TV's Fall season gives AANHPI viewers a chance to see themselves

'The Cleaning Lady' features a not-so-typical Filipino American family.

UPDATED: Sept. 12 to include 'Quantum Leap."

Labor day just passed and we're easing into television's Fall season, and, lo and behold, there's a a lot of AANHPI characters, at least, relatively speaking.

One of laments of many AANHIPI of influence has been that they grew up without seeing themselves on the big screen or on television. That can't be said anymore.

There are lawyers, chefs, first responders, a slew of doctors, reality show stars, high school students and  and even a superhero (or two) and an under-the-radar schemer on the immensely popular House of Dragons.

While there may seem to be a lot of AANHPI faces on television these days, AANHPI continue to be severely underrepresented, according to several recent studies on media diversity. But compared to five years ago, that shouldn't stop us from appreciating the increased presence as a sign of progress, small as it is. 

There's lots of room for improvement and it is why we need to continue to demand more representation in the media, which shapes the ideals and the American image to the world and to ourselves. 

I would love to see an Asian American version of Friends based in L.A. or San Francisco, or an Asian American family dramady without super powers that includes a responsible father figure. Until those shows matrerialize, we have a good foundation in which we are able to see ourselves:

The Cleaning Lady, Season 2, premieres Sept. 19. On Fox, 9 p.m. Mondays:

One of the most original series of last year, Thony de la Rosa, as played by Elodie Yung, who is an undocumented immigrant, came to the US seeking medical treatment for her son. Unsuccessful, she begins to live a double life, keeping secrets from her family, while cleaning crime scenes for Arman and dodging the law, including the smooth-talking FBI Agent Garrett Miller who is in pursuit. Using her cunning and intelligence to forge her own path in the criminal underworld, Thony does what is necessary to save Luca – even if it means sacrificing her own soul and values in the process. Last we saw Thony and her sister-in-law, played by Filipino Aussie Martha Millan, are about to embark on a path that will take them deeper into the underworld. Asian American fingerprints are all over this series developed by Chinese Canadian Miranda Kwok and produced by Filipino Canadian Shay Mitchell and Filipino American Rose Marie Vega.

NCIS: Hawaii, Season 2 premieres Sept. 19, 10 p.m. CBS

The NCIS franchise really is trying to reflect Hawaii's diversity with its casting. It features Filipino American Vanessa Lachey as Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant, along with NCIS agents Nick Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) and Jessica Knight (Katrina Law), track The Raven’s whereabouts to the island of Oahu and learn about his plans to attack RIMPAC (The Rim of the Pacific Exercises), the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise, on the exciting conclusion to the special crossover event and the season two-hour premiere. A warning to fans, the NCIS and NCIS Hawai’i season premiere will be a crossover event merging the two teams. The two-hour premiere event puts the teams on the hunt for a dangerous suspect and unveils a complex network and a larger sinister plan that will take the D.C. team to Hawai’i in a race to thwart the next large-scale attack. It also stars Filipino American Yasmine al-Bustami, Alex Terrant, Noah Mills and Jason Atoon. I would love to see Tennant cook a Filipino meal for her family and friends. It's the Filipino way, hindi ba?

The NCIS team in Hawaii reflects that state's diversity.

Quantum Leap, premieres September 19, 9 p.m. on NBC

Fans of the original Quantum Leap adventure series won't recognize the 2023 reboot. It's back and its features an Asian American in the lead role. Quantum leap, which ran for four seasons starring Scott Bakula, went off the air in 1993. The 2023 version stars Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song. It's been nearly 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now, a new team, led by physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee), has been assembled to restart the project in hope of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it. Also on the ensemble cast is Nanrisa Lee playing Jenn Chou, a computer whiz.

The Resident, Season 6, premieres Sept. 20 9 p.m., Fox

We're including this show mainly because it features Maneshe Dayal as Dr. Devon Pravesh, and his apparent love interest, Anuja Joshi as Dr. Leela Devi unraveling the stereotype that Asian men can't be attractive to the opposite sex. Also of interest, Joshi's twin sister, Aneesha Joshi, plays Leela's free-spirited twin, whose role will get bigger as the surrogate mother of another doctor's unborn child.

'The Good Doctor' stars real-life Indian American twins Anuja and Aneesha Joshi.

The Good Doctor, Season 6, premieres Oct. 3, 10 p.m. CBS:

The series' fifth season ended on a number of ups and downs, with the most joyous moment being Dr. Murphy (Freddie Highmore) finally getting married to Lea Dilallo (Paige Spara) on the hospital rooftop with their friends in attendance. However, while re-entering the hospital to refresh supplies for the celebration, Dr. Lim (Christina Chang) finds Nurse Villanueva (Elfina Luk) stabbed and bleeding out. Nurse Villanueva warns Dr. Lim that she was stabbed by her abusive ex-boyfriend, but before Dr. Lim can react, she is stabbed twice, leaving her life in peril with her friends nearby, seemingly oblivious to her condition. Developed by producer Daniel Dae Kim.

Kung Fu, Season 3, premieres Oct. 5 9 p.m., CW

The action series had been a mid-season series but it has become part of CW's fall debuts. We left Kung Fu in a state of transition. Henry (Eddie Liu) decided to learn more about his father after the man died in his arms. It’s a journey that necessitated an end to his relationship with the central character Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang)  despite the two being split by life and circumstances and not a loss of love and care for one another Others in the predominantly Asian American cast include: 

• Tzi Ma as Jin Shen
• Shannon Dang as Althea Shen
• Tony Chung as Dennis Soong
• Kheng Hua Tan as Mei-Li Shen
• Jon Prasida as Ryan Shen
• Vanessa Kai as Pei-Ling Zheng
• Gavin Stenhouse as Evan Hartley
• Vanessa Yao as Mia

Olivia Liang stars in the new 'Kung Fu' action series.

Reginald the Vampire, Season 1  Oct. 5, 10 p.m. on SyFy

The series based on the comic book of the same name stars Jacob Batalon (Spiderman) as the world's first Filipino American vampire. Imagine a world populated by beautiful, fit and vain vampires. Overweight Reginald Andres tumbles headlong into it as an unlikely hero who will have to navigate every kind of obstacle – the girl he loves but can’t be with, a bully manager at work and the vampire chieftain who wants him dead.

Grey's Anatomy, Season 19, Oct. 6, 10 p.m., ABC

The longest-running prime time show will enter Season 19 with a cast that is being bolstered more Asian Americans at Seattle's Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to reflect a more realistic and diverse medical setting. (See article here.)

Awkwafina is Nora From Queens, Season 3, 10 p.m. EST/ 7 p.m. PST, Oct. 12, Comedy Central

Not much is known about what's in store for our heroine in the series' third season. As the title subtly suggests, Awkwafina plays Nora Lin, an exaggerated version of herself in the comedy. It follows "a 20-something woman, who strives for a larger-than-life existence". Living with her cousin Edmund (Bowen Yang), dad (BD Wong), and grandmother scene stealer (Lori Tan Chinn), Nora must learn to navigate adulthood in New York City. The series appears to be a popular gig for AANHPI actors. Guests on the series have included Jaboukie Young-White, Michelle Buteau, Wai Ching Ho, Stephanie Hsu, Ming-Na Wen, and Awkwafina's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings co-star, Simu Liu. Awkwafins created the series with Teresa Hsiao.

Blockbuster, Season 1, Nov. 3, streaming on Netflix

Everybody's nice guy Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat) is Timmy Yoon, the lead character in this situation comedy about the last Blockbuster store trying to a survive in a world being taken over by streaming networks. (For you youngsters, before Blockbuster rented out videotapes and DVDs of your favorite movies and TV shows.) The 10-episode series doesn't dwell on race relations but just presents Timmy Yoon as your average American small business entrepreneur with a dream. Kind of refreshing, but we'll see if viewers can relate to Park's character.

Young Rock, Season 2, Nov. 4 8 p.m. NBC

Late in the season, the adventures of your favorite WWE icon-turned-blockbuster movie star (a.k.a, Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson) returns to your small screen sooner. The comedy details the life of the very real celebrated movie star and WWE icon, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and the various stages of his life that lead to his (fictional) run for president in 2032. The series is both narrated and executive produced by Johnson himself. The returning cast of Pacific Islanders includes Joseph Lee Anderson (Rocky), Stacy Leilua (Ata), Lia Maivia (Ana), and all three actors who play younger versions of Johnson: Constant, Adrian Groulx, and Uli Latukefu.

In addition to the series mentioned above, a number of pretty good groundbreaking shows with Asian American leads and/or themes have premiered this summer on the streaming channels that are available at your convenience. They include:

• Partner Track, Netflix
• Paper Girls, Prime
• Ms. Marvel, Disney
• Never Have I Ever, Netflix
• See, Apple+
• Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Netflix
• Bling Empire, Netflix
• House of Ho, HBO Max

In case you're wondering about my reference to dragons in the opening paragraphs: I throw this tidbit in because The House of the Dragon has a huge audience and it is a cultural phenomenon, I need to point out that there are no Asians in the fictional Westeros, except for Mysaria, played by Sonoya Muzuno. She  is the paramour of Prince Daemon Targaryen. Her role will grow as the plot gets more complicated.

It is notable that in the first few episodes, the casting for The House of the Dragon is more diverse than Game of Thrones, which was knocked because it was so blindingly white. It is a fantasy land after all and there is no reason for the lack of POC. The producers apparently didn't take the observation lightly when casting this prequel.

But the mysterious Mysaria had to come from somewhere, where there should be opportunities for more casting of Asian actors. Right? Just hoping.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. Earlier versions of this post did not include the portion about House of the Dragon or the blurb on Quantum Leap.

'Grey's Anatomy' gets real; Harry Shum Jr, Midori Francis added to cast.Ha

Harry Shum, Jr, left, and Midori Francis join cast of long-running 'Grey's Anatomy.'

The newest class of interns at Grey Soan Medical Center will add two Asian Americans to the cast of Grey's Anatomy in the show's 19th season.

Finally, with the addition of Harry Shum Jr and Midori Francis, the staff at the fictional Seattle hospital is starting to reflect real life. In the past, the show has been criticized for not casting enough Asian Americans in more prominent roles despite the hard-to-ignore presence of AANHPI medical personnel in most real-life US urban hospitals.

Shum and Francis will play first-year surgical residents at Grey Sloan, which was ordered to disband and rebuild its teaching program in the Season 18 finale.

Shum will play Daniel “Blue” Kwan, who is described as sharp-witted, impatient and brilliant. He is generous by nature but competitive to a fault, naturally gifted, and used to winning at everything. The character's back story hints at a family crisis that interrupted with his career plans and now he’s got a lot to prove.

Francis’ character, Mika Yasuda, is described as a middle child with eight siblings. She is used to being overlooked and underestimated (for many AANHPI, that sounds very familiar) and uses it to her advantage. Mika is dealing with overwhelming  med school debt (that sounds familiar, too), but she’s scrappy and confident she can make it in the hospital's residency program and rise to the top.

Most recently, Francis played Alicia, the leader of the Essex College Women’s Center, on HBO Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls. She will continue with that role in the series' second season. Francis began garnering notice for her lead role in Netflix's Dash & Lily, for which she earned an Emmy nomination.

Shum launched his career as a series regular on the cult-favorite Glee. He cemented himself as a romantic figure in the groundbreaking film, Crazy Rich Asians, where he played Charlie Wu, a potential love interest of Astrid Leong, played by Gemma Chan. The CRA sequel will center on the budding romantic relationship between the two.

Despite being cast regulars, the backstories of the characters played by Lynn Chen, left,
and Alex Landistill still needs to be told.

The two Grey's newcomers will join regulars Lynn Chen, whose role as Dr. Michelle Lin, head of plastic surgery, wasn't fully fleshed out in Season 18; and Alex Landi, who plays the oversexed 3rd year resident, Dr. Nico Kim.

As we discuss Asian American cast members, we should remember that Grey's Anatomy brought Sandra Oh some Hollywood cred for her portrayal of BFF Dr. Cristina Yang. The Emmy-nominated Oh left the security of the series in 2014 to expand her acting resume.

We also cannot forget the Asian American actor who has been with the series for all of its 18 seasons and presumably into the 19th. Kathy C. Han, a nurse in real life,  appears in almost every important surgery scene as the reticent scrub nurse Bokhee. In those 18 seasons, she probably has spoken a only a dozen words.

Despite numerous cast turnovers with actors coming and going, Grey's Anatomy, created by executive producer Shonda Rhimes, remains ABC's top drama for the coveted 18-49 demographic favored by advertisers. 

With the addition of the new characters, there is an opportunity for Rhimes to help develop the Asian American characters. Since Oh's departure, the Asian American characters have not really been explored and turned into 3-dimensional characters like Dr. Cristina Yang.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.