Peak TV’s Unapologetic Jewish Woman is simultaneously a deep dive into some important case studies and an expansive new reading of Jewishness on American television. Pickette has crafted a story about the evolution of the depiction of Jewish womanhood. She offers sharp, insightful readings of both classic and recent television shows, comparing and contrasting their use (and sometimes misuse) of Jewish women characters. She ends with the question ‘where do we go from here?’ but the book has left very little doubt that where we go from here is on to ever more unapologetic Jewish women populating the airwaves.

Jennifer Caplan, University of Cincinnati

Samantha Pickette’s brilliant illumination of Jewish and gendered self-representation in television and streaming programming is sensitive, savvy, and often moving. Revealing in thoughtful detail ‘the ways in which Jewishness can take shape in the daily lives of young secular Jews,’ her penetrating and compelling discussions of characters, plots, and settings utilize the skills of ethnography as well as cinematic and literary analysis. You cannot find a more coherent and insightful guide to the panorama of outrageous, entertaining, and sometimes irritating women and men acting out their Jewishness on contemporary screens.

Sylvia Barack Fishman, Brandeis University

Peak TV’s Unapologetic Jewish Woman: Exploring Jewish Representation in Contemporary Television Comedy did not disappoint. Although it’s an academic study, it’s chock full of gems that will add to communal debates about such shows as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Broad City,
and Transparent... But the reader who can get past [the] academic tics will be rewarded with a Jewish feminist lay of contemporary TV land. And I think most readers will find themselves eager not only for the next generation of Jewish TV but also for Pickette’s commentary on it.

Lilith Magazine