Master of None is an American comedy-drama web television series, which was released for streaming on November 6, 2015 on Netflix. The series was created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, and stars Ansari in the lead role of Dev Shah, a 30-year-old actor, mostly following his romantic, professional, and cultural experiences. The first season was set in New York City, and consisted of ten episodes. The second season, which takes place in Italy and New York, consists of ten episodes and was released on May 12, 2017.
Master of None has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. The series has received critical acclaim, appeared on multiple year-end top ten lists, and received multiple awards and nominations.
Video Master of None
Conception
The show's title alludes to the figure of speech, "Jack of all trades, master of none" and was originally suggested by Ansari. The series later incorporated a song of the same name by Beach House. Ansari says it took months to come up with the show's title and he and Yang did not ultimately agree on it until all of the episodes were completed.
Maps Master of None
Cast
- Aziz Ansari as Dev Shah, a commercial actor whose best-known work was a Go-Gurt commercial.
- Noël Wells as Rachel Silva, Dev's primary romantic interest in the first season. Rachel works as a music publicist.
- Eric Wareheim as Arnold Baumheiser, Dev's friend who Ansari describes as the "token white friend". Wareheim notes his character's friendship is based on his real-life friendship with Ansari as they both enjoy eating. The role was originally set to be played by Harris Wittels before his death in February 2015.
- Kelvin Yu as Brian Chang, Dev's friend who is the son of Taiwanese immigrants. An interview with Yu in Vulture.com noted that Brian represented the "onscreen version of co-creator Alan Yang, Dev's chill, super-good-looking friend" and that he was a "hottie".
- Lena Waithe as Denise, Dev's friend, who is a lesbian. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Waithe said that her character was not originally intended to be African-American or gay but that Ansari wanted Denise's personality to reflect Waithe's own, so they rewrote her part.
- Alessandra Mastronardi as Francesca, a friend and eventual romantic interest Dev meets in Italy in the second season. She later visits him in New York.
Also making recurring appearances in the series are Todd Barry, who plays a movie director named Todd; Colin Salmon, who plays a fictionalized version of himself; H. Jon Benjamin as Benjamin, an acting colleague on the film The Sickening; Leonard Ouzts as Lawrence, the producer of Clash of the Cupcakes in the second season; and Ansari's real-life parents Shoukath and Fatima, who play Dev's parents. There have been guest appearances by Danielle Brooks, Claire Danes, David Krumholtz, Noah Emmerich, Bobby Cannavale, John Legend, Kym Whitley, Raven-Symoné, Riccardo Scamarcio, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Colin Salmon and Angela Bassett.
Episodes
Season 1 (2015)
Season 2 (2017)
Reception
Critical response
Season 1
On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 100% based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Exceptionally executed with charm, humor, and heart, Master of None is a refreshingly offbeat take on a familiar premise." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 91 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
James Poinewozik of The New York Times called it "the year's best comedy straight out of the gate" and a "mature rom-com." IGN's Matt Fowler gave the entire first season an 8.8 out of 10, saying "by the second episode it takes flight and offers up a very funny, unique take on food, dating, relationships, etc (the usual suspects). Ansari is a smart and engaging presence and his perspective on things lends itself very well to this type of single-camera comedy. And his supporting cast, particularly Wells, is on point. A few episodes may have fizzled out right at the finish...but there's no denying Master of None's success overall." James Dempsey of Newstalk described the show as "like a transatlantic cousin of Ricky Gervais' Extras, another story of an actor navigating show business and his personal life. But whereas that show relied heavily on stunt cameos of Hollywood actors playing pantomime versions of themselves - along with painfully blunt awkwardness that attempts to wring every possible laugh out of increasingly cringe comedy - Master of None is content and confident to let the viewer warm to it entirely on its terms. And it's all the better for it."
Season 2
On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season also holds an approval rating of 100% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Master of None's second season picks up where its predecessor left off, delivering an ambitious batch of episodes that builds on the show's premise while adding surprising twists." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 91 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Top Ten Lists
Master of None was included on many lists of best TV shows of 2015. Jaime Lutz from Time Out New York has called it the best TV show of 2015. In addition, it was awarded the runner-up position by Matthew Gilbert from The Boston Globe, Mark Peikert from TheWrap, and Paste. Master of None was also ranked as one of the top 10 shows of the year by many publications, including Complex, Entertainment Weekly, Film School Rejects, The Guardian, IGN, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, People, TIME, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, Variety, Vogue, and The Washington Post.
For its 65th anniversary, TV Guide picked "Thanksgiving" as the tenth best episode of the 21st century.
Accolades
Future
Regarding future seasons, Ansari told Vulture, "I don't know if we're going to do a season three. I wouldn't be surprised if I needed a looonng [sic] break before I could come back to it [...] I've got to become a different guy before I write a third season, is my personal thought, I've got to get married or have a kid or something. I don't have anything else to say about being a young guy being single in New York eating food around town all the time."
Notes
References
External links
- Master of None on Netflix
- Master of None on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia