January 20, 2020 (2020-01-20) – June 7, 2023 (2023-06-07)
Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens (or simply Nora from Queens) is an American television sitcom starring Awkwafina that first aired on January 20, 2020, on Comedy Central. The series was renewed for a second season before the series premiere, and received generally favorable reviews from critics.[1] The second season premiered on August 18, 2021.[2] In May 2022, the series was renewed for a third season; which premiered on April 26, 2023.[3][4]
Premise
Awkwafina is Nora from Queens follows a "20-something young woman, named Nora Lin, in Queens who strives for a larger-than-life existence."[5][6] Raised alongside her cousin by her dad and grandma, Nora leans on her family as she navigates young adulthood in New York City.
Cast
Main
Awkwafina as Nora, a fictionalized version of herself[5]
Nora and her grandmother travel to Atlantic City for a day. Nora learns how to play blackjack, and becomes a big winner because she is counting cards. Nora's grandmother and her Chinese friends get into a disagreement with a senior citizen Korean group of women for access to an outlet to charge their equipment.
After getting into an argument with her Dad, Nora decides to go to a hair salon and get her hair dyed blonde, which leads to disastrous results. Nora is jealous of her successful cousin, who comes back to live in New York and has raised $15 million for the company he is starting. Nora's Dad feels bad about yelling at Nora, and goes to a meeting of single parents.
Nora's Aunt Sandra comes to pay a visit, and drops off her son with them for a couple of days. During a sugar rush, Nora's cousin accidentally hits Nora in the vagina, causing her to queef on a regular basis. When Nora is visiting Rat Lung, the rapper who is her friend's boyfriend, she queefs, and he persuades her to let him sample her queef for his songs.
Nora feels threatened by Edmund spending so much time with their Grandma. Edmund later reveals to Nora that he doesn't have a good idea for an app, and he's meeting with investors the next day. Nora brainstorms a few ideas for him, and they both meet with Edmund's investors. Wally joins Instagram to try to meet women.
Nora arrives in Beijing, while Edmund is still stuck in America. Nora is given an assistant by the company named Grace, who is overly familiar with Nora. Grandma nurses a pigeon back to health that flew into her home. Grace is about to be arrested for drug possession at a bar, but Nora takes the blame for her, causing Nora to be sent back to Queens.
Nora takes Edmund to Los Angeles. She leaves and gets stranded in New Mexico. There, she finds the cult, the Union of the Seven Moons which her Aunt Sandra belongs to. Grandma teaches Brenda some family secrets.
Nora begins to have a bizarre nightmare. Grandma goes to a friend's funeral. Wally causes problems at work which leads to his termination. He tries to confess this to Brenda but she thinks that it is a proposal.
In order to prove Wally wrong about making a large sum of money in little time, Nora goes on a reality-based TV show in a spoof of Jersey Shore. Meanwhile, Wally is still keeping his secret about his job termination by helping Grandma. Co-starring Ken Jeong as Dave Lee
On April 17, 2018, it was announced that Comedy Central had given the production a pilot order. The episode was written by Awkwafina and Teresa Hsiao. Executive producers were set to include Awkwafina, Karey Dornetto, Peter Principato, and Itay Reiss. Dornetto was also expected to serve as showrunner and Hsiao as a co-executive producer. Production companies involved with the pilot were expected to include Principato-Young Entertainment, later rebranded as Artists First.[6]
On November 29, 2018, it was announced that Comedy Central had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Awkwafina, Hsiao, and Dornetto were set to write for the series and Lucia Aniello was expected to direct and executive produce.[36] Ahead of the series premiere, on January 14, 2020, it was reported that Comedy Central renewed the series for a second season.[37] On May 12, 2022, Comedy Central renewed the series for a third season.[3]
Casting
Alongside the pilot order announcement, it was confirmed that Awkwafina would star in the production.[6] Concurrent with the series order, it was announced that BD Wong and Lori Tan Chinn would star in the series.[36] In July 2019, Chrissie Fit and Jonathan Park joined the cast in recurring roles.[38][39] On August 14, 2019, Jennifer Esposito was cast in a recurring capacity.[40] On March 24, 2021, Alan Kim was cast in a guest starring role for the second season.[7]
For episode three of season one, filming partially took place in Iceland.
Release
The series premiered on January 22, 2020, on Comedy Central.[43] In August 2020, it was announced that the series would be available on HBO Max, with the second season airing on the service after its first-run broadcast on Comedy Central.[44] The trailer for the second season was released on July 22, 2021.[45] The second season premiered on August 18, 2021.[2] The third season premiered on April 26, 2023.[4]
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 81% with an average rating of 6.9/10, based on 31 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "Nora From Queens showcases Awkwafina's charming brashness and surrounds her with an equally delightful cast—especially scene stealer Lori Tan Chinn—but it could stand to walk a less familiar comedic beat."[46] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[1]
Linda Holmes of NPR wrote: "There's a lot of pressure on creators of color to be groundbreaking — to sell their shows as both good and somehow ethically nutritious. Awkwafina's place in that calculus is complicated by legitimate questions about her own treatment of cultural traditions she's not part of. But it's also fair to evaluate Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens as an entry in a line of single-camera comedy series amplifying one distinctive sensibility (Insecure, Louie, Chewing Gum, Broad City, even Portlandia). And as part of that line, it holds up well."[47] According to IMDb, "Grandma and Chill" is the highest-rated episode of season one, followed by the season finale, "China".[48]
Ratings
The series premiere obtained 0.49 million viewers, making it the highest rated season one premiere for Comedy Central since 2017.[49] Several days later, Comedy Central announced that Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens amassed 3.8 million total viewers (2.2 million came from the simulcast and replays of the episode and 1.6 million came from YouTube views).[50][51] On social media, the series ranked the first in the most social primetime cable comedy of the night with 39,000 social interactions across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.[50] The second season of the series saw a 20% increase on rating and 14% increase in share from the Season 1 average.[52]
Notes
^A sneak peek of the show's sixth episode aired on January 20, 2020, before the premiere of the pilot in its regular timeslot. The episode later re-aired on February 26, 2020.
