Nobody Wants This review: Kristen Bell and Adam Brody are pure bliss in 2024's best new comedy

Warning: This post contains minor spoilers from Nobody Wants This.

Right from the outset, Nobody Wants This was tailor made for my specific television tastes: A romantic comedy starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. Boom! Say no more, I'm there. They could have been space aliens or talking inanimate household objects, and the show still would have been a must-watch in my book. Some performers simply sell themselves no matter the project.

Luckily, Nobody Wants This is genuinely excellent even beyond its co-leads. From creator and writer Erin Foster, whose real-life relationship inspired the premise of the series, Bell stars as agnostic podcast co-host Joanne as she falls for Brody's handsome and cool Jewish rabbi Noah. Religion and opinions from others threaten to squander their growing mutual connection.

With sharp writing and even sharper acting, Foster has seriously struck gold with an inventive and personal take on the romantic comedy with two unbelievably lovable leading stars. It's not hyperbole when I say that Netflix's Nobody Wants This ranks as one of the, if not the, best new comedy series released in 2024.

Nobody Wants This is the best comedy series of 2024

Right off the bat, it's hard to go wrong with Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. Even though their careers have taken different directions in the 20-something years since they both broke out in huge cult favorite teen drama series, whether in action movies or indies or animated blockbusters, they still know a thing or two when it comes to being a compelling romantic lead.

In the early aughts, most of us were rooting for Veronica and Logan on Bell's series Veronica Mars and Seth and Summer on Brody's series The O.C. Both actors, now 44 years old, carry with them the same charisma and inherent sense of humor that made us fall in love with Veronica and Seth and cheer for their romantic successes even through all their failures.

Nobody Wants This finds Joanne and Noah traversing those same successes and failures in romance after their first meet-cute at a mutual friend's dinner party. They hit it off instantly with a smooth back-and-forth that you can tell they haven't found with potential romantic partners often. Noah's just coming off of a breakup and Joanne's had a streak of bad dating app luck. Their connection feels one in a million.

But it's complicated. He's a rabbi whose career trajectory basically requires he marries a Jewish woman. Joanne doesn't practice any religion, and as a sex and relationships podcaster, she's not the first pick of Noah's traditional family or the adoring public at his temple. Noah dating a "shiksa" is simply a scandal to everyone around them except themselves. They've never felt like this before!

Foster's realistic world-building and character crafting allow leeway for the heightened aspects of both the world and the characters to feel authentic. Joanne shows her rougher edges and wavering self awareness to her sister, which while a bit exaggerated for comedic effect also feels natural to the experience of having a best friend and being completely yourself without fear of judgment.

Foster has also created a romantic comedy with actual emotional stakes that are compelling (Will Joanne convert to Judaism to be with Noah?), and that's likely because this story holds personal weight from a situation she experienced firsthand. We have seen will-they-or-won't-they love stories play out since the dawn of time — Sam and Diane, Ross and Rachel, Mindy and Danny, et al. — but Nobody Wants This feels fresh and urgent and timely.

Admittedly, the largest weight of the show working rests on the shoulders of Bell and Brody, who couldn't be better suited to tackle these characters and this story. As previously mentioned, I love them both and their work, having followed them for 20 years and counting. No one kills me with a brilliantly timed line reading more than Kristen Bell, a naturally gifted comedian, and the same can and should be said about Brody. He doesn't even have to try to be charming. He just is.

On paper, Nobody Wants This had all of the right ingredients to be an amazing romantic comedy series and a much needed source of levity, and it's thrilling to learn the show arrived fully cooked, roaring on all cylinders, no potential left on the table. It's hard not to watch these 10 episodes without a smile on your face, and if you somehow do, I fear you're doing it wrong.

Ready for as many seasons as you'll give me, Netflix!

Watch Nobody Wants This only on Netflix.