Fleishman Is in Trouble is FX on Hulu’s latest star-studded limited series, one of those things the basic cable network does best. This one, which premiered on November 17, stars Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg, Emmy winner Clare Danes, the beloved Lizzy Caplan, and The O.C.’s Adam Brody (as a character named Seth who is absolutely not Seth Cohen).
Here’s the official show description from FX:
Recently divorced 41-year-old Toby Fleishman dives into the brave new world of app-based dating with the kind of success he never had dating in his youth, before he got married at the tail end of medical school. But just at the start of his first summer of sexual freedom, his ex-wife Rachel disappea<span class=”yZlgBd”>rs leaving him with 11-year-old Hannah and 9-year-old Solly and no hint of where she is or whether she plans to return. As he balances parenting, the return of old friends Libby and Seth, a potential promotion at the hospital that is a long time coming, and all the eligible women that Manhattan has to offer, he realizes that he’ll never be able to figure out what happened to Rachel until he can finally face what happened to their marriage in the first place.</span>
You’re here because you’re wondering if Fleishman Is In Trouble is based on something. It is! Fleishman Is in Trouble is an adaptation of the New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. The novel came out in 2019, and there was quickly a bidding war for the rights to adapt it. Brodesser-Akner, a journalist known for splashy profiles of celebs including Bradley Cooper and Gwyneth Paltrow, is the creator and an executive producer. She wrote seven of eight episodes. Brodesser-Akner, who is married, was inspired to write the fictional story after a plethora of friends started getting divorced once she hit her 40s.
“It almost felt like fan fiction, or like fan fiction with your Barbies — like, what if you got your Barbies to be these famous people? I can’t even describe it,” Brodesser-Akner told Variety about seeing her book get adapted to the screen.
