Master of None is the Show 1st-Generation Millennials Have Been Waiting For
I'm just going to say this. TV shows never get New York City right. (Whew! That felt good.) Well, at least never entirely right.
To be fair, shows like "Friends," "Sex and the City," and "Seinfeld" are all based in New York and follow characters who live in New York. Yet, they failed to fully capture the diversity and uniqueness of the Big Apple. The 2015 premiere of one of the more original shows running today has made it its mission to tell stories about immigrant families and the qualms of millennial identity.
"Master of None" is the Netflix hit comedy series from Emmy Award-winning writer/comedian, Aziz Ansari. Loosely based on his own personal experiences, Ansari plays the lovable Dev Shah, an Indian-American struggling actor/game show host who searches for fulfillment in both work and life in thought-provoking, anecdotal ways.
The diverse cast has also contributed to a refreshing take on balanced storytelling where lengthy scenes and, in one particular case, entire episodes abandon the main player's plight and give a platform for other characters to shine.
The show has garnered wide praise for exploring themes on relationships, modern love in the era of technology and social media, and coming-of-age stories that carry a universal appeal. The second season is ambitious leap forward from the first where all of the characters' experiences, in varying degrees, create a heartfelt blend of drama, love, and humor.
The entire series has expertly portrayed the lives of New Yorkers from a unique perspective. And, yet, the second season's standout episodes, "Religion," "New York, I Love You," and "Thanksgiving," are honest reflections of people in our own lives whom we know and interact with every day.
Alan Yang, Ansari's co-creator and writing collaborator on the show, said "when you depict people whose stories haven't been told as often, that can lend you some originality."
Master of None Season 2 is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.