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| Josh Chan (played by Vicente Rodriguez III, far right) introduces his Filipino/American family. |
I don't have the resources to verify this, but the musical-comedy's Thanksgiving episode airing this Monday (Nov. 16) on the CW Television Network, will feature, for the first time (to my knowledge):
- A Filipino/American family. Yes! There have been Filipino/American characters on American TV before but this is the first time that an entire family has been presented to a nationwide audience adding more dimension to the male lead's character.
- Dinaguan. Yes that tasty pork stew sometimes described as "chocolate meat" to soften the shock of non-Filipinos when they discover that it is pork stewed in pork blood. Don't knock it until you've tried it. The first time dinaguan appeared on network TV was during an episode of ER.
Up to now, not much is known about Josh but as the series has gone on, we've learned that his father is a radiologist and that he confides in his Filipino/American priest known as Fr. Brah played by the writer Rene Gube, who is also a writer for the show.
The Filipino angle has not been exploited on Crazy. The inter-racial relationship between Josh and Rebecca (played by creator Rachel Bloom) has not been an issue. The relationship between the would-be romantic leads is between a crazy wannabe (perhaps mentally unbalanced) girlfriend and a hunk.
The premise of the show: Rebecca, a successful New York lawyer, who in a fit of dissatisfaction, follows a former not-quite boyfriend across the country to suburban West Covina, CA, where, not-so-coincidentally, Filipinos make up the largest ethnic group.
Does that sound like your typical girl-meets-boy love story? Far from it! That's what makes this show a delight. It's edgy and willing to tackle topics that most vapid sitcoms would steer away from (i.e. a father's love for her daughter "that sounds creepy" musical number on last week's episode.)
Creating an Asian male to be the object of Rebecca's unhealthy obsession is such a risk. Having his Filipino/American story fill out is exciting for those of us who grew up with similar immigrant families who up to now have been totally absent from the American consciousness. And now we're about to meet his family. America gets a peek into a slice of our country most of them have never seen.
Mabuhay, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend!
Here's a trailer followed by another short scene from this ground-breaking episode:
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