Long Story Short (TV series): Difference between revisions

American adult animated television series

Long Story Short is an American adult animated comedy drama television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg that premiered on August 22, 2025, on Netflix. Ahead of the series premiere, in July 2025, the series was renewed for a second season.

The series tells the story of a middle-class Jewish family in a non-linear timeline. Three siblings: Avi (Ben Feldman), Shira (Abbi Jacobson), and Yoshi (Max Greenfield) experience ordinary adult events while looking back on their childhood.^[1][2]

• Ben Feldman as Avi Schwooper, the oldest child of the Schwooper children. Born in 1982, Avi has extensive knowledge of pop culture. He has a daughter named Hannah, whom he shares custody of with his ex-wife Jen. Avi suffers from pattern hair loss.
• Angelique Cabral as Jen Schwooper, she became Avi’s girlfriend and became later his wife, but they divorced in 2020.
• Abbi Jacobson as Shira Schwooper, the middle child of the Schwooper children and sole daughter of Naomi and Elliot. Born in 1984, Shira is a lesbian and is married to Kendra, with whom she raises twin boys, Walter and Benjamin. Shira was once best friends with Rachel “Baby” Feldstein in childhood and teenage years, in high school Shira had hooked up with Rachel and Shira believed they are dating, but Shira is hurt when Rachel never saw her in a romantic way, this ended their friendship and Shira now hates her.
• Nicole Byer as Kendra Hooper, Shira’s wife, who converts to Judaism as an adult after initially lying about being part of the faith to cover up for a work absence.
• Max Greenfield as Yoshi Schwooper, the youngest child of the Schwooper children and second son of Naomi and Elliot. Born in 1991, he is diagnosed with ADHD, Dyslexia and Executive dysfunction causing him struggles in adulthood with holding down a career. In his late twenties Yoshi starts practicing modern Orthodox Judaism. Yoshi sometimes feels as the youngest (6 years younger) of the siblings and that Avi and Shira are close in age, he feel like the extra one. Yoshi is born with a noticeable beauty mark on his face.
• Lisa Edelstein as Naomi Schwartz, the matriarch of the Schwooper family and mother of Avi, Shira and Yoshi
• Paul Reiser as Elliot Cooper, the patriarch of the Schwooper family and father of Avi, Shira and Yoshi

• Dave Franco as Danny Wegbriet, Yoshi’s shifty childhood friend
• Michaela Dietz as Hannah Schwooper, Avi and Jen’s desensitized teenage daughter, Shira and Yoshi’s niece and Naomi and Elliot’s granddaughter. Born in 2009, Hannah has a good relationship with her uncle Yoshi.
• Gina Rodriguez as Rachel “Baby” Feldstein, Shira’s former best friend from childhood. Rachel is bisexual and hooked up with Shira during high school, but perceived the relationship as more casual than Shira and insensitive hurts her, leading to the end of their friendship. Years later in 2015, Rachel reunite with Yoshi, when Yoshi asks her what happened between her and Shira, Rachel says they were young and claims Shira got mad at her for “no reason”.
• Danny Burstein as Uncle Barry, Naomi’s uncle by marriage with her aunt Sylvia (the sister of Naomi’s mother).
• Avia Fields as Walter and Benjamin Hooper-Schwooper, Kendra and Shira’s hyperactive twin boys
• Julie Klausner as Carol Schwartz, one of Naomi’s sisters
• Zoe Lister-Jones as Susan Schwartz, one of Naomi’s sisters

The series is created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the creator of BoJack Horseman and executive producer on Tuca & Bertie and Undone. The series received a series order in August 2024.^[3] Bob-Waksberg also serves as the showrunner. The series is executive produced by Bob-Waksberg, Noel Bright, and Steven A. Cohen. The Tornante Company and ShadowMachine are the production companies. The main voice cast includes Ben Feldman, Abbi Jacobson, Max Greenfield, Lisa Edelstein, Paul Reiser, Angelique Cabral, and Nicole Byer.^[4]. Each episode’s credits contain the disclaimer “This Program Was Made By Humans”, indicating that generative AI was not used in production.^[5] Shortly before release it was renewed for a second season.^[6]

Long Story Short premiered on Netflix on August 22, 2025.^[4]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating based on 36 critic reviews. The website’s critics consensus reads, “Tackling emotionally mature themes with an ingeniously zany sense of humor, Raphael Bob-Waksberg‘s Long Story Short welcomes viewers into a highly specific—and extremely relatable—family unit.”^[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 89 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating “universal acclaim”.^[8]

Jenna Scherer of The A.V. Club, gave the first season an A- and wrote, “The series is all about how people change over the years—and the fact that, no matter how far you run, the past always returns to haunt the present.”^[9] Reviewing the series’ first season for The Guardian, Stuart Heritage gave a rating of 4/5 and said, “Again and again, the show reminds us that everything is an echo of what came before. This is a testament to Bob-Waksberg’s writing. This level of granular, non-linear character development must have been a feat to construct, and yet it feels effortless.”^[10]