Chinese New Year's comes early to 'Andi Mack' as Disney show dips into Chinese heritage

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'And Mack's' writers drew upon the cast's real-life experiences of Chinese New Year celebrations.

CHINESE NEW YEAR came early this year to the Mack household. That celebratory event was a signal that the Disney Channel show, Andi Mack, which features a hapa family, is not going to shy away from the ethnic roots of its unique cast.
Creator, writer, and executive producer Terri Minsky told IndieWire why the show decided to feature the traditional Asian holiday on the show.

“While Andi Mack was not originally conceived to be a show about an Asian-American family, when we cast Chinese/American actress Peyton Elizabeth Lee in the title role, we then cast other Asian/American actors to play her family members,” she said. “The stories are meant to be universal about a teenage girl dealing with her life, and at the core of her life is ‘family.’ So, the Chinese New Year celebration at the Mack house is a perfect setting to tell more stories about this family.”

In the series, Andi’s (Lee) and her mother Bex (Lilan Bowden) are both part Chinese, while Andi’s grandmother Celia (Lauren Tom) is full Chinese. The show never really addressed that heritage with any depth in its first season, but last night's second episode of the show's second season changed all that.

RELATED: 'Andi Mack' makes history with 'coming out' episode

“Our story editor Elena Song exhaustively researched and sought out the advice of many people about every detail on the holiday — food, decor, rituals,” said Minsky. “Our costume designer Anthony Tran considered many different outfits for each character and had Andi’s dress specially made for her.”

Andi Mack was also in the news last week for its Season 2 premiere, which introduced the beginning of a storyline in which one character realizes he’s gay, a first for Disney Channel. The episode was the No. 1 TV telecast in its timeslot in all the youth demographics and the No. 1 cable TV telecast in total viewers of the night. It was up 72 percent from the Season 1 debut in April.

Hollywood producers take note: Andi Mack's audience obviously goes way beyond the Chinese or Asian/American demographic. Good stories and good characters will attract an audience no matter what ethnicity the characters are. This is especially true in the age bracket this show targets.

As a Disney Channel product it is not surprising that Andi Mack may suffer some cloyingly sweet characters. However, we have to give the show (and Disney) credit for addressing the character's ethnicity and not just having them be through-and-through white out of fear of offending some sectors. Hopefully, it opens the door to possibly tackle racism in a future episode. because, that's you can't escape that in a real-life high school.

Andi Mack airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Disney Channel, but you can still watch this particular episode on demand and in repeat showings:

• Saturday, Nov. 4, 2:10 pm and 10:05 pm
• Sunday, Nov. 4, 10:30 am, 1:35 pm, 9:10 pm and 11:30 pm
• Check your local listings for repeat showings.

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