Back in the earlier 2000s (we are still in the early 2000s, even if it’s about to be 2025!!), one of my favorite shows was “Criminal Minds,” the TV police procedural about a group of FBI special agents tasked with catching serial killers.
Idk if he counts as a character because he's also a real person lol, but I *loved* Joel Basman's Franz Kafka (and like everyone in that cast tbh) it felt like everyone involved really "got" Kafka, and I thought the way the Jewish content was incorporated throughout the series to be so smart and well done (especially when historically much of the work done about Kafka tends to de-emphasize the role Jewish life and culture played in shaping his perspective)
Golda Rosenbaum in Little Bird, who is the adoptive mother of Behzig/Esther. The award winning Lisa Edelstein in this Canadian indigenous show plays a Holocaust survivor who must come to terms with her adopted daughter’s pain of having been taken from her birth family. Her own pain is twofold, of having benefitted from this cruel system, and the heartbreaking possibility that her daughter will reject her now for that reason and may supplant her with her native family. We witness love as the way to acceptance and healing. (My one hesitation is that while it was shown this year in the U.S. on PBS, it was shown in Canada in 2023.)
Trevor on Ghosts. A flawed man he also has his kind and caring side. One of the best episodes of the season (or any seasn) was Trevir discovering that his acts of kindness while alive had had a lasting impact.
Idk if he counts as a character because he's also a real person lol, but I *loved* Joel Basman's Franz Kafka (and like everyone in that cast tbh) it felt like everyone involved really "got" Kafka, and I thought the way the Jewish content was incorporated throughout the series to be so smart and well done (especially when historically much of the work done about Kafka tends to de-emphasize the role Jewish life and culture played in shaping his perspective)
I think I agree, my favorite Jewish rep of 2024 was Joel Basman's Kafka.
Golda Rosenbaum in Little Bird, who is the adoptive mother of Behzig/Esther. The award winning Lisa Edelstein in this Canadian indigenous show plays a Holocaust survivor who must come to terms with her adopted daughter’s pain of having been taken from her birth family. Her own pain is twofold, of having benefitted from this cruel system, and the heartbreaking possibility that her daughter will reject her now for that reason and may supplant her with her native family. We witness love as the way to acceptance and healing. (My one hesitation is that while it was shown this year in the U.S. on PBS, it was shown in Canada in 2023.)
What a special show, thank you for reminding me of it.
Trevor on Ghosts. A flawed man he also has his kind and caring side. One of the best episodes of the season (or any seasn) was Trevir discovering that his acts of kindness while alive had had a lasting impact.