''Primo'' is an American sitcom created by

Shea Serrano Shea Serrano is an American author, journalist, and former teacher. He is best known for his work with the sports and pop culture websites, ''The Ringer (website), The Ringer'' and ''Grantland'', as well as his books, including ''The Rap Year Bo ...

. The semi-autobiographical series, co-executive produced with

Michael Schur Michael Herbert Schur (born 1975) is an American television producer, writer, director and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series ''The Office'', and co-created ''Parks and Recreation'' with ''Office'' producer Greg Daniels. ...

, is based on Serrano's upbringing in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, Texas. ''Primo'' stars Ignacio Diaz-Silverio,

Christina Vidal Christina Vidal is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in films such as '' Life with Mikey'', ''Brink!'', ''Freaky Friday'', '' See No Evil'' and for her role in Nickelodeon sitcom '' Taina'', in which she played the ...

, Carlos Santos,

Henri Esteve Henri Esteve (born May 6, 1989) is a Cuban-American actor best known for his role as Javier Salgado on the ABC series '' Revenge''. Early life and education Henri was born and raised in Miami Beach, Fl. He has one sibling, an older brother, ar ...

, Johnny Rey Diaz, Jonathan Medina, Efraín Villa, Stakiah Washington, Martin Martinez, and Nigel Siwabessy. The series debuted on May 19, 2023 on

Amazon Freevee Amazon Freevee is an American ad-supported video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service owned by Amazon, with original and licensed programming. History Amazon Freevee launched as a free, ad-supported video channel by the Amazon-owned online data ...

and received positive critical reception.

Plot

''Primo'' "is a coming-of-age comedy about a teenager balancing college aspirations, societal expectations, and a hectic home life anchored by his single mom and five uncles."

Cast and characters

* Ignacio Diaz-Silverio as Rafa, a 16-year-old high school junior navigating school, home, and career aspirations *

as Drea, Rafa's mom and the third eldest among her brothers * Carlos Santos as Ryan, Rafa's youngest uncle, who is a bank teller *

as Mike, Rafa's second youngest uncle who is a strict military member * Johnny Rey Diaz as Rollie, Rafa's wild uncle * Efraín Villa as Mondo, the second oldest uncle and a cosmic wanderer * Jonathan Medina as Jay, Rafa's oldest uncle who is a pragmatist * Stakiah Washington as Mya, Rafa's friend who he has a crush on * Martin Martinez as Miguel, Rafa's close friend * Nigel Siwabessy as Harris, one of Rafa's closest friends

Episodes

Production

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' announced in October 2017 that a semi-autobiographical sitcom comedy series created by

and produced by

Mike Schur Michael Herbert Schur (born 1975) is an American television producer, writer, director and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series ''The Office'', and co-created ''Parks and Recreation'' with ''Office'' producer Greg Daniels. ...

was in development at

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, who made a put pilot commitment. Writer Serrano reportedly pitched the series to Schur because he was "tired of waiting for there to be more Mexicans on TV." In May 2021 it was announced that series was in development at

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

' free streaming service

IMDb TV Amazon Freevee is an American ad-supported video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service owned by Amazon, with original and licensed programming. History Amazon Freevee launched as a free, ad-supported video channel by the Amazon-owned online data ...

. On October 25, 2021 it was announced that

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

and IMDb TV had ordered ''Primo'', to be co-executive produced by Serrano, Schur (

Fremulon Fremulon is an American television production company founded by television producer and writer Michael Schur. It is known for producing the long-running series ''Parks and Recreation'', ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', ''Master of None'', and ''The Good ...

), David Miner (

3 Arts Entertainment 3 Arts Entertainment is an American talent management and television/film production company founded by Erwin Stoff, Michael Rotenberg and Howard Klein in 1991. The company has gone on to produce TV shows such as ''King of the Hill'', ''The Off ...

Morgan Sackett Morgan Sackett is an American director and producer. He has won two Primetime Emmy Awards and been nominated for 12 more in the categories Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series and Outstanding Direc ...

Peter Murrieta Peter Murrieta is an American television producer and writer. He is best known for his work on the Disney Channel sitcom ''Wizards of Waverly Place'', in which he served as head writer and executive producer during the first three seasons. He we ...

, and Lisa Muse Bryant. Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Martin Martinez, Carlos Santos, Johnny Rey Diaz,

, Jonathan Medina, Nigel Siwabessy,

, Efrain Villa, and Stakiah Washington were announced as main cast members on May 12, 2022. Diaz-Silverio portrays the role of Rafa, based on Serrano, in his first lead acting role. The series was filmed in

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, New Mexico beginning in May 2022. The pilot was directed by

Kabir Akhtar Kabir Akhtar (born January 11, 1975) is an American television director and editor, who won an Emmy Award in 2016. His credits include work for ''Arrested Development'', ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'', ''Never Have I Ever'', ''Behind the Music'', and th ...

Release

''Primo'' premiered on

on May 19, 2023 with all eight episodes released simultaneously.

Critical reception

The series received positive reception. As of June 5, 2023 it holds a score of 100% based on fifteen critic reviews on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the first season a weighted average score of 82 out of 100 based on 6 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Manuel Betancourt of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' wrote, "Serrano has carefully built a wry love letter to his upbringing, turning what surely felt like nagging family obligations into sitcom-ready plots and concocting a comfort watch that puts a Mexican-American family front and center along the way." Matt Monagle stated in a positive review for ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'', "the first season of Primo is well worth your time; the finale weaves together a handful of narrative threads and shows the full depth of the creators’ empathy for these characters." In a ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'' review, Luis Rendon described the unconventional representation of a Latino family, who do not speak any Spanish beyond the title of the show: "The Gonzaleses, the family at its center, just get to tell jokes, do bits, and be themselves without having to force 'very special moments' around identity." ''

'''s Daniel Feinberg praised the acting of

, "Vidal, who has spent nearly three decades being misused and underused in various TV and film projects, has perhaps her best role to date, expertly participating in and breaking up the potential testosterone avalanche."

References

External links

*
Official trailer
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{Amazon Freevee original programming 2023 American television series debuts 2020s American sitcoms Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television series by Universal Television Television series by Amazon Studios Television series by Fremulon Coming-of-age television shows English-language television shows Television series about families Hispanic and Latino American television Television shows set in San Antonio Television shows filmed in New Mexico Hispanic and Latino American sitcoms Amazon Freevee original programming