Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
U.S.A.
June 6, 2016
“Fresh Off the Boat” team reflects on breakthrough sitcom
FRESH OFF THE BOAT. Ken Jeong (left)
guest starred in the season finale of “Fresh Off the
Boat” with (from left) Lucille Soong, Forrest Wheeler,
Ian Chen, Hudson Yang, Randall Park, and Constance
Wu. “Fresh Off the Boat” is the first network primetime
comedy about an Asian-American family since Marga-
ret Cho’s “All-American Girl” in 1994. Jeong, the star
of “Dr. Ken,” gladly acknowledges that the success
of “Fresh Off the Boat” paved the way for his series.
(Michael Ansell/ABC)
By Lynn Elber
AP Television Writer
OS ANGELES — Television is
mostly entertaining, sometimes
enlightening, and, occasionally,
can make a difference.
The sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat” hits all
the marks. Because of it, along with ABC
siblings “black-ish” and “Dr. Ken” (and, at
CW, “Jane the Virgin”), network tele-
vision’s American family photo album is
starting to look authentic.
The contribution of “Fresh Off the Boat”
is especially notable. It’s the first network
prime-time comedy about an Asian-
American family since Margaret Cho’s
“All-American Girl” in 1994, which lasted
a season. “Dr. Ken” star Ken Jeong
(“Community,” The Hangover) gladly
acknowledges that the success of “Fresh
Off the Boat” paved the way for his series.
“Even if I wasn’t a part of any of it, never
in a million years would I have thought
any of this would happen,” said Jeong, who
guest starred in the season finale of “Fresh
Off the Boat.” “It really is beyond
satisfying” to see two shows on the air and
with characters of different Asian origins,
he said.
“Fresh Off the Boat” follows a Taiwan-
ese-American family’s mostly eager
plunge into the melting pot of the 1990s.
On the flip side, “black-ish” is about a
contemporary African-American family’s
efforts to hold on to its cultural identity.
“Dr. Ken,” about a Korean-American
husband and father, gives the formulaic
domestic sitcom a cheerful ethnic tweak.
Without losing sight of their primary
job, to be funny, the ABC shows make the
case that there is — cynics and malcon-
tents aside — a suburban-lawn-sized
patch of common ground to be found. The
shows’ ratings are proof that viewers are
responding, with both “Fresh Off the Boat”
and “black-ish” secure on ABC’s schedule
and “Dr. Ken” returning for its second
L
year.
As “Fresh Off the Boat” wrapped taping
for the season, stars Randall Park and
Constance Wu, who star as parents Louis
and Jessica Huang, took a set break to
reflect on its impact. Executive producer
Nahnatchka Khan and Chelsey Crisp, who
plays neighbor Honey, weighed in later by
phone.
Nahnatchka Khan
The writer-producer marvels at tele-
vision’s sudden burst of inclusiveness,
including Aziz Ansari in “Master of None”
and Priyanka Chopra in “Quantico.”
“The difference in the past year has been
enormous. The fact we were right in the
middle of this kind of change is incredible,
and we’re really grateful for it,” Khan said.
“The more, the merrier. Let’s just keep
going.”
Randall Park
“I get stopped on the street all the time,
with people telling me how much the show
means to them and that they watch it with
their families,” he said. And it’s not just
Asian Americans, but “everyone,” Park
said.
“It’s easy for us to buy into the myths out
there that people don’t want to watch a
family that’s different from them on TV,
that it’s going to be too foreign for people,”
he said.
“Fresh Off the Boat” is disproving that.
But Park recalled his own early concerns
about how his character would be por-
trayed.
“Even though in the grand scheme of
sitcom history there’s a tradition of the
goofy dad, to me it was a point of concern
because there weren’t a lot of Asian sitcom
dads to balance that out, or even Asian
characters in general,” he said. “He is a
character, for sure, but the writers have
done such a great job of humanizing him. ...
For all the silliness to this character,
there’s a loving side, a serious side.”
Louis has shown “what a father could be,
an immigrant could be — or just a man
could be,” Park said.
Constance Wu
Wu also felt the weight of high
expectations for the series.
“Some people wanted it to tackle race
issues, and there’s some people who think
the more progressive thing is to not look at
race issues and just have them (the family)
tackle normal issues such as puberty or
cooking,” she said.
But the writers have managed to do
both.
“There were episodes about raceless
things and ones that really did focus on the
uniqueness of our story and navigating
through an Asian-American lens,” Wu
said. “You can’t please everyone, but the
writers have been smart to go on both sides
of the issue.”
Viewers have told her, through a flurry
of tweets and Facebook and Instagram
posts, that it’s “inspirational to have
Asian-American characters, and rather
than trying to hide their culture they
celebrate it and take ownership of the
story,” she said.
Chelsey Crisp
Playing Honey, the supporting white
character in a series dominated by Asian
Americans, is a role that Crisp welcomes.
“It feels pretty remarkable that we
finally got there, and it feels really special
to be a part of the show that did it,” she
said.
It also evoked a memory of why
television diversity matters.
“My best friend is Korean American, and
when we were growing up there was no one
that looked like him on TV. When I first
read the pilot, reading the family’s exper-
ience of going to Orlando and being the
only Asian-American family, it reminded
me so much of my childhood friend,
Richard,” Crisp said.
Lynn Elber is a national television
columnist for The Associated Press.
564 soon to be newest area code for western Washington
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington
state is getting a new area code next year.
The Utilities and Transportation Com-
mission approved a plan to implement 564
as the newest area code in western
Washington. The code will be available in
areas currently covered under area codes
360, 206, 253, and 425 as those numbers
run out. The new area code will first be
distributed to new numbers in the 360
area code in the fall of 2017.
The commission also approved manda-
tory 10-digit dialing for all western
Washington area codes by late 2017.
A projection by the North American
Numbering Plan Administrator has the
360 area code being out of numbers by
early 2018.
Belly, The Weeknd cancel Kimmel show because of Trump
By Mesfin Fekadu
The Associated Press
EW YORK — Rapper Belly and
R&B
singer
The
Weeknd
cancelled their performance on
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” because Donald
Trump was set to appear on the episode.
The Oscar-nominated musicians were
slated to record their performance in Los
Angeles for the late-night ABC show. Belly
said he cancelled because he didn’t want to
share a stage with Trump and disagrees
with the presumptive Republican presi-
dential nominee’s views and beliefs.
“I feel like the way I was raised was to be
able to see through all the titles in this
world — from religion to race,” Belly said
in a statement. “I just didn’t want to feel
like I was a part of a celebration for some-
body who has beliefs [the] majority of us
don’t agree with.”
Trump has been criticized by some
political rivals and voters for his comments
on topics including women, refugees, im-
migrants, and Muslims, such as when he
said some Mexican immigrants in the U.S.
illegally are “rapists” and when he called
for a ban on Muslim immigration into the
United States. The Jimmy Kimmel show
had no comment, a representative said.
The Weeknd won two Grammy Awards
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earlier this year, including best urban
contemporary album for Beauty Behind
the Madness. Belly has co-written many of
The Weeknd’s hits, including “Earned It,”
‘‘The Hills,” ‘‘Into the Night,” and “Often.”
The Weeknd appears on Belly’s song
“Might Not,” which they were set to
perform on Kimmel’s show.
Belly, who is signed to Jay Z’s Roc
Nation management, recently released a
new mixtape, Another Day In Paradise.
“I’m here on a campaign of positivity and
love and to contribute what I can to music,”
Belly said. “I create songs people go to
sleep and wake up to, songs that they fall
in love to. For me, being Muslim and being
somebody that appreciates my access here
in America, I love the fact that I’m able to
be here. To play my part in this business is
a privilege and a beautiful thing. The fact
that I could lose that ability through the
actions of someone such as Donald Trump
isn’t right to me. At all.”
Belly shared an Oscar nomination for
best original song with The Weeknd for
“Earned It,” which appears on the Fifty
Shades of Grey soundtrack.
Belly and The Weekend are from
Canada. Belly also co-wrote Beyonce’s “6
Inch,” which features vocals from The
Weeknd and appears on her Lemonade
album.