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As ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Ends,
Will its Jewish Legacy Be More Than
a Punchline?
Shira Li Bartov | JTA.org
Amazon Studios
A fter five seasons, 20 Emmy
awards and plenty of Jewish
jokes, “The Marvelous Mrs.

Maisel” airs its final episode on May 26.

The lauded Amazon Prime show from
Amy Sherman-Palladino has enveloped
viewers in a shimmering, candy-col-
ored version of New York during the
late 1950s and early 1960s — a world
in which “humor” has meant Jewish
humor and “culture” has meant Jewish
culture. But as it comes to an end, the show’s
Jewish legacy is still up for debate:
Did its representation of Jews on
mainstream TV make it a pioneer of
the 2010s? Or did it do more harm than
good in the battle for better repre-
sentation, by reinforcing decades-old
comedic tropes about Jews?
The comedy-drama followed the
vivacious Midge Maisel (Rachel
Brosnahan) on a journey from prim
Upper West Side housewife — left in
the lurch after her husband has an
affair with his secretary — to ambitious,
foul-mouthed comic fighting her way
through the male-dominated standup
comedy industry. Her New York
Jewishness colored her jokes, her
accent, her mannerisms and much of
her daily life.

That’s because the whole landscape
of the show was Jewish, from the
well-to-do, acculturated intelligen-
tsia (such as Midge’s parents) to the
self-made garment factory owners (such
as her in-laws). Even the radical Jewish
comic Lenny Bruce, a countercultural
icon of the midcentury, appeared as
a recurring character who propels
Midge’s success.

Henry Bial, a professor specializing in
performance theory and Jewish popular
culture at the University of Kansas, said
the emergence of “The Marvelous Mrs.

From left: Alex Borstein and Rachel Brosnahan in a scene from Season 3 of
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
Maisel” in 2017 exemplified a shift to
more overt portrayals of Jews on TV
— especially on streaming services.

Although Jewish characters featured in
TV shows throughout the 20th century,
such as “The Goldbergs” in the 1950s,
“Rhoda” in the 1970s and “Seinfeld” in
the 1990s, their Jewishness was often
more coded than explicit. Network
television, seeking to attract the major-
ity of Americans coveted by advertis-
ers, feared alienating audiences who
couldn’t “relate” to ethnic and racial
minorities. “If there are only three things you
can put on television at 8 o’clock on
Tuesday night, then there’s a lot more
incentive for networks and advertisers
to stay close to the herd, because you’re
competing for the same eyeballs,” said
Bial. “But when people can watch
whatever they want whenever they
want, then it opens up for a much wider
range of stories.”
Other shows such as “Transparent,”
“Broad City” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,”
which debuted in 2014 and 2015, are
often cited alongside “Mrs. Maisel”
as part of a new wave of Jewish
representation. Riv-Ellen Prell, a professor emerita of
American studies at the University of
Minnesota, argued that Midge subverts
the stereotype of the “Jewish American
princess.” At the start of the show, she
appears to embrace that image: She
is financially dependent on her father
and husband and obsessive about her
appearance, measuring her body every
day to ensure that she doesn’t gain
weight. Despite living with her husband
for years, she always curls her hair,
does her makeup and spritzes herself
with perfume before he wakes up.

“She looks for all the world like the
fantasy of a Jewish American princess,”
said Prell. “And yet she is more ambitious
than imaginable, she is a brilliant comic
who draws on her own life. You have
Amy Sherman-Palladino inventing the
anti-Jewish princess.”
Bial said that Midge’s relationship
with her Jewishness defies another
stereotype: That identity is not a source
of neurosis or self-loathing, as it often
appears to be in the male archetypes
of Woody Allen and Larry David, or in
Rachel Bloom’s “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”
Through the spirited banter, the pointed
exclamations of “oy,” the titillation over
a rabbi coming for Yom Kippur break
fast — Midge’s Jewishness is a source
of comforting ritual, joy and celebration.

“She has anxieties and issues,
but none of them are because she’s
Jewish,” said Bial.

Some critics argue the show’s depic-
tion of Jewish culture relies on shallow
tropes. In a 2019 review, TV critic
Paul Brownfield said “The Marvelous
Mrs. Maisel” repurposed stereotypes
to appear “retro chic.” He pointed to
a consistent contrast between the
Weissmans (the assimilated, cultured
Jews of the Upper West Side) and the
Maisels (the boorish, money-focused
Jews of the Garment District), arguing
that these superficial types replace an
exploration of what the period was
actually like for American Jews.

“However ‘Jewish’ Sherman-Palladino
wants the show to be, ‘Maisel’ fails to
grapple with the realities of the moment
in Jewish American history it portrays,”
Brownfield wrote. “Which is ultimately
what leaves me queasy about its tone
— the shtick, the stereotypes, the
comforting self-parody.”
Meanwhile, Andy Samberg took a
jab while co-hosting the 2019 Golden
Globes with Sandra Oh. “It’s the show
that makes audiences sit up and say,
‘Wait, is this antisemitic?’” he joked.

Others have criticized the show’s
casting: Its titular heroine, her parents
Abe and Rose Weissman (Tony
Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle) and Lenny
Bruce (Luke Kirby) are all played by
non-Jews. A debate over the casting of
non-Jewish actors in Jewish roles has
heated up in recent years, taking aim
not only at Brosnahan as Midge Maisel,
but also at Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader
Ginsberg in “On The Basis of Sex,”
Helen Mirren as Golda Meir in “Golda”
and Gaby Hoffmann and Jay Duplass as
the Pfefferman siblings in “Transparent.”
Comedian Sarah Silverman popularized
the term “Jewface” to critique the trend.

“Watching a gentile actor portray-
ing, like, a Jew-y Jew is just — agh —
feels, like, embarrassing and cringey,”
Silverman said on her podcast in 2021. ■
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