No one wants this creator to defend the show's portrayal of Jewish women

While audiences love the charming love story at the center of “Nobody Wants This” to various TikToks and memes focused on Adam Brody and Kristen Bell's characters, the rom-com series has also faced some backlash regarding its portrayal of Jewish women receive. In particular, television critics have pointed out that Noah's sister-in-law Esther (Jackie Tohn) is a stereotype of Jewish women who nag and mother their husbands – something that creator Erin Foster has also been guilty of.

“That's how I am as a wife… I also nag my husband a lot – I'm the queen of micro-managing my husband and it annoys him to no end,” Erin Foster, a Jew, told TheWrap as she She was asked about her reaction to criticism of the series' female Jewish characters. “Look at her husband (Timothy Simons' Sasha) – he's a man-child. I think any woman married to this man will probably act a little like his mother.”

Foster added that Tohn, who is Jewish, loves playing Esther, citing the comedy at the heart of the Netflix series. “A lot of it is acting because she’s so funny,” Erin said. “Everyone is going to have an opinion and that’s fine and I accept it.”

“Go out. I mean, women are annoying,” added Erin’s sister and podcasting partner Sara Foster, who serves as EP on the series. “Let’s just stop trying to make something out of nothing.”

“Nobody Wants This” centers on the unexpected relationship between Joanne (Bell), an agnostic and sex-positive podcaster, and Noah (Brody), a rabbi whose respective communities struggle to view the pair as a viable couple. Noah's mother initially refers to Joanne as a “shiksa” and is initially hesitant to accept her into the family, which Glamor editor Jessica Radloff wrote reflects “the exact opposite of what we Jews are taught – to welcome your neighbor.”

“It's about a girl who is an outsider and comes into a Jewish family and they can't take her in right away. There is no story if they accept it right away,” said Erin, revealing that the title of the series was originally “Shiksa.” ” “Someone may think this is a stereotype, but it happens a lot in real life. It is based on many true events that I have witnessed.”

The feeling of being an outsider hit home for Erin “in a different way” when she converted to Judaism while with her now-husband Simon Tikhman (who is a music manager, not a rabbi). “When I got together with my husband, I felt like I was looked at as someone who came from this divorced, entertaining family and was the age that I was, and I wasn't exactly the ideal person to be there gave her thoughts of her son,” she said, noting that Tikhman's family “didn't resist and…was really welcoming.”

Beyond Erin's own experience, the writers' room for Nobody Wants This was “filled with the Jewish people,” and the series employed Rabbi Steve Leder, who read and approved all scripts and stories.

“We had a writers' room full of Jewish people, people who converted to Judaism, people who grew up with immigrants … Jewish parents, American Jewish parents, married people who married into Jewish families,” Foster said. “You don’t see the writings of a person who wasn’t raised Jewish – you see the writings of many Jewish people and their experiences.”

As Esther and Noah's mother Bina (Tovah Feldshuh) slowly open their hearts and minds to Joanne in Season 1, Erin notes that every character has a reason for hesitation, including Esther, who is “fiercely protective of her best friend,” Rebecca says her recent breakup with Noah. “You want these characters to be humanized in different ways, but you really have to embrace them slowly,” she explained.

Although the series hasn't been officially renewed for a second season by Netflix — but it's looking likely after it debuted with 10.3 million views in its opening weekend — Erin noted that the team will “continue to show more and more layers of each character” as possible Season 2.

“I’m so proud to be Jewish,” Erin said. “I love being Jewish and I have dedicated a large part of my life to protecting the Jewish people and highlighting Jewish stories and taking really big risks in the businesses and careers of Sara and I to champion the Jewish to employ people. And so I hope that those people can focus on that and not look for ways that I might have let them down.”

“The only messages I've gotten are from people saying, 'Thank you so much.' …Thank your sister,'” Sara added. “It’s a story about love and it gives women hope.”

All episodes of Nobody Wants This are now streaming on Netflix.