Kristen Bell’s New Show ‘Nobody Wants This’ Lives Up to Its Title
The conventional wisdom about romantic comedy on TV is that, for the most part, it doesn’t belong there.
Maybe weaving a prominent will-they-or-won’t-they subplot into a sitcom can give viewers the warm-blanket feelings of The Philadelphia Story or You’ve Got Mail. But shows designed primarily as romantic comedies have been so ill-fated that they seem to work best when chronicling particularly toxic or unconventional attempts at coupling, as seen in Netflix’s Love or You’re the Worst.
At the same time, the creative successes of those shows illustrate just what TV rom-coms can be good for: dissecting the developments that follow the traditional happily-ever-afters of their movie counterparts. The spark of perpetual romance may be difficult on TV, but digging into ongoing relationships is the format's specialty.