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TV Picks: ‘Mom,’ ‘Master of None,’ ‘Getting On’

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“Mom”

With consistently stellar turns by stars Anna Faris, Allison Janney and Mimi Kennedy, this Chuck Lorre comedy remains one of the most touching yet tough-minded comedies on the air. Following the adventures and misadventures of Christy Plunkett (Faris), a single mother and recovering alcoholic/addict as she attempts to better her life and her relationship with similarly challenged mother Bonnie (Janney), “Mom” provides a refreshing contrast to “aspirational” comedies like “Modern Family” and digs deeper than even the comfortably realistic “The Middle.”

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During the first two seasons, Christy and Bonnie have navigated not only their disease and the angry intricacies of an alcoholic family even in sobriety, but also issues including but not limited to cancer, unwanted pregnancy, adoption, homelessness, gambling, domestic violence and death.

Amazingly, it has managed to remain funny and optimistic without ever sliding into easy sentiment.

The third season opened strong with Bonnie’s own mother, played by Ellen Burstyn, showing up decades after abandoning Bonnie to foster care. Her reasons are neither heroic nor contrived but they are offered, and dealt with, in the spirit of the show, which almost always chooses honesty over emotional judgment and dramatic resolution. Even in the wide and wild landscape of modern TV, this kind of comedic grit remains quite rare. CBS, Thursdays, 9 p.m.

“Master of None”

Aziz Ansari explores, and to a certain extent explodes, the myth of the millennials in a sweet, funny and unexpectedly courageous Netflix comedy. As Dev Shah, a 30-year-old actor trying to make it in New York, Ansari addresses many standard issues -- dating, family, race and the tension between expectation and reality -- in a far from standard way.

Though he has all the trappings of an iconic man-child, Dev is also a legitimately nice guy attempting, in his own often quite self-involved way, to lead a meaningful life. This means story lines you expect to go one way quite often go another. An awkward hook-up becomes something more complicated and meaningful, a day spent with a friend’s high-octane kids reflects both exasperation and joy, the tension between fathers and sons is shown in terms of history as much as emotion.

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Ansari is a pleasure to watch, smart and silly and instantly likable, and the supporting cast of friends and family (including his own parents!) is just as strong.

And just when you think “Master of None” is a personal urban comedy, an episode dealing directly with the racism faced by Indian and Indian American actors forces audiences to confront their own stereotypes. (Watching Dev audition for a part of a cab driver without doing “the accent” may be one of the most sneakily revelatory moments on television this year.)

The binge-watch nature of Netflix suits “Master of None” down to the ground. The only problem is, after watching 10 episodes, it’s impossible not to immediately long for more.

“Elementary”

CBS’ Sherlock Holmes procedural is back, with Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes, and Lucy Liu as Watson. The season premiere relied a bit heavily on plot contrivance -- having beaten up a dealer before succumbing to heroin again, Holmes faces excommunication from the NYPD -- but it also introduced the mysterious Daddy Holmes: the man who hired Watson to help Holmes, who appears to be at the root of all Sherlock’s mental anguish and who (cue trumpets) is played by John Noble.

John Noble as Sherlock Holme’s stern and scary father? Irresistible. CBS, Thursdays, 10 p.m.

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