Master of None - Netflix original series from Aziz

C’mon, who wants some Aziz Ansari? You know you do. I’ve seen the first two episodes. It has a sort of “Louie” vibe except Aziz is a struggling actor and not a comedian. A raunchy comedy with a big ‘ol heart. The first was just a laugh riot. The second was more introspective with Aziz and another first generation American ask themselves how come they don’t know more about their parents’ struggles to come to America and give them a better life. Color me intrigued.

I keep hearing how great this is, we’ll have to check it out. Thanks!

I’ve enjoyed the first five and my friend says the rest are great too. Occasionally it’s a little too transparently just Aziz repackaging his standup material, but not often enough to turn me off. And hey, it’s standup material, it’s funny.

Counter response…my wife and I found it boring. Like the pacing is way off. It’s odd because I really like his standup. Then again I like Louise CK’s standup, but can’t get into the show.

As a big Aziz and Harris Wittels fan I was really looking forward to this, but man alive, the acting is absolutely awful across the board (I’m not just talking about Aziz’s real-life parents). I don’t expect much from stand-up comedians or guys with a shtick, but everyone’s delivery is just jarring and unnatural. I made to the end of episode two and I think I’ve had enough.

I know they’re going for a look at how young and hip people are constantly putting on a front to one-another. The writing supports that too: a lot of the conversations involved the characters trying to, like, riff off each other and pretend that they’re not anxious, insincere neurotic weirdos, but it’s just painful to watch. It’s a shame because I love some of the themes and stories the show is exploring.

We’ve watched two episodes. The first one was…alright, a bit cliche’d, and we were not so sure about it. The second episode, with the parents, was MUCH better, and now we’re looking forward to more.

I thought Brian, the asian guy, had particularly stilted delivery in episode two. But I haven’t noticed a problem with anyone else, and Brian hasn’t figured too prominently in the next three episodes. I say stick with it at least a little while longer if you can.

Yeah, it’s patchy. You have an odd mix of amateur/vérité on the one hand, and then, stage left, please welcome serious-chops pro Colin Salmon (awesome!) hamming it up like crazy. Apart from its straightforward entertainment value—which is considerable—I guess the latter style is supposed to set off the former, lending it authenticity? Not sure what to make of it.

What is the deal with the first two episodes? They are decidedly not good. The pacing is nonexistent. Most of the scenes are one offs with only tenuous connections and the acting, it’s not good. Then comes episode three and the whole deal turns around. It tightens up agreeably. It flows much better and it starts to work with instead of against it’s limited actors. While searching for some insight as to why those first two are so bad, I ran across a comment that this isn’t an Office like cringe comedy that it seems in the first episode. It’s a comedy of manners.

It’s not really a sitcom (most of the time), there’s not usually an A plot and a B plot, it’s more just fly-on-the-wall observational comedy stuff. I’ve only seen a couple of episodes of Louie, but I’ve seen lots of people compare the two shows and that seems apt. Again, “Brian” in episode two is terrible, but apart from him if you don’t like the rest of episodes 1 and 2, that’s fine, but I don’t think they’re bad. They’re just different from the usual half-hour comedy format. It works for me, and I hope more people give it a try. I thought episode 2 in particular was excellent, with the right amount of earnestness without being schmaltzy

This really is a goofy version of Louie…and I’m fine with that. I’ve always found Aziz to be a bright guy with smart ideas but a very low brow sensibility when it comes to his stand up. However, episode 6 is pretty great. It is a sweet little story where he finally gets his second date with the girl from the first episode and they decide to go to Nashville for the weekend. Nothing zany - just two people who like each other and are getting to know each other better. Even the ‘crisis’ feels real and their reactions to it as well. His struggles with being an Indian actor are also heartfelt and real - especially his internal struggle with the desire to get work and to portray Indians as actual people. I think the series is well worth watching.

I’m up to episode 3 and totally loving it. Refreshing to have a comedian in his early 30s inspired by Judd Apatow and Louis CK and finding comedy in truth. 1.5 decades younger allows for a new, fresh take on this comedic approach. And much as I miss Tom Haverford, having Aziz freed up to do R- rated material is very welcome. Great soundtrack too! (Reigning Sound on TV?!)

This is going to sound stupidly obvious, but I like that it’s not a show about Tom Haverford, but it is a show about a guy who makes jokes exactly like Tom Haverford material, except he’s just a guy making jokes. It’s fun to have those goofy Haverford ideas not feeling at odds with the more earnest comedy of the rest of the show.

Finished it up, I stand by my recommendation.

And I was going to say that if anyone’s trying to get Tom to watch it, let him know Lynn Shelton directed a couple episodes, but then I looked her up and realized she’s directed a few episodes of several TV shows in the last couple years, so maybe that’s not a big deal.

Thank god for you guys. I thought I was a crazy person. Reading all of the glowing reviews of the show, I was really perplexed, and just assumed that something was wrong with me. I have just seen the first 2 episodes, and boy golly is this show not very good so far. (though, on the thread recommendation, I will keep going) This feels like someone saw Louie, and decided to do a less clever version.

The second episode, in particular, was really awful. I kept asking myself, “Is this really happening?”. Whoever Dev’s friend is, really needs to brush up on his acting 101. Getting out-acted by the non-actor parents is pretty rough.

There are a lot of things I like about the show, but it is really poorly executed on a fundamental level. The writing is… wow.

Look at the scene where Dev and his friend are talking about their parents.

“Here is an anecdote about my parents”
PAUSE
“Here is an anecdote about my parents”

Nobody talks like this!! The dialogue is really odd in this episode, and it also was really un-artfully done. The show is fundamentally flawed in some ways like this. The show feels amateur in a way. Almost every scene is two people standing next to eachother talking at one another, and not having a dialogue. The script feels like a stand up set fleshed out into a script.

I mean, there was a scene that was so lazily done in episode two. Where dev and his friend are walking home, and they literally read out an entire text conversation with replies!! How was this not shot differently? Show their dads having a hard time texting/using their devices to respond back, hell, you could even have just shot the iphone screen and showed the texts for real. That scene felt really awkward, because it was 2 people having the conversation of 4 people.

Anyway, this is just my thoughts after the first 2 episodes. I am glad it does get better, and I really do appreciate Aziz’s fresh perspective, and when the jokes land, they are pretty funny. But, I think that they could have really benefitted from some more outside help in writing/directing.

Right, I totally agree that Brian (the asian guy in episode two) is terrible and that whole interaction with Dev was stilted and unnatural. That’s mercifully about 90% of Brian’s screen time for the entire show.

If you’re still not feeling it after a few more episodes, that’s fine too, I’m not going to be mad if you give up on it. But don’t judge it just by how bad Brian is.

Saying it’s like a less clever version of Louie is technically accurate, but sheesh, that’s kind of a worthless measure if. If you don’t like Louie, go ahead and bail, this isn’t for you, but if you enjoy that style, there’s a lot of room to be a great show and still less clever than Louie.

Well, thanks to this thread, I plan on continuing the show, but I still can’t believe how stellar the reviews are for this. Things really must pick up post episode 2.

It was actually episode two that brought us on board fully with this show, as we loved the way the parents were woven into the narrative. We’re maybe 4 episodes in and it does get better.

Episode 2 was one of the smartest, sharpest, funniest, most insightful TV comedy episodes I’ve seen in ages. I love the cast. It’s not about acting, it’s about people.

Well, the acting was so distracting to a point of making it difficult for me to enjoy the story. It took me out of the moment.