Nobody Wants This, ‘Hot Rabbi’ and the miracle of Season Three
Erin Foster talks about Chanukah and the show everyone insists they don’t want — but can’t stop watching
No one is in any doubt that there will be a season three of Nobody Wants This. Even if they don’t want it. But we do, don’t we, and that’s because Season Two — which continued the tale of the Hot Rabbi and Joanne, his podcaster girlfriend — may have its detractors, but it ended with the same burning question that closed Season One: Will Joanne convert?
In real life, series creator Erin Foster answered that question already when she converted to marry her husband, Simon Tikhman, in 2019.
They now have a baby girl, Noa, a name divinely aligned with the show centred around a rabbi called Noah and a woman hovering on the brink of Jewish life.
When Erin spoke to Jewish News, she became very animated about her new faith, describing the rituals she’s grown to love and particularly Friday nights.
“It’s not something we have a rule about,” she explained, “but if we are both in town… if we’re in the same place on a Friday night, which we are if my husband’s not travelling, we really try to at least take a minute to light the candles. To say something great about our week and express our appreciation for each other,” she says, noting that her husband excels at this.
“He is much better than me. He’s really good at slowing down and saying, ‘I really appreciate you, you’re such a good mom, we’re so grateful for you.’”And then she teased, laughing at herself: “And I want to take a minute to thank you for all the millions of amazing things that I do.”
But beneath the humour was the real revelation of her conversion: “One of my biggest things about becoming Jewish is these subtle things where we slow down and take in the week… it doesn’t feel religious. It feels like it’s filling us up with the gratitude we need to keep being happy and connected.”
Noa, their daughter wasn’t there when we spoke, but she got a mention. “Not growing up Jewish, the prayers don’t have nostalgic significance for me. It’s more of a habit you form that feels comforting — and I want Noa to grow up with that.”
With Chanukah on the horizon, it gets a mention too, particularly when I tell her that like the festival, Nobody Wants This brought light into the dark times our community has been facing.
“Yes, I guess it really did. The theme of the show feels more personal now,” says Erin who did a Chanukah special last year on the World’s First Podcast which is the show she hosts with her sister, Sara. Yes, just like Joanne and her sister Morgan (Justine Lupe) in Nobody Wants This.
Curiously, Chanukah has never actually been celebrated in either season of Nobody Wants This. But the show is so drenched in menorahs that The Forward published a full investigative piece titled: “Why Is Nobody Wants This Obsessed With Menorahs?”
The article points out that the absence of Chanukah has not stopped menorahs appearing like Jewish houseplants in every scene. There was the Chabad-style menorah in Noah’s office, the sleek menorah in his living room; another at his brother Sasha’s place and at Noah’s childhood summer camp — an electric menorah glowing in midsummer.
The Forward really did its homework, counting eight menorahs at the home of Rabbi Noah’s parents Bina and Ilan.
The Forward also called it “the menorah-fication of Jewish spaces” – in other words a deeply and recognisably Jewish set.
Back in our chat, Erin was keenly aware of the world those menorahs are glowing into. “It’s a very tense time, and everyone has a lot of passion and anger about what’s going on in the world — I have anger too. But we have enough angry voices. There has to be a third option. The internet doesn’t have much traction for positivity — it’s like screaming into a void.”
So instead of getting political, Erin went for rom-com.
“If you make a TV show that feels positive, people can experience the light of it and remember that it’s about love — falling in love, growing the love you have for someone. And if there’s a little sprinkle of Jewish lesson in there, then it’s just a bonus.”
Adam Brody — Rabbi Noah – has also weighed in on Judaism’s place in the show. Asked recently whether Noah and Joanne might ever create a blended holiday, he laughed: “If they had children someday, maybe… but Noah would need to do Chanukah by the book.”
And Brody should know a thing or two about televised Chanukah. Long before he became Hot Rabbi, he played Seth Cohen in The O.C. and back in 2003, Seth introduced the world to ‘Chrismukkah’ – the blend of the Christian and Jewish holidays to make his interfaith family feel whole.
In the now-iconic Season One episode The Best Chrismukkah Ever, Seth explained the hybrid holiday as: “Eight days of presents followed by one day of many presents.” It became a cultural TV moment — so much so that “Chrismukkah” entered the pop-culture dictionary.
Now, decades later, Brody is back in a Chanukah-adjacent world this time as the rabbi who is about to marry out unless his girlfriend converts.
Well??
Erin smiles, but doesn’t spill, so I ask her whether she will be buying Chanukah presents for the cast and crew this year. “We aren’t in production, so I wouldn’t have a cast and crew to buy them for… but honestly, Brigit — that would be a lot of presents. Everyone gets eight! I don’t know if I can afford that. I think I’ll just say Happy Chanukah to them.”
Finally, I asked what her own Chanukah miracle would be this year.
“Being a mom for me is the biggest miracle of all. Every day I’m shocked I got that lucky. I feel like I’m living a miracle — with where my career is and my personal life. I’m the luckiest. It’s a miracle I’m here at all.”
Whether you love or loathe it, I know you’ll be watching Season 3 and if you don’t you’ll never know what Joanne does.
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