like this in the show, there are also things that Foster deliberately changed. For instance, in the show, Joanne’s sister, Morgan, doesn’t approve of her romance with Noah, at least not initially. In real life, however, Foster’s sister immediately liked Tikhman and developed a good friendship with him. Foster flipped this in the show because she wanted to infuse further tension in Joanne and Noah’s romance. In the same vein, the portrayal of Noah’s brother, Sasha, is completely different from how Tikhman’s brother is in real life. There are several other things like this that Foster decided to change for the show, achieving the delicate balance between reality and fiction.
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