SAN ANTONIO — When viewers tune in for Shea Serrano's "Primo," the new Amazon Freevee show based on the San Antonio writer's south-side upbringing, they won't spot Tower of the Americas looming in the distance. They won't see 16-year-old protagonist Rafa Gonzales (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) strolling by the Alamo or walking into the AT&T Center. When Rafa and his friends visit a nighttime pop-up carnival, you can imagine it's the parking lot of the Alamodome, but don't expect to gaze on the building itself.
Why? Some of it's practical; all eight episodes were shot in Albuquerque. A bigger explanation, however, comes from the spirit of the show itself: "Primo" focuses on the dynamics at play in Rafa's chaotic and chaotically endearing household—shared by his steadfast single mother, Christina Vidal's Drea, and the five rambunctious tios who are always over to cause headaches, bicker with each other and dole out some wisdom as Rafa considers whether or not to go to college.
For every explicit mention of San Antonio and glimpse of a Spurs jersey, it's the sense of unconditional community that feels the most puro San Antonio.
It makes sense, then, that for as appropriate as it might be to see the River Walk, it was even more important for Serrano that one episode of "Primo" features Rafa and his friends building a super-skateboard... which is exactly what it sounds like, and plucked straight from Serrano's memories.
"The super-skateboard is a real, actual thing that we did," Serrano told KENS 5 in a Zoom interview, adding that other memorable details like Drea's punishment wheel and the DIY "Game Champ" are inventions meant to draw you further into the Gonzales household.
"One of my favorite things in shows is when you get a little piece of something that lets you know there's a longer history there," he continued. "(When the show starts) it should feel like this has been happening for years, and you're getting dropped into it."
Serrano – who seemingly has never thrown himself into a project he was only halfway certain about and never deployed a "Fast & Furious" reference without 100% sincerity – has written words for Spurs blogs, bestselling books, viral tweets and now, with Friday's release of "Primo," TV comedies.
The show is, pun intended, primo Serrano. It's as abundant in '80s movie references as it is in heart, humor and cultural pride. Eight episodes comprise the first season, each one running around 23 minutes and exploring the complicated web that is the Gonzales family while Rafa contends with young love and future plans.
Crucially, the show is as much about Drea and Rafa's five uncles – Rollie, Mike, Ryan, Jay and Mondo – as it is about Rafa himself. True to Serrano's ambitions, "Primo" is written in such a way that each tio gets a chance to shine and learn alongside the nephew they're helping to raise.
That's where veteran TV producer Mike Schur came in.
"It was a thing we had talked about pretty early on," said Serrano about his producing partner, whose past credits "Parks and Recreation" and "The Office" have been cited as influences. "You want the show to feel full, like it has life, like everybody's important. That means we have to make sure we write all the characters with the same care and attention that we do with the person that the show is named after."
Those storytelling priorities lend themselves to the many relationships we see over the course of "Primo"—the various match-ups Serrano envisions as effectively as the legendary head coach of his hometown Spurs, integrated in such a way that viewers better understand how the adoration Rafa has for his uncles one minute can turn into tough-love frustration in the next.
Key to these scenes is that you believe the various actors have known each other for years. No two personalities among the uncles are alike – Jonathan Medina's Jay channels an '80s hero with a touch of naïve, for instance, while Carlos Santos's Ryan is an accountant whose braininess is lacking in self-awareness – and it makes "Primo" all the more richer when they rub against one another.
"You watch hundreds of tapes, and there will be a person who just jumps out at you," Serrano said about the audition process. "That moment happened with each of the uncles, it happened with Drea. (With) each person it would be like, 'That's it, this is great. Let's get them all together and let's see what happens.'"
The goal of creating a convincing family dynamic extended to pictures in the background of the Gonzales home, which Serrano says are photos the cast members provided of themselves as kids. (Speaking of personal touches, if additional seasons were to be green-lit, he says he'd be more than happy if Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker or any other Spurs icon merely "walked in the background.")
For his part, Serrano says his first foray into TV has been as familial an experience as those we see onscreen in "Primo."
"It's been an overwhelmingly positive experience," he said. "Just so many talented people giving me their time, effort and insight, and answering the thousands of questions I would ask each person at each stage. I've enjoyed it way more than I thought I would."
All eight episodes of "Primo" Season 1 are now available on Freevee, Amazon's free, ad-supported streaming service.
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