'Primo' review: The best new sitcom of 2023, hands down

You're astir to autumn successful emotion with the Gonzales family.

When it comes to watching TV, fewer things are amended than starting a brand-new bid that knows itself close from the beginning. We've seen it successful caller comedies similar Abbott Elementary and The Other Two, some of which arrived connected the country with an already-distinct tone and ensemble casts that gelled instantly. Now, coming-of-age drama Primo picks up the torch with a delightful archetypal season, each streaming present connected Freevee.

Created by writer and net fable Shea Serrano and co-executive produced by Michael Schur (The Office, Parks and Recreation), Primo hits the crushed running. Its wonderfully self-assured archetypal play is chock-full of feel-good moments and characters who popular from the infinitesimal they get connected screen, truthful it's nary astonishment that Primo is the champion caller sitcom of 2023.

What's Primo about?

Serrano draws from his ain San Antonio upbringing successful Primo, which focuses connected precocious schooler Rafa Gonzales (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) passim his inferior year. Rafa's dealing with a batch of emblematic precocious schoolhouse angst, from a crush connected his person Mya (Stakiah Lynn Washington) to assemblage prep courses that mightiness assistance him go the archetypal idiosyncratic successful his household to spell to college.

That aforementioned household is different large root of angst successful Rafa's life, and it's wherever overmuch of Primo's screwball drama comes from. Rafa (nicknamed "Primo" by his full family) lives with his azygous parent Drea (Christina Vidal). But the 2 of them are seldom alone, arsenic Rafa's 5 uncles are constantly dropping in. They're ace protective of Rafa and Drea, but really, their beingness conscionable ends up creating much chaos.

"It's similar being wrong a unreality of bees," Rafa tells Mya. "Except the bees are always, like, punching and cussing astatine each other."

Primo wastes nary clip successful establishing the uncles' 5 wildly differing personalities. There's Ryan (Carlos Santos), a slope teller with a superiority complex, an obsession with cryptocurrency, and a treasured car helium names "Sigourney Beamer." Mike (Henri Esteve) is an service seasoned and a abbreviated king — conscionable don't telephone him abbreviated to his face, he'll combat you. Rollie's (Johnny Rey Diaz) troublemaking antics person made him a regular successful jail, portion his goofball quality recalls The Good Place's Jason Mendoza (Manny Jacinto). Jay (Jonathan Medina) runs an irrigation concern with specified intense, dour self-seriousness that it loops backmost astir to hilarity. And Mondo (Efrain Villa) is simply a spiritual, go-with-the-flow benignant feline who sells erotic sculptures and ever seems to beryllium just a tad high. These five, erstwhile combined with Drea and Rafa, unleash an avalanche of drama that stems conscionable arsenic overmuch from their chaotic personalities arsenic it does from the sheer joyousness of watching specified a well-defined household dynamic.

Primo presents a new, instantly classical TV family.

Within the opening minutes of Primo's archetypal episode, we already cognize precisely who each household subordinate is — but the amusement doesn't halt there. Throughout its 8 episode-long play (give america more!), Primo expands connected the Gonzales household successful infinitely satisfying ways. We spot their traditions, similar a a yearly barbecue that ever ends successful immoderate signifier of fistfight oregon a Gonzales-specific committee crippled that destroys relationships. We get a consciousness of their regular lives and quirks done well-timed cutaway gags. And possibly astir importantly, we larn much astir their household history.

In 1 episode, Rafa's uncles uncover that Drea whitethorn deliberation she tin navigator Mexican food, but she truly can't. They've been lying to her astir however overmuch they bask her Mexican cooking since they were kids, arsenic she was their main caretaker and made bash with the ingredients she had. That crippled is conscionable 1 of respective sweet, low-key ways successful which the Gonzales' Mexican-American practice informs the show.

Primo also proves adept astatine letting each subordinate of the Gonzales household shine. With the uncles being specified out-there characters, a lesser amusement would person boxed Drea and Rafa into the relation of "straight man," ne'er to leave. Not truthful with Primo. While those 2 characters often enactment arsenic the dependable of reason, Primo still gives them some the opportunities to fto loose. Learning astir Drea's analyzable barter strategy with the assemblage is an implicit delight, arsenic is seeing her and Rafa get hyper-competitive erstwhile the household gathers to play games.

Rafa's storylines extracurricular the uncles' hijinks thin to beryllium much grounded, and Primo nicely balances his much realistic precocious schoolhouse woes with the outlandish, uncle-specific plots. Primo also ever knows erstwhile to propulsion backmost oregon erstwhile to heighten a joke, a cognition which lends to its assured archetypal season. Adding to that is the mode successful which Primo constantly switches up the grade to which definite uncles interact with Rafa successful each episode. These endless quality combinations support Primo feeling caller and assistance showcase antithetic facets of each Gonzales household member. The effect is simply a wonderfully fleshed-out sitcom household that is arsenic specific, authentic, and amusive to ticker arsenic Primo itself.

Season 1 of Primo is present streaming connected Amazon Freevee.(opens successful a caller tab)