The influence Adam Brody has on generations of TV viewers cannot be underestimated.
Audiences got their first taste of his awkward yet endearing appeal as Dave Rygalski in Season 3 of Gilmore girls. With the debut of The OC in 2003, fans became wrapped up in Brody’s quick wit and charm as Seth Cohen, a comic book-reading, Death Cab for Cutie-listening teenager from Newport Beach, California. As Cohen, Brody is cute and self-deprecating. He has “geeky” interests that make him not like other boys – and unlike his brooding counterpart, Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie), he is cheerful, approachable and often optimistic. He’s a nice guy who actually finishes first.
Now the 44-year-old actor is winning hearts faster than you can say “California” with his latest Netflix series. In Nobody wants thisBrody plays Noah Roklov, a recently single rabbi in LA who falls in love with an agnostic sex podcaster played by fellow kids, darling, Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell. Their characters’ romance doesn’t exactly make sense to their friends and family, and it doesn’t seem likely to work out. They decide to give it a try anyway.
To some fans, Roklov is an adult version of Cohen, although Brody has politely refuted this. (“I don’t think Seth Cohen would have been a rabbi,” he told Yahoo Entertainment in a recent interview.) Still, Brody’s return to his roots as an unconventional heartthrob is sending viewers into a frenzy.
Nobody wants this ranked No. 2 on Netflix’s top 10 most popular TV shows worldwide and was viewed more than 10.3 million times in the days following its premiere on September 26. On social media, viewers — many of whom are longtime Brody fans — have shared their love for the romantic comedy and its lead actor.
However, a debate, or generational war, has begun among fans: Does Brody belong to Gen Xers or millennials?
Four days after the show premiered, a fan wrote on X that both Brody and Dawson’s Creek alum Joshua Jackson (who is also having a moment thanks to ABC’s Doctor Odyssey) belong to Generation X. She argued that because Brody and Jackson were born in 1979 and 1978 respectively, they fall into the Gen
I was born in 1980, depending on which lists you think I am Gen X. And I was fucking looking forward to Dawson’s Creek and the OC.
— Lindsey Thomson (@lindseyag02) October 1, 2024
Millennials disagree.
This is true, but Adam Brody is a generational baiter!!! He belongs to millennials! His character was in high school when I was in high school!!! I am lured by the generation! https://t.co/TdtOWtfL4b
— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) October 1, 2024
Some millennials claim that Brody belongs to their generation, as Seth Cohen was in middle school while many of them were also attending high school. (They grew up together, so to speak.) Fans of The OC I believe Cohen was born in 1988. But who says that Cohen or Brody’s birth years should play a role in this so-called generation gap? Do we really have to get so technical with it?
The millennial camp’s position is also that Brody’s generational heartthrob status should be determined by the age of his core fans, who are millennials. There are also statistics that support this. Variety reported this in May 2003 The OC was a “huge draw” among teenagers, especially those aged 12 to 17.
The actors may be Gen X, but older millennials have come of age watching their shows. They owe their success to us.
— Yvonne (@Movieym) October 1, 2024
In addition to social media, news media vouches for Brody and the rom-com series as irrevocably millennial. Vogue asked if Brody was the “defining millennial crush,” while USA Today referred to the new show as one that warms the “cold hearts of millennials.”
The LA Times, AV Club and BuzzFeed have also recognized the series’ influence on nostalgic people in their late 20s to early 40s who grew up watching the shows Brody and Bell made famous, using phrases such as “millennial magic” and “millennial Heaven’. is used to describe the Netflix hit. Brody even called him and Bell a “generatively approved couple” for millennials in an interview with Newsweek.
Brody isn’t the only early childhood star enjoying a resurgence in both career and heartthrob status. In fact, he’s the latest in a line of actors experiencing a second coming. Jackson, who rose to fame as lovelorn prankster Pacey Witter Dawson’s Creek, now stars on Doctor Odyssey, which premiered on ABC the same day as Nobody wants this. Prior to his turn on the Ryan Murphy show, Jackson starred in Paramount+’s Fatal attraction. Jackson and Brody are also joined by fellow teen heartthrob Josh Hartnett, who starred as an unassuming serial killer in M. Night Shyamalan’s Fall and guest-starred in an episode of FX’s Season 3 The Bear.
So, which generation gets to brag about Brody? While a definitive answer has yet to be given, Netflix warned audiences and their “millennial hearts” ahead of the show’s debut.
That has to count for something, right?
