What to watch on TV: Israeli dramedy Nothing Happened, plus political dramas worth streaming

ByHANNAH BROWNNOVEMBER 13, 2026 21:17

Nothing Happened, a major new Israeli series that just had its premiere on Hot 3 and is available on Hot VOD and Next TV, takes a familiar storyline – a long-married couple dealing with infidelity – and turns it into a show worth watching.

Nothing Happened is a true dramedy, which goes deeply into questions of when honesty is really the best policy and the very real hurt that affairs can cause, but also manages to be very funny. It was created by Shirli Moshaioff, who wrote the Yehuda Levi series, Very Important Person, and it features some of the best writing on any television series released in years.

I found myself laughing much more than I expected to when I first read that the series was about Naama (Liat Harlev), a wife whose world is upended when her husband, Alon (Assi Cohen), gets a flirty text in the middle of the night.

If you watch Eretz Nehederet, you know Harlev and Cohen, two of the show’s standouts. Irena and Shauli, a couple they portrayed on the comedy show, became so popular that they were spun off into the series, The Parliament. Harlev also plays the progressive, Israel-hating college student and the BBC anchorwoman, and she impersonates MK Tally Gotliv.

Cohen has played MK Avigdor Liberman, Uri Geller, and many others on the comedy sketch show, and he is currently starring in Tell Me Everything, the Ophir Award-winning movie about a boy who learns his father is gay. Watching them in Nothing Happened is further proof, if any were needed, that actors who can do comedy well can do anything.

There were many bitterly sad lines in Nothing Happened that they managed to make very funny, that would have just flown by had they been spoken by less skilled actors.

The series is told more from Naama’s point of view, and Harlev is luminous and utterly compelling at every moment. She manages to find a fresh take on the wife who suddenly wonders if she can trust her husband.

The couple have been married 17 years and have two kids and seem to have an affectionate, even at times, passionate relationship.

But the text Naama sees on Alon’s phone immediately makes her suspicious, and she demands to know what’s going on. This leads them on a nocturnal odyssey, where she manages to find a 24-hour polygraph testing service that will take him immediately.

One of the most notorious extramarital affairs of the 20th century

I don’t want to give any spoilers about the story, so it’s best if I don’t write anything more specific right now, but I ended up binging the first six episodes that were released to the press, and I imagine that many viewers will want to do the same.

Nothing Happened brought to mind one of the most notorious extramarital affairs of the 20th century: the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair, which was dramatized in the miniseries Impeachment, a season of American Crime Story that is available on Disney+ (which has just lowered its price until November 24).

You probably remember the headlines, but you may have forgotten the backstory, which involved Lewinsky’s friendship with a Pentagon staffer, Linda Tripp, who secretly taped her conversations with Lewinsky.

All of this led to Lewinsky being detained by the FBI and threatened with a lengthy prison term if she did not cooperate.

The whole twisted story is told very well in this series, with Beanie Feldstein as Lewinsky, Clive Owen giving a very good performance as the former president, Edie Falco as Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Paulson, unrecognizable under heavy padding, as Tripp.

The US and Israeli elections are over, but the struggle to form a government in Israel continues, and if you have politics on your mind, there are many other excellent series and movies about recent political events.

Those with access to HBO Max, either on its own or through Hot, Yes, or Cellcom TV, can watch Game Change, a very entertaining dramatization of the strange and sudden rise and fall of Sarah Palin, who is played brilliantly by Julianne Moore, which should serve as a reminder that US politics have been in disarray for some time now.

There’s also Recount, a less exciting look at the weeks in 2000 when no winner could be declared in the US presidential election because it was too close to call in Florida, and stars Kevin Spacey as a political operative.

I would also recommend that those who want to watch political drama see or rewatch The Wire, also on HBO Max. The iconic series, which ended nearly 20 years ago, focused on drug dealers and the police who pursue them, but there is a strong political theme that runs through it, especially in the third and fourth seasons.

Storylines that involve the mayoral race in Baltimore

These feature storylines that involve the mayoral race in Baltimore and the ambitious candidate Tommy Carcetti (Aiden Gillen of Game of Thrones), a city councilman who makes a serious bid for the mayor’s office. At first, it seems as if he is concerned with affecting positive change in the city, but he makes compromise after compromise on his quest for power.

Carcetti is especially funny as he bickers with his even more cynical aide, Norman (Philippe Dumond), on the campaign trail. Creator David Simon somehow makes it highly entertaining to watch how the characters make their deals with the devil.

Even when The Wire is not directly concerned with politicians, it’s still dealing with politics. The power struggles among the drug dealers and between devoted police investigators and the upper-level police bureaucrats give insights into political realities.

If you’ve already seen The Wire, you might want to try another David Simon series on HBO Max, Show Me a Hero. This title comes from a line by F. Scott Fitzgerald – “Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy” – and Simon makes riveting TV out of the true story of how a young, unstable but charming mayor in Yonkers, played by Oscar Isaac, desegregated the city.

All of David Simon’s series are filled with great writing and lines you’ll remember.  In one episode of The Wire, detective-turned-teacher Roland “Prez” Pryzbylewski watches a football game on TV. When his wife asks who is winning, he replies, “No one wins. One side just loses more slowly,” which could be the catchphrase of the Israeli political scene these days.

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