Aziz Ansari's 'Master of None' on Netflix

can't relate at all to the "oh no i have choices in my life" preciousness

The Wareheim directed episodes are really good; lack of obvious acting chops therefore forgiven.

It's also kind of his comedic style to not take himself or his role seriously. The majority of the time Heidecker was always the one to get really into a character while Wareheim would essentially just be himself in costume.

Watched the first two episodes. It's amiable enough, but it's never more than just a little bit funny is it? And I felt both episodes were kind of working towards making a point which never materialised. Plus a lot of the line readings are very wooden. What am I missing?

watch more than 2, I guess? General feel remains but they vary in quality.

I'll watch a couple more but I suspect I'm just not into it. It's like Louie but stripped of insight and darkness.

i think you've got the measure of it. just wait until the one where aziz encounters sexism for the very first time ever. I LEARNED A LOT.

yeah i enjoyed this but it's not hugely funny and the acting is bad

^that seems fair. comparison to Louie doesn't make sense as it's intentionally low-key emotionally, and its raison d'être is basically the fact that it is not another show centered around a white man, though imo it has a pretty light touch in that regard.

Yeah it's very spotty and uneven and kinda didactic. But before giving up on it watch the Nashville episode then maybe skip straight to the finale. Both were really great half hours of TV. You don't need to watch the whole thing.

the best one was the one that focused on the parents imo

Reminded me of Chris Rock's Top Five as far as having a relaxed Annie Hall vibe, and is important by not striving to be Important and Symbolic.

man iirc the Nashville one and the finale were my least favorite.

the best one was the one that focused on the parents imo

^^^ this

yeah the finale felt like a different show, it was way too serious. Nashville one was kinda fun though. my fav by far was the Indians on TV one but I'm an Indian-American so I don't know if that ep hits others the same way it hit me

the running Short Circuit gag in that was great, I liked that episode a lot too

also

Chris Rock's Top Five

does not get enough love! great movie

indians on tv was easily the best episode, and the nashville one and the parents one were also stand-outs. I've heard the "not really that funny" critique a lot, and I get it given Ansari's pedigree as a stand-up and sitcom actor. But the whole thing is more like a loose, hang-out indie movie than a Parks&Rec-type thing. Not surprising to see folks like James Ponsoldt and Lynn Shelton directing episodes.

Make a whole episode in Italy in black and white :(

Second one made up for it though.

I bailed on this season halfway through. I got enough of interminable scenes of people eating, Wareheim's awful character, and AA's non-acting

I never picked it back up after the Nashville episode in S1. Many of my qualms are the same as Simon's, so I'm guessing it's safe to leave it at that.

yeah if anything it's worse, it segues into being all-out lifestyle pr0n this time

First ep good/great, 2nd ep gross lifestyle porn, 3rd ep enjoyable cuz parents

Just watched the Death Castle episode. First one that felt completely half-assed.

i like this season. it does seem like lifestyle porn a lot of the time, though. i liked the death castle episode!

i didn't finish the first season, fwiw. i thought this one was much better, but maybe i just experienced the bingewatch lowering of standards?

i also don't like wareheim's character! i felt like such a grinch about that bc i suspect he's supposed to be super-lovable.

if you quit before the denise episode, maybe watch the denise episode?

which one is that? of the first five, only the multi-first-date ep had any flair or laughs

Thanksgiving

Wareheim's character feels really forced and unnatural to me, compared to the naturalistic amiability of the rest of the cast. The first dates episode and the Bourdain parody were both p great imo, esp the former.

one thing I appreciate about this is that it's a comedy where the protagonist is not some mysanthrope w issues, it's a welcome reprieve from that angle

i feel like it goes well with aziz ansari's super-sunny face. that feels like a weird observation to make, but it's true.

loved the tinder episode
loved the pork/muslim parents episode, which is basically my life

thanksgiving episode is really moving and funny and complex

tinder episode is a good idea and mostly well executed but felt kind of like it was making a banal point in the end.

was it making a point?

i think i missed the point if so.

unless you mean the point that dating is hard. which, i guess is banal, but i love montages of dates. i would watch a whole movie that was just the sequence of bad dates in the beginning of kissing jessica stein, for example.

That came off harsher than I intended, since I liked the episode too. I just mean the endless circular purgatory of online dating seemed to be the "point" when I was hoping it would go somewhere more unexpected than the "whoops she's racist" conclusion.

that "mammy" condom jar sequence was insane and excellent

Why? Felt derivatively Seinfeldian to me.

p much everything about this show is derivative - there's a clear line from Woody Allen's peak period through Seinfeld and then Louie and now this (and there's probably a few more dots you could throw in to connect 'em all) - so while yeah this gag in retrospect is like a Seinfeld plot device but it didn't leap out to me as such. It was just unexpected (I certainly didn't see it coming) and it was funny w out being hamfisted.

I loved this then hated it by the s1 Nashville episode. This season is bad so far but I can't resist Aziz himself. That face and smile. He's certainly quite a singular character. Sympatico.

This actual show is a shitshow though. Fucking hell. Why am I talented and broke when this shit gets $$$?

this season is masterful, surprised you aren't are loving it more. it's so much more interesting and varied than the first season, also who would not be in love with that italian woman

I liked the Long Good Friday homage at the end of the Bourdain episode, very well done. This show has obvious antecedents but still feels fresher than anything else on TV right now

yeah I think this is p incredible apart from the ep 2 misstep. Just inventive and clever and oddly compassionate

was that bill murray in the audience of Jon Benjamin Has a Play?

I wonder what Bourdain thinks of Cannavale's impression, it seems p close to the bone

yeah, there were times where, vocally, CAnnavale sounded identical to Bourdain. I imagine he wouldn't be super happy about it IF there are rumors like this about him, which I haven't ever heard.

he did just get divorced but yeah I haven't read anything unsavory related to that