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.

'Kung Fu' Season Two returns on Wednesday, March 9, adds more AAPI characters

We should stop calling today's Kung Fu a reboot of the 1970s series that starred yellow-faced David Carradine in the Old West. 2022's Kung Fu stars Olivia Liang as Nicky Shen and is set in contemporary San Francisco.

The only similarity between the old Kung Fu and the new Kung Fu is that the lead character trained and honed his/her martial art skills at a Chinese monastery by Shaolin monks.

Season 2 welcomes back Liang's Nicky Shen, Eddie Liu (Never Have I Ever) as kung fu instructor Henry Yan, Shannon Dang (So Foreign) as Althea Shen, Gavin Stenhouse (Skybound) as Evan Hartley, Tzi Ma as Jin Shen (The Farewell, Tigertail) Vanessa Kai (New Amsterdam) as Pei-Ling Zhang, Tony Chung as Dennis Soong, and Yvonne Chapman (Family Law) as Zhilan.

This season, the story will utilize more of the history and culture of San Francisco (Producers: please stop using L.A. and Vancouver locations to impersonate SF.

Season 2 adds several new characters: Vanessa Rao will play cousin Mia; JB Tadena (Naruto: Climbing Silver, SEAL Team) as Sebastian, Harmony Dumplings’ charming new chef who will turn the newly single Ryan’s head; and Annie Q. (The Leftovers) as Juliette Tan, the clever and conniving daughter of powerful business mogul Russell Tan.

The series airs Wednesdays on the CW, 9 p.m. starting on March 9.

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

New 'Kung Fu' is not your father's 'Kung Fu;' Thank goodness!

Olivia Liang will star in the new 'Kung Fu.'

Kung Fu is coming back to television but don't expect to see "grasshopper" and his slow motion martial art that, while beautiful to watch, was meant to disguise Carradine's lack of real training in kung fu.

Old guys like me remember the original Kung Fu TV series that aired from 1972 to 1975 and I'm not ashamed to admit I didn't miss an episode.

Currently, its in vogue to chastise the original series because 1. it was basically a plotline stolen from an idea of Bruce Lee; 2. it's portrayal of an ancient martial art/philosophy was not very good (a lot of slow-motion balletic moves; 3. it starred a white guy (David Carradine) in yellow-face.

Those were all valid criticism and I agree with all those points. But you also have to view the old series in the context of the times. The series also gave a lot of work to Asian American actors when there weren't many roles for them. Just seeing a rare Asian face onscreen was enough to celebrate and most of the time, the Asian characters were in the right side of the moral divide (even though Carradine was in yellow-face, his character was supposed to be Chinese).

Back in 1972, the last time an Asian character on American TV was shown as a strong, character was in the Green Hornet, which starred Bruce Lee as Cato, way back in 1966-67. That's a long time for Asian Americans who didn't have anyone to cheer for.

However, don't watch the 2021 version of Kung Fu expecting to see a simple reboot of the original. There are a few big differences.

• It is no longer the old west, but the new west taking place (based on the trailer) mostly in present day San Francisco.
• It is not about a lone-wolf Buddhist monk wandering around with no apparent purpose, but the monk-trained martial artist will battle present-day gangsters on behalf of her multi-generational family.
• It's Asian characters will no longer speak in the faux stilted Asian accent demanded of the original Kung Fu Asian actors, but in contemporary English, fully embracing the American culture as their own while holding on to their Asian heritage.
• The most significant change is that the lead protaganist is no longer a white guy in yellow face, but a kick-ass Asian American woman. 

Olivia Liang stars as Nicky Shen, who while visiting China, joins a monastery where she is taught Shaolin values and martial arts. When her mentor is killed, she returns home to find her community disrupted by a local gang. She must use the martial arts skills she learned to protect her neighborhood and family, and soon discovers she's being targeted by the same assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor.

“Nicky is heroic, but she doesn’t see herself as a hero," explains Liang about her character. "She doesn’t have a hero complex where she is going out to find bad guys. She sees bad things happening and feels like she needs to do something about it.”

The 2021 Kung Fu also stars Kheng Hua Tan as Mei-Li Shen, Shannon Dang as Althea Shen, Eddie Liu as Henry Yan, Gavin Stenhouse as Evan Hartley, Tony Chung as Dennis Soong, and Tzi Ma, doing what he does best portraying the father, Jin Shen.

“Not only is there representation on screen but we back it up from our writers room to all our guest directors. It is an amazing sight to behold. I’ve been doing this for a minute now and I have never seen this kind of make up,” Ma tells Deadline.

Christina M. Kim wrote the pilot episode and serves as executive producer/co-showrunner of the series with Robert Berens. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Martin Gero, and David Madden also serve as executive producers. 

Kung Fu premieres on the CW Network (check local listins), Wednesday, April 7, 8 p.m.

'Kung Fu' reboot names actress as its lead

Olivia Liang will play the lead role in the remake of 'Kung Fu.'

The reboot of the 1970s television series Kung Fu isn't exactly like the original show. For one thing, the central character is a woman.

The CW product found its star in Olivia Liang of Legacies. In the original, producers yellow-faced David Carradine  in a role meant for martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

In the remade Kung Fu, a quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese American woman, Nicky Chen (Liang), to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice — all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.

Liang’s casting in the CW/Warner Bros. Kung Fu pilot comes on the heels of her joining the network and studio’s drama series Legacies as a recurring earlier this season. She plays Alyssa Chang on The Vampire Diaries offshoot.

Liang’s previous credits include Dating After College and guest shots on Grey’s Anatomy and One Day at a Time. She guest stars on the current second season of Hulu’s Into the Dark.

Executive producer Christina M. Kim, who wrote for Lost and Blindspot, will also pen the new series.

Besides starring Carradine, the original Kung Fu, was reportedly first pitched by Bruce Lee. His idea was rejected - reportedly because producers couldn't accept an Asian as the hero -- but elements of his idea made it into the Kung Fu series.

The series Warrior, which premiered last year, is reportedly closer to Lee's original idea which takes place amid the Tong Wars in 19th Century San Francisco's Chinatown and Barbary Coast.

Ode to Bruce Lee: 'Warrior' hopefully makes up for 'Kung Fu'

WARRIOR

Actor Andrew Koji plays lead character Ah Sahm in the upcoming television series 'Warrior/'

Little known fact: I once auditioned for Kung Fu, the TV series starring David Carradine.

In 1975, I still had dreams of becoming a screenwriter. I had a writing agent and submitted several ideas for Streets of San Francisco, which was also filming in the city at the time, and other projects -- all with Asian themes.

I didn't consider myself an actor and I make not claims to having any acting talent. I had no formal training (although I did attend the first class conducted by actor Rene Auberjunois which I promptly dropped at Cal) and only appeared in one movie because I was a friend of the director.

Kung Fu was in its third season and apparently, had used up all the known Asian American actors in Hollywood and was in search for new faces. 

My writing agent suggested to the Kung Fu talent scout that he see me. He knew I had some martial arts training and had an 8X10 headshot of me, just in case I sold a script and hit it big. Yeah, we both had high hopes back then.

The auditions were being held in my agent's agency's office, so I trekked my way into San Francisco.

I let the secretary know I was there for the audition. Mind you I had never auditioned for anything in my life. I fancied myself a writer. Being young and naive, I said to myself, "What the hell."

The search for new faces, apparently wasn't going too well, I surmised since I was the only "actor" there for the audition.

Finally, I went in and met the talent scout. He was friendly enough: broad smile, firm handshake and with the upbeat air you'd expect from Hollywood  He handed me a page of a script and asked me to read some lines with him reading the other parts.

I did the best I could, but I knew I was not "feeling" it.

The scout said, "Great, great. That was very good," in an attempt to get me over my nervousness and put me at ease. I thank him for that.

But then, he said, "Can you say the ilnes again with an accent?"

What? The only accent I knew how to imitate was a Filipino accent since I grew up with a community of Filipino American elders, mostly World War II veterans.

I knew what he wanted though. He wanted me to either use a sing-song accent, or a strong, clipped accent like the one used by the Asian American actors that appeared in the Kung Fu series that took place in the American West in the late 1800s.

I opted to imitate the strange accent used by David Carradine, the star of the Bruce Lee-inspired series.

I closed my eyes, imagining myself as the Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine. I went for it.

I knew I had blown the audition despite the enthusiastic scout's encouraging words ending with the dreaded, "You'll hear from us."

As expected, I wasn't surprised I never again heard from the scout or the series. The TV series. Kung Fu was cancelled two months later. David Carradine claimed he had sustained too many bruises and injuries to continue. But the real reason was the ratings were down.

I write all this because Warrior, a new series inspired by martial arts legend Bruce Lee will debut this April 5 on the Cinemax network. It is about a martial arts-trained warrior who arrives in during the Tong Wars of 1800's San Francisco and will feature a predominantly Asian cast who have the acting talent that I lacked.

The story behind the story, says that Lee, who had starred as Kato, the martial artist/chauffeur of the Green Arrow, submitted a script about a Shaolin monk wandering the old West doing good deeds and kicking the hell out of bad guys. The networks rejected his idea, but lo and behold, a year later, Kung Fu was developed starring a white guy doing Yellow Face.

Warrior, is based on the notes of Bruce Lee. His daughter Shannon Lee and Asian American director Justin Lin are among the executive producers.

Ironically, while the white actors in the new series will speak English appropriate to the time period, the Asian actors will speak English with a contemporary tone -- an apparent nod to the show's producers and the #NoWhiteWashing and #NoYellowface movements.

I harbor no resentment towards anyone associated with the old Kung Fu show, including that talent scout who auditioned me, but to them all, I can only say: "Accent? My ass!"

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