Josh Reviews Long Story Short

I am an enormous fan of Raphael Bob-Waksberg, who created the magnificent BoJack Horseman and co-created (with Kate Purdy) the terrific and under-appreciated show Undone.  Mr. Bob-Waksberg has outdone himself yet again with his latest adult animated show, Long Story Short, which is centered around the middle-class Jewish family the Schwoopers.  Across ten delightful episodes that are both very funny and also affectingly poignant, the show explores the lives and relationships between this family: parents Naomi and Elliot (Lisa Edelstein & Paul Reiser) and the three children Avi (Ben Feldman), Shira (Abbi Jacobson), and Yoshi (Max Greenfield), and also the Schwooper kids’ spouses Kendra (Nicole Byer) and Jen (Angelique Cabral).

Right away, I was impressed by the bold narrative structure of the show, in which episodes jump around in time (across decades!), presenting us with a tapestry of moments in the lives of the parents and three kids in this family.  I love this structure, which allows us to develop a fuller understanding of all the characters as we see them at different points in their lives.  It’s a hoot to see, for example, the Schwooper kids move from teenagers arguing in the back of their parents’ car to grown adults navigating relationships and children of their own.  This also allows the show’s narrative to build towards a series of surprising emotional impacts, because we’re seeing such a broad picture of these people’s lives.  This is very clever and very effective.

The characters are brought to life by a spectacular array of voice-actors, whose work is a critical element in how wonderful this show is overall and how individually enthralling each of these characters is.  Let’s start with Lisa Edelstein (The West Wing, House, The Kominsky Method) and Paul Reiser (Mad About You, Diner, Aliens, Stranger Things) as the Schwooper parents, Naomi and Elliot.  What perfect casting for these Jewish parents!  Ms. Edelstein is able to be so funny with every line delivery, even when (especially when?) she is brutally cutting down her children.  Elliot, meanwhile, is the classic “shrugging his shoulders, can’t we all just get along” Jewish dad, and Mr. Reiser hits every note perfectly.  He’s so sweet and lovable, even as he’s almost childish in how he tries to avoid conflict.

Ben Feldman plays the oldest Schwooper child, Avi.  I first encountered Mr. Feldman as the Jewish character Michael Ginsberg on Mad Men.  Mr. Feldman was wonderful on that show, and he’s great here as the assimilated Avi.  Avi is an interesting character, someone who tries to avoid conflict even more than his dad, and who has fled from his very Jewish family into a relationship with a non-Jewish woman and a life without any actual religious observance, even though he still considers himself Jewish.  Mr. Ginsberg is able to be endearing as Avi, even when Avi is being whiny and selfish.  The talented Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) is absolutely wonderful as Shira, the middle Schwooper child.  Ms. Jacobson was phenomenal as the lead character Bean on Matt Groening’s animated series Disenchantment, so it’s no surprise she’s able to bring depth and life to another great, complicated animated young woman here.  Like Avi, Shira has a complex relationship with her family and her Judaism.  Shira was the character I was most interested watching develop over the course of this season.  I loved seeing a main character like Shira, living a happy life as a lesbian, married and raising two kids.  Rounding out the family is Max Greenfield (Veronica Mars, Ugly Betty, When Do We Eat?) as Yoshi, the oddball youngest Schwooper, who has the hardest time finding himself.  Mr. Greenfield’s performance is the most overtly comedic and silly (which is great), and it gets even better when he brings soulfulness and sadness into the character as we get to know Yoshi better.

Nicole Byer (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, Vivo, and she even appeared — and was fantastic — on the final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks!) is phenomenal as Kendra, Shira’s wife, a hard-working go-getter who converts to Judaism.  Kendra might be my favorite character on the show!  I love the way the show allows her character to shine in these stories, showing a positivity and sunniness that the Schwooper kids tend to lack.  Ms. Byer is so funny and also so heartfelt in her performance.  I also really enjoyed Angelique Cabral as Jen, Avi’s girlfriend/wife.  Ms. Cabral has a deadpan delivery that I found very funny.  And, like everyone else in this amazing cast, when she’s called on to handle more dramatic material, she’s wonderfully compelling.  Moving into the supporting players: David Franco is a delight as Danny, Yoshi’s bad-influence friend; Michaela Dietz is perfectly understated and emotionally affecting as Hannah, Avi & Jen’s smart, brave but lonely daughter; and Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) is memorable as Rachel “Baby” Feldstein, Shira’s estranged childhood friend.

The show is funny and heartbreaking in equal measure.  This is an animated show, but as with all of Mr. Bob-Waksberg’s previous work, he and his team have taken pains to present these characters as fully-realized, real human beings, filled with foibles and selfishness and making the types of poor decisions that many (most? all?) real human beings do.  As with BoJack Horseman, Mr. Bob-Waksberg and his team have created a show that is extremely funny while also being laser-focused on deep character development and analysis.  Yes, this is an animated show, but all of the Schwoopers (and the others in their orbit) seemed like real, fully-fleshed-out people to me!  This is an incredible balancing act, and yet the Long Story Short team seem to make it look effortless.

It’s also a pleasure to see a show that is so deeply Jewish, and that manages to get the details correct (unlike, say, Nobody Wants This).  For example, it made me happy hearing one character causally use the word “davenning” in a sentence (which is the way observant Jews often refer to prayer).  It’s remarkable that the Jewish edges of this show weren’t sanded off during production; I love how drenched in Judaism this show is, right from the opening moments of the first episode.  Things only get better as the episodes unfold.  I was extremely impressed by episode seven, a spotlight on Kendra that explores her backstory and her conversion to Judaism.  That the makers of this show were knowledgeable enough about Judaism to turn a very specific example of the Yom Kippur liturgy (specifically, the way the “Ashamnu” confessional prayer is written as a collective admission of our sins, rather than an individual confession) into a major plot point absolutely blew me away.  That alone made me love this show forever.  I thought this story of Kendra’s finding connection to Judaism was absolutely beautiful, and truly extraordinary for American TV.  As in the best stories (movies, TV shows, novels), the specificity of the show’s storytelling is well-crafted to appeal to (and show respect towards) those already in that group being depicted (in this case, Jewish people), while being perfectly accessible to others.  This show depicts universal stories about growing up and navigating difficult relationships within a family that I am certain will appeal to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike.

I was also thrilled that all of the major Jewish characters on this show were played by Jewish actors.  Bravo, Raphael Bob-Waksberg!  I am not an absolutist or a fanatic about these sorts of casting decisions.  I don’t think every actor has to be of the exact specific heritage/race/religion/sexuality/fill-in-the-blank of the character they’re playing.  And yet, it’s been often frustrating over the years to see Judaism erased from Jewish characters on screen or non-Jewish actors cast to play Jewish characters.  See: Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer, Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, Helen Mirren as Golda Meir in Golda, Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Gaby Hoffman & Jay Duplass in Transparent, Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld in American Hustle... I could go on and on.  And by the way, this is not a new thing.  Look at Sir Ben Kingsley in Schindler’s List, Armin Mueller-Stahl & Aidan Quinn in Avalon, Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments, etc. etc.  So my point is that it’s nice to see Jewish characters actually played by Jewish actors here.

My only criticism in this area is that I wish I felt that more of these Jewish characters actually had a genuine, positive relationship with their Judaism.  This is a flaw I unfortunately find in so many of the Jewish stories I see on TV or in the movies, even when, as is the case here, there’s a Jewish creator at the helm.  The only characters on the show who seem remotely connected with Judaism as a religion are Kendra, a non-Jew who converts to Judaism (though this is an incredibly beautiful story and one of my favorite aspects of this season) and Yoshi, the screw-up.  The show also dances dangerously with the cliche of the awful, hyper-critical, over-involved Jewish mother.  (This was a big negative for me in the first season of Nobody Wants This.)  I believe the show is using this cliche consciously, and by the end of the season the show has, cleverly, taken the time to add depth to the Schwooper family matriarch, Naomi.  But that’s only after a whole season of her being absolutely awful to her children (and especially to Jen, Avi’s non-Jewish girlfriend who later becomes his wife).  This was really the only bump in my love for this show and my thorough enjoyment of these ten episodes.

I loved this show a lot.  Long Story Short is a beautiful portrait of a flawed, fractured family; I loved it more with each episode I watched.  This ten-episode season tells a story that felt perfect and complete to me.  (At the same time, I am thrilled that a second season is coming!!)  This was one of my favorite shows of 2025.  (In hindsight, I feel like I should have ranked it even higher.)  I highly recommend it.

Please support my website by clicking through one of my Amazon links the next time you need to shop!  As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  That means I’ll receive a small percentage from ANY product you purchase from Amazon within 24 hours after clicking through.  Thank you!