It is that time of semester again. All my assignments except for one are due within the next two weeks. My past three days have been completely packed. I’ve been busy and I will be busy for a little while longer. That’s why I’ve been blogging less. Hopefully things will go back to normal around April 2nd.
Instead of another Weeklies, I’ve decided to just do a television show review today.
*Note, I’m about to say “Asians” a bunch of times. I know Asia is huge and there are a lot of asians who aren’t from or descended from south-east Asia. I never really say Asians are just from south-east Asia or look like it, but I don’t say otherwise for the rest of this review either, so I just thought I’d say it here. “Asian” is a really broad term for describing people.
Television – Fresh Off The Boat
The struggles of a 90s kid with asian immigrant parents whose family moves to Orlando to start a western restaurant. 30 mins, Comedy. (I just did my pitch for Scriptwriting for Mainstream Television yesterday. Can you tell?) According to Wiki, it’s ‘based on chef Eddie Huang’s memoir of the same name’ and stars Hudson Yang as Eddie, Randall Park and Constance Wu as his parents, and Eddie Huang narrating as himself.
This show didn’t really appeal to me in the ads, even though I remember (however vaguely) the 90s and my mom is from Vietnam. It looked kind of tacky, although it was good to see an asian-american family on TV for once. But then I watched it.
It was great! The first episode has a bit of a slow start, but it was enough to make me want to continue, and the episodes that followed got better and better. It was hilarious, and I found myself rooting for these flawed characters, each with their own set of difficulties. The show also doesn’t have an annoying studio audience. Bonus! (No offence to studio audiences–I just prefer to decide what’s funny for myself.)
Not to mention I think it’s the first television show about an asian-american family in twenty years? AND IT’S NOT RACIST! I mean, obviously, there are ethnicity jokes, but while they aren’t the best the show has to offer, they’re not insulting.
Wu’s character is absolutely amazing and she and Park are a perfect duo. Not to mention that the boys are excellent in their roles. Kudos to the casting director!
I have to say, Fresh Off The Boat, along with shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Grey’s Anatomy (in previous seasons), and even Elementary (even though I don’t really like that show) are breaking down barriers by casting Asian-Americans in leading roles. On a personal note, it’s given me some hope. Not too long ago, I didn’t think I could be an actress because I looked asian, but I don’t speak any asian languages. In movies and stuff, my options were to be the evil asian who speaks Mandarin or Cantonese and/or is super hot. If I were a guy, I could be the goofy janitor with a bad accent on a sitcom. If I wanted to play real roles, I’d have to learn Korean and move to Korea or something, which I just can’t do. So I kind of gave up on acting. But things are changing! Maybe someday I’ll audition for something and actually have a chance.
So even if Fresh Off The Boat isn’t your cup of tea, you can’t deny that it’s an important step in the right direction
Precarious Writer 