Since beloved comedy Parks and Recreation ended its seventh and final season earlier this year, fans have been jonesing for their Tom Haverford fix. Aziz Ansari was a quick standout as the underachieving, high-styling Kanye of the Pawnee parks department, teaching the world the true meaning of “Treat yo self.”
With Master of None (Series Premiere Friday, Netflix) Ansari is back. But don’t expect any Haverford hijinks.
Ansari writes, directs and stars as Dev, a 30-year-old actor in New York struggling with many of the same personal, romantic and professional issues many of us face on the reg — like meeting your girlfriend’s family for the first time — and some pretty specific to Ansari himself — like having to put on an Indian accent at an audition.
Master of None — with
co-creator and Parks writer Alan Yang — joins the likes of Girls and Louie in the increasingly popular self-deprecating dark-comedy genre where stars play slightly skewed versions of themselves.
Joining Ansari are Noël Wells, whom you might remember as a featured player in the 2013-2014 SNL season (see an interview with fellow fired castmate Brooks Wheelan here), Tim & Eric’s Eric Wareheim and H. Jon Benjamin of Archer and Bob’s Burgers. So while Master, like Parks, will feature a solid cast of comics and great writing, don’t expect to see Tommy Fresh goofily grinning to the camera.
WEDNESDAY 04
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (9 p.m., NBC) – A big family at the center of a reality show gains a new kind of spotlight when one of its young teen daughters becomes pregnant. Yup,
SVU does the Duggars.
THURSDAY 05
Project Runway (Season Finale, 9 p.m., Lifetime) – After the judges’ harsh critiques, final designers Ashley, Candice, Edmond and Kelly tweak their collections and present at New York Fashion Week. A winner is selected at the final panel.
Nathan For You (10 p.m., Comedy Central) – Nathan tries to land an endorsement deal for a sporting goods store and encourages an antique shop to stay open 24 hours and attract drunk customers to get more out of its “you break it, you buy it” policy.
FRIDAY 06
The Knick (10 p.m., Cinemax) – Thackery tests out his syphilis treatment experiment on Abigail; Edwards confesses the truth to Opal; Harriet’s case goes to court.
SATURDAY 07
Saturday Night Live (11:29 p.m., NBC) – Actual presidential candidate Donald Trump hosts; Sia performs.
SUNDAY 08
The Leftovers (9 p.m., HBO) – Kevin tries to let Nora know about the severity of his condition — and Patti. Erika warns pie-loving prophet Virgil to stay away from the Murphys and Nora is thrown off by drop-ins.
The Walking Dead (9 p.m., AMC) – Back in Alexandria, the threat of Wolves and the herd continue to break the community’s sheltered residents. Michonne tells Maggie about Glenn’s thwarted plan to split from the group, distract the walkers and send a signal — which never came. Will we find out what happened to him? Don’t count on it. Alexandra Breckenridge (Jessie) and Heroes Reborn’s Zachary Levi join Chris Hardwick on the couch for Talking Dead at 10 p.m.
MONDAY 09
Fargo (10 p.m., FX) – Floyd sets her plan into motion as Charlie seeks to prove himself. Ed and Peggy don’t see eye-to-eye when it comes to their next step. Lou is taken away from his investigation when he’s assigned to Ronald Reagan’s (Bruce Campbell) police detail for a stop on his campaign tour.
CONTACT JAC KERN:
jkern@citybeat.com or @jackern
This article appears in Nov 4-10, 2015.
