ASIAN/AMERICAN entertainers were present both on stage and on the red carpet at the 68th Emmy Awards in Hollywood Sunday. For AAPI folk, the win by Master of None creators and writers Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari was one of the show's highlights.
Constance Wu and Randall Park of Fresh Off the Boat presented the awards for best guest actor and actress in a comedy series.
Wu pointed out that the Creative Emmys were presented over two nights.
Priyanka Chopra
“Wow, that makes three nights of Emmys,” responded Park. “So I guess that means Fresh Off the Boat will get our award on the fourth night?”
“Get over it, Randall,” said Wu.
Fans apparently still haven’t gotten over it, with many on Twitter giving shout outs to Wu, expressing dismay that she didn’t receive a nomination. Quantico's Priyanka Chopra presented the award for best directing of a limited series, movie or special. Chopra dazzled in a Jason Wu gown, but it was how she wore her cherry-hued red lipstick that drew raves from fashion critics.
Padma Laskshmi was on hand to see if her show Project Runway would win for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program. That honor went to The Voice. (Views From the Edge contributed to this report.)
The opinionated actress Constance Wu is not afraid to speak her mind.
CONSTANCE WU is fast becoming the No. 1 choice for interviews regarding the need for more diversity -- especially for Asian/Americans -- in the entertainment industry.
Perhaps it is because she is one of the most visible Asian/Americans with her role as Jessica Huang in the successful sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, or more likely, it is because she is unafraid to speak her mind and tackle head on the bias ingrained into the industry's decision makers.
"Let's talk about some race shit!" she says at the beginning of an interview by Vulture's E. Allen Jung.
Wu is "the actor Asian America has been waiting for: funny, bold,analytical, and outspoken about Asian-American representation in Hollywood," writes Jung.
Read her first two responses to Jung's questions:
How do you feel about the end of the second season of the Fresh Off the Boat? I feel good about the second season. We straddled the line of having the show be influenced by Chinese things, but not having it always be about being Chinese. Because that is essentially how we work. Yes, I have issues that have to do with growing up Asian-American. But there are other things, like doing my taxes or whether or not I should go here for vacation or what my Halloween costume is going to be. Regular human experiences, which for the most part have been only allowed to be white experiences. You're either Asian-Asian or you're white American. The in-between has not been explored very much.
How do you consider the trope of the tiger mom in relation to your character? That's something I never thought about until I had this part. So bless this for making me think about what it must be like to have a kid you are responsible for, especially if you came to a country and people gave you shit for your accent or decorum, and it felt bad, and you don't want your kids to feel that bad. Also, you kind of want to say "Fuck you!" to the haters who gave you shit. How do you do that? By saying "Well, you know what? My kid got a 1600 on his SATs, and he's better than yours." That's your way of showing up all the haters. So that's how you open up the stereotype into a person. I almost think it's impossible not to have a stereotype, except in white culture we call them "archetypes," right? It's true!
"For some reason, Hollywood thinks marginalizing or teasing Asians is acceptable because we do okay. There’s been a culture of invisibility and I think some people think that we don’t have the right to seek representation or to file complaint because many of us “do okay” in the socio-economic aspect. But that’s only valid if you think that true happiness is defined by a bank account and a social status."
Mashable interviewed eight Asian/American actors/performers. Besides Wu, the group included: comedian Margaret Cho, Ken Jeong of Dr. Ken, director John Chu, actor Waris Ahluwalia, rapper and actress Awkwafina, Crazy Ex-Girlfirend's Vincent Rodriguez III, and DKNY designer Dao-Yi Chow.
Mainstream media also has learned that Wu is good for some interesting quotes. In a Time Magazine interview last year, Wu confronts the question of using an accent for her portrayal of Jessica Huang in FOtB:
"If there were jokes written about the accent, then that would certainly be harmful. But there aren’t jokes written about it. It’s not even talked about. It’s just a fact of life: immigrants have accents. Making the choice to have that is a way of not watering down the character and making it politically correct. It’s choosing authenticity over safety, and I think that’s bold."
Wu, among others, was interviewed by the august New York Times in an article titled "Asian-American actors fighting for visibility.
“An Asian person who is competing against white people, for an audience of white people, has to train for that opportunity like it’s the Olympics,” Ms. Wu said. “An incredibly talented Asian actor might be considered for a leading role maybe once or twice in a lifetime. That’s a highly pressured situation.”
With Fresh Off the Boat renewed for a third season and the viral #StarringConstanceWu, the female counterpart to #StarringJohnCho, both questioning Hollywood's bias against Asian/American actors in lead roles, Wu is sure to be the subject of more interviews. If her career continues its upward trend, could she be the voice the AAPI needs to turn around the mindsets of Hollywood producers and casting agents to be more inclusive when making their creative decisions? Wu's name was at the top of the list of The Hollywood Reporter's dream cast for the upcoming film adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians. Wu has a good chance of being nominated for an Emmy as Best Actress in A Comedy Series this year amid some stiff competition. If she was to win, her stock and influence would skyrocket.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier versions of this post incorrectly said that Constance Wu was nominated for an Emmy in 2015.
Whatever the future holds, she most certainly won't be afraid to rock the boat. “I'd rather lose all my stuff than lose myself,” Wu tells Vulture, “because I've done that before, and that feels way worse.”
BROTHERLY LOVE comes to Orlando as Louis’ (Randall Park) estranged brother Gene (Ken Jeong) comes to visit the Huangs on Fresh Off the Boat tonight.
The title of the season finale is "Bring the Pain," a good indication of what to expect.
ABC has revealed very little about the episode, but here's the trailer:
Jeong’s appearance on the sophomore show has been expected since mid-season when it was announced that Randall Park would appear on Jeong's show, Dr. Ken. Park played the head of the local Korean Men’s Club when Ken reluctantly joined after his wife encouraged him to get more involved in the community. The men’s club, however, was closer to a wild fraternity than a civic-oriented club and the situation made for some good laughs as the boys worked to keep their activities secret from their wives.
The season finale of Fresh Off the Boat airs (May 24) Tuesday night at 8/7c on ABC.
Both Dr. Ken and Fresh Off the Boat will return next season on ABC. Dr. Ken will remain in its Friday night slot at 8:30 p.m., but Fresh Off the Boat moves to 9 p.m. on Tuesday.
HUDSON YANG, one of the young stars of ABC's Fresh Off The Boat, sent this tweet during his visit to the White House. She met Cristeta Comerford, the White House's executive chef who has served in that position for three presidents. Or, as Hudson calls her, "The Filipina Commander-in-Chef."
Young Hudson was in Washington D.C. to celebrate and take part in the myriad ceremonies surrounding Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Based on his tweets, it looks like he had the run of the place. Perhaps, sometime in the future he'd like to live there for a few years?
T HE Asian American Journalists Association annual national convention started Wednesday (Aug. 12) in San Francisco.
While the big gala Saturday, Aug. 15, is the event everyone is looking forward to, there is a heckuva lot of stuff going on between now and then that will keep you busy if you attend the 4-day conclave.#CAAM Headlining the Annual Scholarship & Awards Gala at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, is the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy and Melvin Mar, the executive producer of Fresh Off the Boat, the television sitcom that made history when it was renewed for a second season. Don't miss the Center for Asian American Media screening of Off the Menu tomorrow (Aug. 12): Asian America and three AAJA member projects that will held on the first evening (Aug. 12) at the Landmark Embarcadero Theater, two blocks from the hotel.
CAAM event 8-8:30pm – Guest registration and reception with appetizers and drinks at the Landmark Embarcadero Theater8:40-9:10pm – Three AAJA member projects9:15-10:15pm – Off the Menu: Asian America film screening
Melvin Mar
10:15-10:30pm – Q&A with Director Grace Lee
Among the speakers are Angela Sun, executive producer of the documentary Plastic Paradise; Phil Yu, executive producer of Awesome Asian Bad Guys; Sonia Narang, director of Resilience; and Grace Lee, director of Off the Menu.
There will be a whole lot of workshops, anything from "How to tell your newsroom that it might be racist" to "Humility will take you far, then nowhere."
And since this is the San Francisco Bay Area, home of Silicon Valley, there will be a wide range of workshops on the new media with some of the people who work in the high-tech industry, from Buzzfeed's Eugene Yang to a Hip-Hop artist with a law degree, Hopie.
It's a full schedule and its worth your time if your job will let you off for a few days. If you are a student, I definitely recommend that you attend to find out what the future might hold for you. If you participate in Career Fair, bring resumes and dress appropriately, even you print journalists. Most of the "big boys" will be there Associated Press, Fox, NBC, McClatchy, CNN, Bloomberg, etc. (Why doesn't the AAJA and the industry give any respect to ethnic media?) I contend that ethnic media provides a viable way to gain experience for young journalists and a way for mainstream media to learn about ethnic issues.) For foodies, there will opportunities to sample the best food the city has to offer including the best bao or the best burrito in San Francisco. Are you thinking of a mid-career change? For veteran journalists, it is a chance to see what you need to brush up on, meet old friends and see what's coming your way in your profession. Journalists of color are still in short supply in newsrooms across the country despite the high-sounding platitudes of the publishers. You can still register but you have to do at the convention. Here is the cost. Online registration is way past due folks, sorry.
Despite a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and ratings that hovered in the 1.5-2.0 range throughout the season, fans of FOtB were nervous about the series' future.
The show about a Taiwanese American family adjusting to life in Orlando, Florida had garnered good reviews from critics but to members of the Asian American community, the show was more important as a cultural barometer of how Asian Americans could be accepted in America. Would American audiences accept Asians as relatable characters? Would it open their eyes to the problems immigrants have in this country?
Considering the last show that attempted to break that barrier, Margaret Cho's All American Girl, failed and was 20 years ago, FOtB's success was a good indication of how far this country has come in two decades.
The show was seriously criticized by its creator, Eddie Huang, whose memoirs the show is (very) loosely based as being so white-washed that it was unrecognizable as his life story.
At least, we'll have another season on which to ponder these questions. We hope the show moves toward's the tone of Huang's original memoir and becomes more edgy without losing the first season's audience. It can become darker without losing any of its laughs.
First off: The writers need to realize that the Huang family is not the Partridge family.
Secondly: The fish-out-of-water premise is not enough. The show needs to incorporate an underlying message about how wrong the anti-immigrant view is, That rare category of a having a serious message within a comedic context is not without precedent.
The anti-war classic, M*A*S*H, dealt with death and pathos and it was one of the highest rated shows and critically acclaimed series TV has ever produced. Yet - and yet - it is described as a comedy.
All In The Family starred one of America's biggest bigots, and it still managed to get its anti-bigotry message across with laughter.
It's a balancing act between message and laughs without being heavy handed. It may be more difficult to attain, but it can be done. If done right, it can spell the difference between being ordinary and greatness.
Eddie Huang's memoirs gave birth to the television family, above, on Fresh Off The Boat
EDDIE HUANG is no shrinking violet.
In an interview with Bill Maher, he didn't mince words when he told Maher what he thought of the TV show "Fresh Off The Boat," which was based on Huang's memoirs of growing up in Orlando, Florida.
"I don't care," if people watch FOtB.
He's not happy with the way network television has watered down his take on his own life. No matter what, he told Maher, it doesn't matter if its black, white, Latino or Asian, the Hollywood process comes out with the same story from the same white perspective. The Hollywood creative process almost mandates that programs want "to tell universal White stories with Yellow faces, Black faces, Brown faces, but they tell the same universal story."
Even before the show debuted in February, Huang had been critical of how his story was being interpreted for mainstream audiences. "I don't even recognize my life," he said. In a New York Magazine essay, Huang called the Asian American executive producer, Melvin Mar, an Uncle Chan. He wrote:
"From the Chinese Exclusion Act to Yick Wo v. Hopkins to your favorite talking head’s favorite “ching chong” jokes, America never ran out of the shadows to defend the honor of their obedient Chinamen. Despite being the “man’s” preferred lapdog of color, everything Asian-American immigrants have was fought for. We still wake up spotting the man 10 points, walking with our heads down, apologizing for our FOB-y aunts and uncles as if aspiring to wash your shirt or do your taxes were really such an insidiously foreign idea. In a way, I accept that I have to be 10 points better; what I won’t accept are Melvins."
The celebrity chef said his book of the same name, is darker. He reveals that there was domestic abuse in his family. His grandmother had bound feet, he says.
Welcome to Hollywood, Eddie. Hollywood where unique ideas go to die.
Eddie Huang
The show - as presented on ABC - was a little disappointing but I was willing to let any criticism slide because ... well ... how many shows on TV feature Asian Americans? Despite being an immigrant Taiwanese American family in Orlando, that unique perspective was not adequately explored. In that respect, Huang was right. Many of the stories could have been told in any ordinary family in a television sitcom. The first episode where a classmate called young Eddie a "chink," and the last episode when the family struggled with its identity, were perhaps the best looks at the immigrant factor of the Huang story. Despite these imperfections and Huang's dissatisfaction, it cannot be denied that FOtB is still a watershed show. Admittedly, the Asian American audience - hell, let's just say, the American audience, deserves better, but until the networks deliver something better, we need to keep FOtB alive while it sharpens its focus. It is good enough for renewal, but it can be so much better if the writers stop trying to cater to a mass audience.
Ominously, despite having decent ratings in its Tuesday, 8 p.m. time slot, considering the strong competition on other channels, ABC hasn't decided whether the breakthrough show is going to be picked up for a second season.
EDDIE HUANG, the 11-year old boy in Fresh Off the Boat, looked familiar: a little bit pudgy, black hair, darker skin, definitely Asian-looking - trying desperately to fit in at a new school and whose goal is to sit at the white kids' cafeteria table. That was me entering middle school at the age of 12. Personal - sometimes painful - memories easily came flooding back while watching the highly anticipated TV sitcom that centers around TV's newest television family - the Huangs. But isn't that the point for all the Asian-American hubbub surrounding this new show: to see someone like me/us on the tube beyond playing the second fiddle, the butt of jokes, the servant, the stereotype? (NOTE: To all the non-Asians reading this blog, my apologies if I occasionally use personal pronouns, but the original intent of this blog, after all, is directed to my extended family. If you still dig reading it, thanks. I truly appreciate it.) As young Eddie navigates his way through pre-adolescence and being a stranger in a strange land, (Orlando, Florida) F.O.B. has its funny moments, a few outright laughs and moments of deja vu as an added bonus
The real Eddie Huang
Don't think this is just an ordinary American TV sitcom with the parents and kids simply replaced with Asian actors. If you're looking for comparisons, its The Wonder Years with Hunan chili peppers. The groundbreaking show, loosely based on restaurateur Eddie Huang's memoirs of the same name, doesn't shy away from race but it doesn't hit you over the head with a sledgehammer about race relations either. Being a person of color allows you to pick up on the sometimes subtle nuances provided by the plot. Almost every Asian American, at some point in their lives, remembers how it felt being called the c-word ... hell, it was on national TV for goodness sake ... "chink!" For many of us, that moment is a critical point in how we perceive ourselves and where we fit in this society. When the c-word is uttered in F.O.B., I gave a silent gasp as the camera briefly focuses on Eddie's face. In that fleeting instant, you can see the anger simmering inside the young boy. (Perhaps, I'm projecting.) Somehow, miraculously, the writers turned it into an incident that leads to a funny confrontation between the parents and the principal. But the fact that hip-hop loving Eddie had that moment between him and the only African American student in the school as they jostled to avoid being at the bottom of the social pecking order, says so much more than any documentary about race relations on public television.
Constance Wu underplays the mother.
At the same time, to the producers' and writers' credit, they didn't dwell on it. They quickly moved on quickly to other things, often, funny things. The funny moments didn't always have to do with race. The creators use race is just another element that has been missing in most TV shows but one that makes F.O.B. different from your run-of-the-mill half-hour sitcom. The other scene that struck a chord was right after the meeting with the principal, the family is strolling across the school playground, when young Eddie comes across his white classmates playing basketball. They stop and look at Eddie. He struts and acknowledges them with a chin-jutting gesture. Yeah. Its all about respect, right? Yeah ... but it came at the expense of the black student. Constance Wu, who plays Eddie's mother, is a star in the making. Although using a strong accent, it would be easy to slip into the stereotypical tiger-mom, but the writers allows her to soften the character so we see that all that she does is out of love for her family. In a lesser actress, some of the lines she delivers, or the silent "looks" she gives,would not be as hilarious. She has the best lines of the night and she steals the scene every time she's on the screen. If there's any justice in the world, she would be nominated as best comedic female actor for next season's Emmy's.
Hudson Yang is perfect as Eddie Huang.
The father, played by Randall Park, fresh from his role in the controversial satirical movie, The Interview, is the likable father trying to do what's best for his family, aware of the uncomfortable situation he put them in by uprooting them to from diverse Washington D.C. to mostly-white Orlando. His unrelenting belief in the American Dream and America as the Land of Opportunity makes him a bridge that many non-Asians could relate to and admire. Bottom line, the Huang family is extremely likable, something that will go a long way in determining the show's longevity if we are asking America to invite them into their living rooms every week. The non-Asian writers walk a tightrope between the real Eddie Huang's story and the all-too easy tilt towards racial stereotypes. Let's hope they can maintain that balance. What the show does best (mind you, I've only seen two episodes) is allow viewers to peek into a world and perception of that world from an Asian immigrant's point of view. No other TV show does that. Let's hope that it does that for several more seasons. I'd love to see young Eddie turn into a teenager with all the angst that period between childhood and adulthood brings to it. Overall, the show works. The situation and environment of the show is ripe with possibilities - some funny, some poignant. One other inside joke that may bypass non-Asian viewers, F.O.B., long a derogatory term for newcomers, is on the ABC network, which in the Chinese-American community, stands for American Born Chinese, also a derogatory term used against Chinese Americans. I know what I'll be recording Tuesday nights. Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Oh, I can't take credit for that last line.
The cast of Fresh Off The Boat is being praised for its portrayals of an immigrant family adjusting to America.
THE EARLY REVIEWS are in for the ground-breaking sitcom Fresh Off The Boat and those of us who were worried about this make-or-break series for Asian Americans can breathe a little easier. The "Daily Variety," the entertainment industry's newspaper almost gushed. TV columnist Brian Lowry writes:
"The series mixes that kind of cultural specificity with universal themes, and in that sense is far more committed to its premise than, say, 'Black-ish,' where race regularly disappears as an issue. By contrast, one of the funniest bits in 'Fresh Off the Boat' comes in a later episode when Eddie brings home a terrific report card, and his mother marches into the principal’s office, complaining that his classes must be too easy.
Lowry does acknowledge the lack of diversity on American television and credits ABC for its "diversity push" amongst its situation comedies. He calls FOB the network's best sitcom this season. The show is apparently funny on many levels. "That's the kind of expanded reach that Fresh Off the Boat (like Black-ish and The Goldbergs) has and needs," writes Tim Goodman of the "Hollywood Reporter." "This is a comedy first and foremost," Goodman says. "The laughs can't always come from the same source." In other words, race is just one source of jokes, there's school and all the situations about fitting in, assimilation and fresh takes on American culture that hopefully will find the audience laughing along with the writers and producers. Fresh Off The Boat is loosely based on the book of the same name written by Eddie Huang and is from the viewpoint of his 11-year-old self. Hudson Yang, who plays Eddie's character, Constance Wu, the mother, and Randall Park, who plays the father, are getting singled out for their portrayals. If the reviews are correct, don't get turned off by the first episode, which apparently relies on the same, old tired Asian stereotypes. By airing the second episode the same evening, viewers can reportedly still see the stereotypes but they can also see an evolution in the characters.
Hudson Yang, right, as Fresh Off the Boat's hip-hop loving Eddie Huang.
That's the beauty of a series, characters can get more rounded and more complex beyond our first impressions. Let's hope ABC gives FOB more of a chance to achieve this than it did for the short-lived Selfie.
Despite their individual quirks, the Huang family is likable, which important if you want the American audience to commit itself to a half-hour every week. There has to be a reason to come back. TV viewers can hopefully find a bit of their own families in the Huangs' immigrant experience. The awkwardness of trying to fit in is a universal experience. Despite the mother's accent and the food that they eat, audience should see the Huangs as just another American family. We're all a little bit weird, unique, and similar at the same time, eh? Not all the reviews were good but almost all were unanimous in praise of the cast. FOB must seek that delicate balance between universality and what makes the show unique, which is the Asian American angle. America has not seen this side of the Asian American experience beside a few paragraphs in their history books about working on railroads and WW II.
The show premieres its first two episodes on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. before moving to its regular Tuesday evening slot. Come back to this blog a day or two after the show when I'll be giving my two cents.
I WISH I could just sit back and watch Fresh Off The Boat, the sitcom featuring an Asian American family, without all the hoopla about the show's social and cultural significance. But watching the show without expectations is impossible now. I want it to succeed so much. I want America to view the show and welcome the Huang's into their living rooms like I use to do with the Partridges, the Cunninghams, the Bunkers, the Keatons, the Cleavers, and of course, the Ricardos. But what if it fails? What if FOB is a dud? What if it doesn't live up to the hype? What if its - GASP - not funny? If FOB doesn't succeed - coming on the heels of the cancellation of Selfie starring John Cho - that might mean the death knell to any future attempt to put on a show centered around Asian characters. When Margaret Cho's All-American Girl ingloriously ended, it took the networks 20 years before one of them decided to take a chance with FOB. FOB, the story of a Taiwanese American family based on the autobiography of restauranteur Eddie Huang, has already stumbled out of the gate. First off, Fresh Off The Boat, is a derogatory term directed at new immigrants. I guess by making FOB so common, it is supposed to take the sting away from the term, much in the way African Americans turned around the use of Black. Still, couldn't the producers come up with a better title? Next, Huang wrote an article for New York Magazine expressing his disappointment in the producers who, he said, are trying to make the show less edgy to make it more palatable to the mass market. Here's an excerpt:
“Just say the line,” said Melvin, our executive producer.
“Did you read the book?” I asked. “If you can find any crumb of a complete thought in the book that remotely infers ‘America is great,’ I’ll read the line.
“Eddie, we need it for the episode. It’s a big moment! You have a black kid and a Chinese kid breaking bread over a Jewish hip-hop concert. Where else could this happen? America IS great!”
A week before the show's premiere, the production's social media contractors tweeted this:
Oops! Huang was furious. He tweeted, "maybe people are just fucking morons. you have to be a mouth breathing psycho to make that graphic."
The producers were embarrassed and apologetic. The social media promoters were given a serious dressing down for their ignorance and lack of sensitivity, according to Jeff Yang, "Wall St. Journal" blogger and father of Hudson Yang, who portrays Eddie Huang, the series' main character. With great trepidation, I await the premiere of Fresh Off The Boat. There is lot more at stake here than just another new situation comedy: The Huang's could become the next great American sitcom family, giving the TV audience a view of Asian Americans that go beyond the old stereotypes, or ... it could be the last time a television show features Asian American characters as its main protagonists. If all that piques your interest, tune in on ABC on Wednesday evening's two episode premiere at 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ABC hopes to get some of the audience of their hit Modern Family, which is squeezed between the two FOB episodes. Let's hope it works.
Will the American public be able to relate to this Asian-American family in "Fresh Off the Boat?"
A LOT OF BUZZ has been given to "FOB: Fresh Off the Boat," a situation comedy TV show, because fit features an Asian-American family as its lead characters. There's a lot riding on the show: If its successful, great! But if it fails, it will be a long, long time before any television network takes a chance on a show focusing on Asians again. The last time a network aired a show with Asian leads was the ill-fated Margaret Cho series "All-American Girl." That was 20 years ago. Still, here's hoping that FOB is funny enough, that it's humor and situations are universal enough to appeal beyond the Asian-American community. A premier date has yet to be announced but it could be early 2015. 2014-2015 could very well be a watershed year for minorities on television. There will be more African Americans and Latinos too. In other words, TV producers have discovered the new America. Besides the big three networks, the other independent networks will feature Asian and other minority actors in roles that could help break down the stereotypes that television has forced down our throats.
As much as I'm pulling for FOB, the one show that I hope is a whopping success is "Selfie," a take-off on the Pygmalion story: how a mentor transforms a young woman into a more complete, less self-absorbed and interesting human being. John Cho takes on the Henry Higgins role as a marketing guru. He is best known for his role as the young Dr. Sulu in the new Star Trek movies and whose career really blasted off playing half of the Harold & Kumar stoner franchise. If the Eliza Doolittle/Henry Higgins story plays out as it did in "My Fair Lady," then Cho and his co-star, played by Scottish actress Karen Gillan, eventually end up in a romantic relationship. That -- my friends -- would be truly historic.
"Walking Dead's" Steven Yeun and Lauren Cohen, love lives on in the zombie apocalypse.
Romantic roles for Asian males are extremely rare and if -- and I emphasize "if" -- the relationship develops, he would be the first Asian male lead actor to kiss a non-Asian woman on American television. In an interview in "The Star," Cho said: "Asians narratively in shows are insignificant. They're the cop, the waitress, or whatever it is. You see them in the background. So to be in this position ... is a bit of a landmark ... revolutionary." I don't mean to take anything away from the end-of-the-world relationship of Steven Yeun whose character Glenn is involved with Maggie, played by Lauren Cohen, in the "Walking Dead." The difference is but their "Walking Dead" characters are supporting roles in the ensemble drama, whereas Cho and Gillan are the the "stars." Besides, its not like there's a whole lot of choice for Maggie. Glenn is the only guy near her own age whose not a zombie. However, their devotion to each other is inspiring in the zombie apocalypse. (Get your keyboards ready social networkers because there are rumors flying about that the Glenn character - the last Asian American in the world - won't survive this season.) As mentioned before on this blog, American popular media has portrayed Asian males as emasculated, uninteresting, unattractive, comedic characters. In the few roles where Asian males are strong characters, they never get the girl in the end. Think about it: Jet Li, Jackie Chan and even the magnificent Bruce Lee -- all who had plenty of macho charisma -- failed to get even a sisterly peck on the cheek from the heroine.
Mindy Kaling has a hit with "The Mindy Project"
I can't tell you how heavy that neutered caricature weighs on the psyche of Asian males.
"The Mindy Project," starring Mindy Kaling is back for a third season. Even though the show is known in some circles as "How To Date White Guys," it is enjoying critical and popular praise. It's funny, has good writing and has an appealing cast. The beautiful Maggie Q's series "Nikita" ended last season. The good news is that she is back with a new series called "Stalkers." She plays a kick-ass detective seeking out - you guessed it -- stalkers. Kal Penn, John Cho's partner in crime in Henry & Kumar, etc, also won a part in a series called "Battle Creek," where he is featured one of a cadre of detectives. Detectives are big this year, apparently. "Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is returning for a second season, which is good news for, Ming Na-Wen and Chloe Bennett. They save the world. Reggie Lee, who plays Sgt. Wu in "Grimm" was born in the Philippines and was responsible for having a Filipino storyline in one of their episodes last year. He helps save the world.
It's no surprise that the show with the most Asians is "Hawaii 5-0." With Asians, Pacific Islanders and Hapas (mixed race) comprising 70 percent of Hawaii's population, it would be a major blunder, not to mention "unconscionable," if Asians were not heavily represented in 5-0's cast. Thankfully, the producers agreed. That's why we have costars Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park, Masi Oki and Mark Descascos and recurring roles for Teila Tuli, Ian Anthony Dale, Brian Yang and Dennis Chun, not to mention a host of extras every week along with the the sugar cane fields, palm trees and beaches of Hawaii. That's a winning formula. They are detectives AND they save the world. And just for fun, check out "Amazing Race" which has two - count them - two Asian couples on the reality show. It is not unusual for reality shows like "Amazing Race" "Survivor" or the singing competitions to have an obligatory Asian but it is unusual to have two - count them - two entries to cheer for. This is not a complete list, but you should be getting the picture. This is a comparatively good year for diversity on television. Dino-Ray Ramos, who writes a TV blog, does a pretty good job listing all the Fall shows featuring Asians and Pacific Islanders. Those shows include "Glee," which may be in its last season, "The Good Wife," "Parks & Recreation," and "Beauty and the Beast." We shouldn't be complacent and think that with more Asian representation on TV, diversity on television is no longer a problem. The number of minorities on television is so dismal - Asians being the most under-represented - is so abysmally tiny, that any increase of our presence on TV can be seen as an improvement (like this year). That doesn't mean we should sit back and relax. There is plenty of room for improvement. With the departure of Sandra Oh from "Grey's Anatomy," it means the Seattle hospital no longer has any Asian medical staff. How real is that? In fact, any hospital-based show without Asians should be a target of our social network wrath. Hopefully, the network honchos who green light projects are getting the picture, too. More diversity means more viewership. Advertisers like lots of viewers. It's a business, you know.
