Some parents appreciated the opportunities to see Asians on TV, but not the content. Intertwined with those cultural touchstones were more typical plotlines involving teenage crushes, dad Louis Huang’s steakhouse and mom Jessica Huang’s odd couple friendship with their next door neighbor.īut as expected for a show as rare and far-reaching as “Fresh Off the Boat”, not everyone was thoroughly pleased. Over the seasons, the sitcom introduced the wider audience to such Asian American references such as a fighting over paying the bill at a restaurant, the Asian glow that results from drinking alcohol, and even the “success perm” (although that one may have been more of a writer’s room invention). ![]() “I shared how when I was growing up there weren’t shows like this or people like me on TV except for Connie Chung–which is of the main reasons I went into TV news.” A scene from the finale of “Fresh Off the Boat”, Image Credit: ABC We talked about how being reflected matters,” says Chee, whose kids are now 10 and 11. For former Los Angeles news anchor Angela Chee, “Fresh Off the Boat” was the first primetime network show she allowed her kids to watch. Some families even made exceptions to their no-TV rules. “And when I asked him why later, he said, ‘Because they look like me. Actress (most recently seen on John Mulaney’s “The Sack Lunch Bunch”) and Fairy Princess Diaries blogger Erin Quill says that her six-year old son discovered the show while home sick and watched it all day. That power of seeing a familiar face on screen is echoed by many Asian American parents. “She has grown up with the kids on ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ and even follows them on Instagram.” “ She figured out on her own that seeing people that looked like her and the family around her was important even without my input,” says Wong. Nelson Wong, creator of the now-shuttered entertainment website, says he watched nearly all the episodes with his 13-year old daughter. ![]() “It was a specific family that was inspired by Eddie’s book and then every writer, actor, and crew member that brought their experiences and stories with them.”įor audiences at home, “Fresh Off the Boat”created a rare opportunity for families to sit down and watch television together. “We realized very quickly, we are not making a show about everyone’s family,” says executive producer Melvin Mar, who spoke at CAAMFest San Jose in 2015. Would the show accurately portray a Taiwanese immigrant family? Would the storylines resonate with non-Asian audiences? And perhaps most importantly, would the show get renewed or would it cause another 20-year dry spell for Asian Americans on network TV? When the 90s-era family sitcom pilot premiered in 2015, it was celebrated for being the first network show with a predominantly Asian American cast in 20 years, since Margaret Cho’s short-lived “All American Girl” hit the airwaves in the actual 1990s.īut much nervousness also surrounded the show, which premiered with a provocative pilot featuring main character rap-loving middle schooler Eddie Huang navigating through a new school in Orlando, Florida and getting bullied by a Black student. “Fresh Off the Boat” will end its six-year run on ABC this Friday, ending an era for both the show’s cast and creators and the Asian American families who saw themselves reflected on primetime for the first time.
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