MovieChat Forums > Master of None (2015) Discussion > This Show is Overrated and Shamefully De...

This Show is Overrated and Shamefully Derivative


I've seen critics practically cream themselves over "Masters of None," and the show is currently sitting at a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with love from critic's groups and even a Golden Globes nomination, but it doesn't seem to matter that there isn't a single truly original thing about this show and Aziz has "borrowed" nearly every element from something else...

1. The Set-Up...There have been literally 100s of comedies about thirty-year-olds dating in a big city, and dozens on TV more recently that featured an ethnically diverse group with at least one gay friend--from Happy Endings to New Girl. There have been nearly as many about comedians, actors, or creative types trying to find work in NYC like How to Make in America.

Even saying "But not one starring an Indian!" would forget that The Mindy Project has been on the air for four seasons.

2. The Vibe...Very-liberal, politically correct (but R-rated) comedies about millennials are in right now as evidenced by "Girls" and "Broad City." "Master" is clearly influenced by this but without the bite of something like "Inside Amy Schumer."

3. The Plotlines...The overwhelming majority are taken from the first three seasons of "Louie"...

"Plan B" Dev wonders about parenthood and takes care of two kids he's ill-equipped to handle...Louie frequently talks about parenthood and has his niece dumped on him in "Niece" and a destructive kid named "Never" dumped on him in "Barney/Never" an episode that also features a black and white sequence (as "Plan B" does). [And the mom of the two kids in "Plan B" is Maria Dizzia who also starred as a stressed-out mom in "Louie."]

"The Other Man" episode was covered by the second episode of Louie's first episode (he romances a high school crush who is now married), and the revenge aspect of Aziz screwing a jerk's wife is covered in "Bully" when Louie follows a bully teenager home after the kid wrecks his date.

"Hot Ticket" a bad date turns into another one with a "Manic Pixie Dreamgirl" (Noel Wells is definitely playing this type reminiscent of her Zooey Deschanel impressions on Saturday Night Live). In "Daddy's New girlfriend," Louie turns one rejection into a date with a Manic Pixie Dreamgirl. [Doing anything to get coveted tickets is also a plotline in Louie's "Tickets" episode.]

"Nashville" Dev takes a trip to the Southeast...in Louie's season 1, episode 5 "Travel Day/South" Louie goes to Birmingham which is only a few hours South of Nashville. Both have a hard time getting back to NYC.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" Episode begins with a creepy male encounter on an NYC street...Louie's "Halloween" episode begins with an unnerving encounter when Louie is trick or treating with his two daughters, and his daughter frightens away a much scarier grown man.

"Old People" Dev has an encounter with the crusty grandfather of his friend and then gets great advice from his girlfriend's grandmother...Louie's "Country Drive" has him talking to a crusty, racist relative and the previous episode "Joan" has him getting great advice from Joan Rivers.

"Indians on TV" Dev doesn't give the casting director what they want in an audition and finds an "Indian Perfect Strangers" objectionable because it's lame and stereotypical...Louie blows a minor role in "Cop Movie" by not doing what the director tells him to do, and finds the lameness and sexism of his "Oh, Louie" sitcom enough to walk away from the pilot. [Aziz also reappropriated the Scott Rudin/Amy-Pascal racist emails about Obama into this episode's "curry" joke.]

"Parents" ...Even though the episodes are quite different, Louie has an episode called "Dad" where he also struggles to make sense of his relationship with his dad and his uncle guilts him into not forgetting his heritage. [The flashbacks with their fathers has also been featured on "Fresh Off the Boat."]

"Finale" Dev blows off going to Tokyo with his estranged girlfriend so he can instead go to Italy. In the season 3 finale "New Year's Eve" Louie blows off going to Mexico with his sister's family so he can go to China instead.

General Themes of dating, parenting, and being a struggling actor/comic are all addressed in "Louie" too. The subplot with Dev's black virus movie "The Sickening" but getting cut out of the final film is not much different than Louie doing a great audition taping for The Late Show only to not get it.

In summation: How can people call this a fresh new voice in comedy? There is barely one element in this show that hasn't been borrowed from somewhere else.

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Even saying "But not one starring an Indian!" would forget that The Mindy Project has been on the air for four seasons.

OMG! You're so right. There's already one comedy starring an indian. And a female one. That's enough PC for television. We don't need another one.



Couldn't finish reading the rest of you're right wing rant


If I don't reply, you're probably on my ignore list for something I forgot already

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You had a couple of valid points until you started reaching for similarities that aren't there or barely noticeable. Criticizing the Parents episode because Louie also once spoke to his father about life in an episode? Give me a break. The two examples are nothing alike. Dev's parents are first generation immigrants in America and Dev is taking them and their sacrifice for granted--nothing at all like the plot involving Louie and his father. Each of your subsequent examples got flimsier and flimsier. Did you know that on Seinfeld they ate in restaurants in the city and in Master of None they also ate in restaurants in the city? Ansari must be a hack for recycling that idea. No one is allowed to eat in a NYC restaurant in a TV show ever again.

Television is a vice; film is an addiction.

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Okay, so most people didn't respond at all to the part where he blatantly ripped off "Louie" and mostly just used this thread as an excuse to defend the show...WITHOUT REALLY defending it. The basic argument "Well, I liked it, so you're wrong."

BUT for you to honestly say that my examples of him ripping off Louie are flimsy or comparable to two shows where characters eat in restaurants? You're being deliberately deaf, blind, and dumb.

"The two examples are nothing alike. Dev's parents are first generation immigrants in America and Dev is taking them and their sacrifice for granted--nothing at all like the plot involving Louie and his father."

This is what you said in your own words--so the exact way you choose to make your case--and you're still wrong as hell. Louie's dad is Mexican. HE IS ALSO a first-generation immigrant. When Louie's uncle comes to speak to him about going to see his father, and "Louie" keeps finding ways out of it, what is that if not taking his father for granted?

The difference is that Aziz's take is less sharp, sappier, and has an after-school special ending straight out of a cheesy 90's sitcom. "Louie" is much more honest and unexpected about the ways people in general avoid their parents or how assimilated kids can feel uncomfortable around their parents.

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>> C.K. was born Louis Székely in Washington, D.C.[18] on September 12, 1967,[19][20] the son of software engineer Mary Louise (née Davis) and economist Luis Székely.[21] His parents met at Harvard University, where his mother was completing her degree in a summer school program.[22] They were married at St. Francis Church in Traverse City, Michigan.[23] C.K. has three sisters.[24] C.K.'s father is of Mexican and Hungarian descent.

You're being semi-dishonest here. Louie's father was a Mexican citizen, but not Mexican per se. Just trying to stir "stuff" up it sounds like.

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[deleted]

Typical art-snob response. Only lefties say it's great. See the 1* reviews on imdb.

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[deleted]

>> has "borrowed" nearly every element from something else...

Like every TV program, movie, song, or painting ... art is all about that.

I've just found it on NetFlix and I think it is pretty funny, but also interesting.
I don't really understand why you are so wound up about it.

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I don't really understand why you are so wound up about it.


....it's in the topic headline....

"This Show is Overrated and Shamefully Derivative"

Reading... it's a long lost skill for the Left.

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> Reading... it's a long lost skill for the Left.

It is sickness for those who think they are so smart to toss around insults and bad karma like it means nothing. I guess being an actual civilized human being is a long lost skill for you.

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Racism is not cool dude.

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It has an Indian starring. Which means than all other considerations are unimportant.

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