From Abbi Jacobson in 'No Good Deed' to Joe Locke in 'Agatha All Along,' these Queer Jewish TV characters bring me joy
A not at all comprehensive list.
Back in 2022 I wrote a long but not comprehensive list of Jewish queer representation on TV for Kveller. Since then, there have been a lot more queer Jewish characters on TV that I’ve discovered and loved, so for Pride Month (HAPPY PRIDE!), I’m going to share a short list of some of them.
Anything played by Robby Hoffman
Former Orthodox gay comedian Robby Hoffman is just someone I can’t get enough of on my screen. This year, she did a BDSM demonstration in “Dying For Sex” and played a secretary that’s basically a version of her real-life self on “Hacks.” Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough Robby Hoffman for me or for my colleague Evelyn Frick, who wrote about it for Hey Alma. (I also can’t get enough of her wife, Gabby Windey.)
Abbi Jacobson’s Leslie Fisher from “No Good Deed”
Jacobson plays lawyer Leslie Fisher in Jewish TV creator Liz Feldman’s newest Netflix show, after “Dead to Me.” I’m fairly certain she is Jewish. She plays one of the couples trying to buy the house that Lisa Kudrow’s Lydia Morgan and her husband (Ray Romano) are hoping to sell. Fisher and her wife, Sarah Weber, played by Poppy Liu, are attempting to have their first child via IVF, a journey filled with a lot of heartbreaking, bitter disappointments and trying to decide whether to keep their dream of a family alive. Their storyline is so human and touching.
“I’ve touched upon my miscarriage and pregnancy loss in the past, but I felt like what I hadn’t ever seen was the same-sex couple talking about going through infertility together. As we are all living and paying attention and reading headlines in this world about IVF, the right to choose, body autonomy — it’s extremely relevant and important,” Feldman told the LA Times.
Nathan Lane’s Bunny Schneiderman in “Mid-Century Modern”
Listen, I have strong feelings about authentic casting, but I’m never not down to watch anything starring Nathan Lane. Lane plays a scion of a Jewish underwear empire (lol) in this show created by gay sitcom trailblazers Max Mutchnick and David Kohan (“Will & Grace”). His mother is played by the late, great Linda Lavin in her last TV role (the show was released after her passing) and they are just so fabulous on screen together.
Finally, some Israeli queer TV rep you can stream
Thanks to Israeli-specific TV streaming platform IZZY, you can now binge two Israeli shows with LGBTQ+ rep. The first is the excellent “Dismissed,” a show about Israeli female soldiers in basic training that has a lot of lesbian rep (including from actress Lir Katz, who is in the new movie “Tatami”). You can also watch “Dumb,” a comedy about a ton of unlikable characters, full of gay characters, including a gay cop played by “Fauda”’s Doron Ben-David and a gay Arab drug dealer played by Loai Nofi.
Joe Locke’s Teen in “Agatha All Along”
Spoilers for “Agatha All Along” below.
If you’re a fan of “Heartstopper,” you already know star Joe Locke. He plays a Jewish teen in this Marvel TV series, a spinoff of “Wandavision;” in “Agatha All Along,” he’s a member of Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha’s coven. Throughout the first four episodes of the first season of “Agatha All Along,” we don’t know his identity — it is sealed off by a charm and everyone calls him “teen” — but in episode 5, we discover that he is actually Wiccan, an openly gay and Jewish MCU character. In episode 6 we get a flashback to his bar mitzvah which I must say, is one of the best and most authentic bar mitzvahs in recent TV history. Love.
Some more stories about queer Jewish rep on TV from our sister site Hey Alma:
Who is your favorite Jewish queer TV character? Let me know in the comments!