Asian American family dramedy 'Andi Mack' draws to a close

DISNEY

The cast of Andi Mack was led by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, 3rd from right.

If you haven't been a regular watcher of Andi Mack, hurry on over to the Disney Channel and watch a few episodes. If you're too old for this coming-of-age story, you might still be able to recognize yourself in its young cast.

The story about an Asian American young girl and her family growing through her tumultuous teens never garnered the huge audiences or media buzz that network shows seem to generate, but its characters and storylines connected with a young audience.

“Andi Mack was a labor of love for a room of impassioned, inventive writers, a talented and dedicated crew, and an extraordinary, miraculous cast who inspired us all. We had the honor of breaking a lot of new ground for Disney Channel,” said creator and executive producer Terri Minsky. 

“We were its first serialized show, its first series centered around an Asian American family, and its first to feature an LGBTQ character who spoke the words ‘I’m gay.’ But the best part of making Andi Mack was our audience, who let us know we mattered to them. The series finale is for them.”

Unfortunately, the show's third season will be its last, announced the Disney Channel Wednesday (April 24).

The series will return for its final episodes on June 21 and air its series finale on July 26.

Andi Mack stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee as the title character, Lilan Bowden as Rebecca “Bex” Mack, Lauren Tom as Celia Mack, Joshua Rush as Cyrus Goodman, Sofia Wylie as Buffy Driscoll, Asher Angel as Jonah Beck and Trent Garrett as Bowie Quinn.

The series has been praised as a heartwarming, diverse coming-of-age story about the most important things in any young person’s life: family, friends and the journey of self-discovery.

Year to-date, Andi Mack is Disney Channel’s most-watched series overall and its highest-rated among Kids 6-14. It has received a Television Academy Honor, a GLAAD Media Award, a U.S. Asia Institute honor, the Common Sense Media Seal for Quality Family Programming and a Peabody Award nomination.

The cast may have had a sense that their show would not have a fourth season after filming the last episodes of Season 3 last year.  Peton Elizabeth Lee, the series' titular star, tweeted this touching note to her castmates.

“I could spend the rest of my life reminiscing about the last three years,” she wrote in alongside a sweet clip of her and the rest of the cast dancing on set. “The dreams we made realities. the late nights laughing. it has been absolutely magical. that is the only word that truly embodies my experience with andi mack. magic. so whimsical and surreal.”

“To my andi mack soulmates, thank you for making me believe in magic. you were my fairytale,” Peyton continued in the emotional post. “Cheers my family, for the aching in my heart is due to the love we have found in one another. the life we have created is one that will last a lifetime in my soul. every word. every smile. every tear. engraved into my mind. for eternity. i have found something here that in my life so far i didn’t know to be. true love. like in the movies. like in the storybooks. like in our minds. but i found it in salt lake city. i found it in lilan. in asher. in sofia. in josh. in trent. in lauren. in my crew. in andi mack the show. in andi mack the girl.”

“So how does one go about thanking people for giving her a reason to wake up in the morning? for igniting a fire in her soul?” the 14-year-old wrote. “This, i have no answers for. all i know is that three years ago i was just a girl. 11 years old. 4 feet and 9 inches tall. a dream as big as the galaxy. and today. 14 years old. 5 feet and 5 inches tall. and that massive dream has become a reality. a truth that i hold in my heart with each passing day. with every moment. with every breath. may our memories here be as vivid in our minds in 20 years as they are today. may we all feel honest happiness once again. may we all find our happily ever after.”

Andi Mack was reportedly Disney's highest rated show so its cancellation caught its fans by surprise and #renewandimack began trending on social media. Disney didn't offer an explanation of their decision except that the network has a habit of ending their popular series prematurely. Classic Lizzie McGuire lasted only two seasons despite its positive impact on young girls. Girl Meets World met a similar fate.

I have to admit I don't fit the show's demographic (way too old) and I don't have the show on my "must watch" list. However, I remember how difficult those young teen years were like without anybody to share them with or not able to see my angst reflected in pop culture. For today's teenagers and soon-to-be young adults, for a few years, at least, they had Andi Mack.

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Remember when 22 AAPI Hollywood celebrities joined in a GOTV PSA for the first time?

WITH THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS just days away, you might be interested in this oldie-but-goodie effort to motivate Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.

This Get-Out-The-Vote public service announcement (PSA), “Voice Your Vote,” first aired on television nationwide during the fall of 1996. The PSA was a historic merger between the APA community and the 22 APA Hollywood celebrities

Dean Cain, Rosalind Chao, Keiu Chinh, Margaret Cho, Stan Egi, Amy Hill, Shishir Kurup, Jason Scott Lee, Mako, Dustin Nguyen, Steve Park, Nia Peeples, Jenny Shimizu, Elizabeth Sung, Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa, Lauren Tom, Tamlyn Tomita, Denise Uyehara, Garrett Wang, Ming-Na Wen, B.D. Wong and Russell Wong. Oh, they looked so young!
The NAPAVRC was the first ever national effort to organize APAs all across the United States to register to vote and to go out to vote. Until the inception of the National Asian Pacific American Voter Registration Campaign, APA voter registration campaigns have been conducted at the local and state levels. Nineteen national APA organizations were members of this historic coalition. The PSA was created for the NAPAVRC by actor Tamlyn Tomita and Vida Benavides of Ace High Consulting, and produced by Jusak Yang Bernhard and Paul G. Bens, Jr. of I Can Make It Myself Productions. Funding for the PSA was provided by the AFL-CIO and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance.

The PSA was aimed at 18-35 year olds, the group least likely to vote. This November, most of the PSAs are targeting the Millennial generation, those born between 1981-1996 who are reached adulthood in the first two decades of the 21st century. They have the most at stake in this election but thus far, their voting record has been abysmal.

Twenty-four years later, AAPI voters still have a hard time getting to the polls even though immigration  and health care are a couple of the biggest issues of this election. Only 49% of the AAPI voters actually voted in the 2016 elections. 

Here's an example of a new PSA laced with stereotype-busting humor:

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

DISNEY

'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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TGIF FEATURE: Disney and 'Andi Mack' make history

The women of the Mack family, Bex, Andi and grandma Celia.

IF YOU'RE not watching Andi Mack , you're missing out on one of the most progressive shows on television.

With its theme parks and cast of characters, the Walt Disney brand is about as all-American, wholesome and family-oriented as you can get.

The Disney Channel’s Andi Mack, starring breakout star Peyton Elizabeth Lee, kicks off its second season by revealing one of its principal characters to be gay. 

It may be disconcerting to some Disney aficionados who consider the entertainment company alongside with the flag, motherhood and apple pie, that a Disney Channel TV show would make history by using a storyline of one its principal characters adjusting to the realization that he is gay. Then, again - why not?

If you haven't watched Andi Mack, you might think that a Disney production would be a bland (read "white") uncomplicated interpretation of the real world, where birds sing as they create a dress for Cinderella. No, no, no, my friends.

There's more to the Mack family than what one might see upon first glance. It turns out that  Andi's real mother is Bex, the young woman she grew up thinking was her sister (Lillian Bowden). The woman who raised her as her daughter, is really Andi's grandmother (Lauren Tom). Not exactly Ozzie and Harriet or Leave it to Beaver.

So right off the bat: Disney Channel has created a family comedy-drama aimed at kids, ages 6-14, that features parents dealing with teenage pregnancy.

The coming-of-age series, which debuted in April, follows the adventures of Asian/American tween Andi Mack and her pals, Buffy Driscoll (Sofia Wylie) and Cyrus Goodman (Joshua Rush) as they navigate adolescence. Not one of them is blonde and blue-eyed.

In Friday’s (Oct. 27) season premiere, Andi is struggling with a crush on a middle school boy, Jonah Beck (Asher Angel). Later in the episode, Cyrus begins to realize that he, too, has feelings for Jonah. That realization marks the beginning of Cyrus coming to identify ― and eventually embrace himself as ― a gay tween.

A stroll down Main Street in Disneyland harkens back to a simpler time when the country didn't have the divisive problems we face today. It represents is a period in American history that many Donald Trump supporters dream of when they talk about "making America great again."

The Walt Disney company appears to expect some blowback from some of its fans who embrace that brand. It released a statement regarding Andi Mack‘s stories and characters, writing:

“The Disney brand has always been inclusive, with stories that reflect acceptance and tolerance and celebrate the differences that make our characters uniquely wonderful in their own way. We constantly strive to live up to that legacy by continuing to create and share compelling storylines from our studios and media networks that entertain with inspirational and aspirational themes and reflect the incredibly rich diversity of the human experience. Our stories are timeless because they speak to the heart; our characters appeal to children across gender, ability, and experience because they’re defined by kindness, loyalty, humor, courage, wit, and other traits that make a good friend. Disney remains committed to continuing to create characters that are accessible and related to all children.”

This story arc is the first of its kind for the cable network, and it was devised with input from child development experts. The season premiere episode was also screened in advance for organizations like Common Sense Media, GLAAD, and PFLAG. Disney Channel claims they’ve aimed to craft a story that maintains their signature brand of age-appropriate storytelling while building a narrative of inclusion and kindness.

“With more and more young people coming out as LGBTQ, Andi Mack is reflecting the lives and lived experiences of so many LGBTQ youth around the country,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. 

“Television reflects the real life world and today that includes LGBTQ youth who deserve to see their lives depicted on their favorite shows. Disney has been a leader in LGBTQ inclusion and there are so many young people who will be excited to see Cyrus’ story unfold,” stated Ellis.

Andi Mack has quickly become one of the Disney Channel’s most popular shows among young audiences. To date, the show featuring an Asian/American family as its centerpiece, is ranked as the year’s top TV series among girls 6-11, 9-14 and 6-14," according to Deadline.

And if you can teach tolerance and appreciations of diversity at that impressionable age, you can change the world.

Andi Mack season 2 premieres at 8 p.m. today, Friday, Oct. 27 on the Disney Channel.

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