Netflix’s Long Story Short utilizes multiple timelines to set the scene for the show, which means viewers might benefit from more than one watch.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Abbi Jacobson, who plays Shira, gave showrunner Raphael Bob-Waksberg credit for helping keep track of her character at various points throughout the process.
“I will say that Raphael is always informing the story — he does this for all the actors. When you come in to record an episode, he always does a really great job of being like, ‘OK, let’s just place us where we are right now,’” Jacobson, 41, shared. “And I really love that every episode has the back and forth through time.”
Jacobson understood why the writing device was used in season 1 of Long Story Short.
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“That is something I think about a lot in my own life where something that I happen to be going through right now [makes me] kind of [go] back to the past. Whether it’s a traumatic moment or a really happy moment that relates to what you’re going through now,” she noted. “That’s just how we operate and how we deal with stuff as we get older. So I really love how it bounces back and forth.”
The perk of this particular plot device is how it lends the show to more viewings. “Sometimes the pacing is really fast and everybody is talking at the same time in some of the bigger scenes. For sure, [that could allow for] a second watch,” the actress said to Us. “Also just visually. In any pilot, there is some heavy lifting to get you to understand the characters and where you are and what’s happening.”
Jacobson continued: “Then I often find once I’m into a show, I really want to go back and at least watch that again to be like, ‘OK, now I know.’ Because I think sometimes in the pilot you miss some of the fun easter eggs because you’re trying to get your bearings.”
Long Story Short, which premiered on Friday, August 22, tells a generational story through the lens of a middle-class Jewish family. Three siblings — Avi (Ben Feldman), Shira (Jacobson) and Yoshi (Max Greenfield) — are at the center of the show as they experience ordinary adult events while looking back on their highly religious childhood.
The star-studded cast also features Lisa Edelstein, Paul Reiser, Angelique Cabral, Nicole Byer and a wide range of surprise voiceover cameos from Dave Franco, Ben Schwartz, Rachel Bloom, John Cho, Gillian Jacobs, Gina Rodriguez, Zach Braff and John Early.
“I know a lot of the story is really a personal experience for Raphael. But even just recently, I was able to watch it, and at the table reads, the pacing of the dialogue and how everyone is always talking on top of each other,” Jacobson noted about what made Long Story Short stand out to her. “There’s a lot of passive aggressive behavior and sarcasm and all that stuff feels simultaneously really specific and universal.”
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After working with Bob-Waksberg on BoJack Horseman, Jacobson knew she wanted a chance to collaborate again.
“It was always for this role and I was so excited. I just thought BoJack Horseman was so funny and then really dealt with real issues,” she explained. “Now with Long Story Short, I try to always think how every character I play I relate to — or don’t relate to them.”
Jacobson recalled being able to easily connect to her character — a middle child who grows up to become a (mostly) self-assured woman with a wife (Nicole Byer) and her own family.
“There’s so much similarity with this show. I’m queer and I’m married to a woman. Then there is such a difference. This family is so specific and is actually really not my version of a Jewish upbringing, but I still could find so much commonality and so much in there,” she detailed. “It’s the same exact timeline too of ’90s kids and I do have an older brother. I only have one brother, but I really related to that younger sister thing too. … It’s always just a bonus when you’re playing a character where you’re like, ‘Oh, I totally understand that experience.’ The challenge of embodying a character is always how to find that. So when it’s already there, you’re like, ‘Got it.’”
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Netflix has already renewed Long Story Short for a second season, which will allow Jacobson to continue exploring voiceover work after roles in Interior Chinatown, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, Bob’s Burgers, Crank Yankers and BoJack Horseman.
“I feel so lucky. I’ve gotten to do a bunch of voiceover stuff at this point. When I’m doing a live-action thing, you can see everything. So a pause, you’re seeing my facial expressions or my body language. There’s a limitation here of obviously you’re just focusing on one singular part of my performance. So that limitation is really exciting,” Jacobson shared. “Sometimes it’s like, ‘Well, how do you convey everything just through your voice?’ So I think it’s an ongoing challenge in a great way to try and work that.”
She concluded: “I actually was really lucky to get to do an animated film that is being made right now that’s a drama called Tangles. There’s a lot of drama in it while most of the stuff I’ve done in voiceover has been comedy focused. In Long Story Short, though, it goes there. It’s really grounded, even though it’s really, really funny. It’s grounded and there’s a lot this show deals with and explores emotionally. “
Long Story Short is currently streaming on Netflix.
