Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.
What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.
In this episode, we continue our celebration of Fresh Off the Boat's 10th anniversary and welcome writer Sanjay Shah (Everybody Still Hates Chris, Dream Productions, Central Park) and director Jude Weng (Finding Ohana, The Good Place, Only Murders in the Building) -- key creatives involved in the making of the groundbreaking series. They look back at the impact of the show on their careers, some of the challenges and critiques they faces during production, and the importance of storytelling from an Asian American perspective. Also: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of making Fresh Off the Boat.
And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.
Police Asked People To Call Out Protesters. They Got Flooded With K-Pop Instead.
On Sunday, the Dallas Police Department asked people to send in "video of illegal activity" from the Black Lives Matter protests in the city through the iWatch Dallas app, where people can submit photo, video, or text tips about possible crimes. Instead, it received a flood of pictures and videos of K-pop artists. In response to the tweeted request from Dallas Police, hundreds of K-pop fans replied with photos and videos of their favorite artists. Many people also claimed to have submitted videos of the police harming protesters, as well as fan edits of K-pop artists, to the iWatch Dallas app. Lesson: do not fuck with K-pop fans.
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Officer Who Stood by as George Floyd Died Highlights Complex Asian American, Black Relations
The image of then-Minneapolis police Officer Tou Thao, a Hmong American, standing with his back turned as a white officer knelt on George Floyd's neck has ignited a discussion about how to approach the topic of anti-blackness in the Asian American community. Thao, who has a history of being involved in use-of-force incidents, is being described by activists as a symbol of Asian American complicity in anti-blackness following the death of Floyd, a black man who begged for his life while then-Officer Derek Chauvin dug his knee into his neck for more than eight minutes.
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San Jose Officer Benched After Viral Protest Comments
The San Jose Police Department was doing damage control after one of its officers trended nationally on social media for aggressive comments toward demonstrators protesting the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis, shouting "Let's get this motherf—er" and "Shut up, bitch as he manned downtown skirmish lines. The officer, confirmed to be six-year SJPD veteran Jared Yuen, was recorded in multiple instances late Friday afternoon and drew immediate and wide rebukes from thousands of people who watched the video and called for Yuen's firing. As of Monday, authorities confirmed that Yuen has been temporarily taken off street duty and will not be staffing any more demonstrations.
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Fresh Off the Boat & Kim's Convenience Live Table Read
If you missed it, here's video of the casts of Fresh Off the Boat and Kim's Convenience doing a live table read of their respective shows' pilot episodes. Presented by Seed & Spark, the event was a fundraiser benefiting East West Players, Visual Communications, the Reel Asian International Film Festival.
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Casting Call: Growing Up Asian
An Emmy Award winning production company is looking for Asian American families to cast in a new reality series for a premium streaming network. Based on the casting call, it looks like they're looking for super driven Asian American parents who push their kids hard to achieve. Sounds like Tiger Mom: The Series! I don't know... could be a trap. I'll let you decide. Apply here.
And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.
What We Know About the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis
"I can't breathe." George Floyd died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer's knee. By now, you've seen or heard about the video of the incident. Let's not pretend that an Asian American officer wasn't one of the cops who stood watch while Floyd was murdered.
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Kumail Nanjiani, Lulu Wang, Hasan Minhaj, More Get Candid About Success, Failure - and Abs - in Hollywood
In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Variety gathered prominent AAPI creatives Kumail Nanjiani, Hasan Minhaj, Jon M. Chu, Ally Maki and Lulu Wang for a lively discussion about what it means to be successful in the entertainment industry, how their parents and family regard their careers, who their industry role models were as they came up and what what being successful means for AAPIs in the industry going forward.
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Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You is Being Adapted for TV
Annapurna Television has won the rights to adapt Everything I Never Told You, the bestselling debut novel from Celeste Ng, as a television limited series. The book explores the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle to understand each other over a lifetime. Set in a small town in 1970s Ohio, protagonist Lydia is the adored but put-upon child of Marilyn and James Lee. When her body is found in a local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, sending them into chaos.
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I Will Make You Mine
The movie I Will Make You Mine, written/directed/produced by and starring Lynn Chen, is now available on DVD and VOD. The semi-sequel to Surrogate Valentine and Daylight Savings, the indie feature centers on three women (Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani, Yea-Ming Chen) who wrestle with life's difficulties while confronting their past relationships with the same man (Goh Nakamura). It's a bittersweet story of growing up while continuing to reach for the familiar, all set to the real-life soundtrack of Goh Nakamura and Yea-Ming Chen.
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Fresh Off the Boat & Kim's Convenience Live Table Reads
This is going to be fun. Fresh Off the Boat and Kim's Convenience were breakthroughs for Asians on prime time television. Now, the casts of both shows are uniting for one night only -- to read their historic pilot episodes live, to raise support for Asian American / Asian Canadian arts during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The live stream is happening Saturday, May 30, 8pm PT / 11pm PT, on Seed and Spark.
Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.
What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.
On this episode, we check in to catch up and discuss The Good, The Bad and The WTF of recent weeks, including Parasite's historic night at the Oscars, the bittersweet end of Fresh Off The Boat, and Trump's truly terrible take on movies.
Jon Prasida, Shannon Dang & Eddie Liu To Co-Star in 'Kung Fu' Reboot
Jon Prasida, Shannon Dang and Eddie Liu have been cast as series regulars in the CW pilot Kung Fu, a reimagining with a female lead of the 1970s David Carradine-starring TV series. Prasida will play Ryan Chen, a quick-witted medical student who has to deal with the sudden return of his estranged older sister, Nicky. Dang will portray Althea Chen, Nicky’s larger-than-life older sister who’s newly engaged and on her way to planning her dream Chinese wedding. Liu will play Henry Chu, a martial arts instructor and Chinese art history buff who has instant chemistry with Nicky.
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H.E.R. Talks Black Music Icons & Cooks Authentic Filipino Dishes
Rising R&B star H.E.R. sits down for an in-depth interview to talk about her music, her career, and her Bay Area upbringing in a Black and Filipino household -- all while enjoying Filipino food at Kabayan Authentic in Queens.
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Los Angeles Roar Story Slam 2020
KoreanAmericanStory.org's ROAR Story Slam is a live storytelling competition where 6 finalists perform on stage presenting their unique, creative, and authentic Korean American story. Each finalist has six minutes to tell their stories, without the use of scripts nor props. It's happening Friday, February 28 at Dynasty Typewriter. I have the privilege of being one of the evening's judges. Hope to see you there!
'Fresh Off the Boat' leaving indelible mark on TV landscape
Time to say goodbye to the Huangs. After six seasons, Fresh Off The Boat ends its trailblazing television run on Friday. "Without question, the sitcom, centered on a Taiwanese-Chinese American family in the 1990s living in predominantly white Orlando, Florida -- will be immortalized in the canon of Asian-American representation."
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Senator Mazie Hirono's Remarks on 2020 Day of Remembrance
Thursday marked the annual Day of Remembrance, commemorating the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Remarks by U.S. Senator Maizie Hirono were supposed to be shown during the 2020 Los Angeles Day of Remembrance program, held at the Japanese American National Museum. However, the museum's Board of Trustees apparently deemed her remarks inappropriate, and the video was not shown during the event. So here's the video.
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Andrew Yang joins CNN as a political commentator
If you couldn't get enough of Andrew Yang during his run for president, and wondering where you can get your Yang fix now that's dropped out of the race, look no further than CNN. The former Democratic presidential candidate is joining CNN as a political commentator, the network announced Wednesday.
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A taxi driver saved an elderly woman from being scammed out of $25,000
Authorities in Roseville, California are praising a cab driver who saved a 92-year-old woman from giving a scammer $25,000. Rajbir Singh knew something sounded fishy when his elderly passenger said she needed a ride to the bank to withdraw $25,000, allegedly to settle a debt with the IRS. Singh pleaded with the woman to reconsider, saying he thought this could be a scam. He even detoured to a police station, where an officer convinced her not to withdraw her money. Shout out to a good citizen.
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Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards
If you can't get enough of Parasite, check out the historic, Oscar-winning film as a graphic novel drawn by director Bong Joon Ho himself. In hundreds of mesmerizing illustrations, Parasite: A Graphic Novel in Storyboards is a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the making of the film. As part of his unique process, Bong storyboarded each shot of Parasite prior to the filming of every scene. Accompanied by the film's dialog, the storyboards he drew capture the story in its entirety. The book includes a foreword by the director and early concept drawings and photos from the set.
"It's Clear From the Numbers We're Not Going to Win This Campaign"
Andrew Yang is dropping out of the presidential race. The first Asian American man to run for president as a Democrat, Yang is an entrepreneur who promoted a universal basic income and warned of the perils of automation. After running a long-shot campaign that built unprecedented support and persisted longer than anyone expected, he ended his long-shot bid for president on Tuesday night. "I am the math guy, and it's clear from the numbers we're not going to win this campaign," he announced to supporters in New Hampshire. "So tonight I'm announcing that I am suspending my campaign." You gotta hand it to him for hanging in there as long as he did, and getting so many Asian Americans excited about a candidate like never before.
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Parasite Cookies
Because we're still quite excited Parasite's historic Best Picture win at the Oscars... Cookies! By Judy Kim.
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'Parasite' Won, but Asian-Americans Are Still Losing Parasite's extraordinary Oscar victory is a triumph for South Korean cinema and a huge boost for the Academy's abysmal track record with diversity, but in the long view, Walter Chaw points out that this historic moment still isn't much of a win for Asian American representation.
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Late Night Writer Karen Chee on Parasite's Oscar Wins
Then again, let us Koreans bask in the collective glory and pride of this moment. Check out Late Night writer Karen Chee -- rocking a Bong Joon Ho t-shirt! -- celebrating Parasite's Oscar sweep, her Korean heritage, and her hot Korean grandpa.
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Fresh Off The Boat Series Finale: February 21
It's the end of an era. Time to say goodbye to the Huang family. Mark your calendars, set your DVRs. Fresh Off the Boat will air its special one-hour series finale February 21 on ABC.
The hour-long series finale is set to air on February 21.
It's official: Fresh Off The Boat will end this season. After six seasons, the ABC comedy -- the longest-running sitcom about an Asian American family in broadcast television history -- is coming to close next year.
The network reportedly informed Fresh Off The Boat's cast and crew this week that it would not be ordering further episodes, and the current season's 14th and 15th episodes would mark the end of the show's run.
'Magic Motor Inn' will center on an Indian American family.
Plans for a Fresh Off the Boat spinoff, centering on an Indian American family, are underway. The series, tentatively titled Magic Motor Inn, will likely be led by Bollywood star Preity Zinta and actor/comedian Vir Das, who are set to guest star on an upcoming episode of Fresh Off the Boat.
Written by Fresh Off the Boat writer-producer Rachna Fruchbom, the episode centers around an Indian family whose daughter attends school with Eddie. Das and Zinta will star as the girl's parents. The episode would reportedly serve as the basis for the proposed spinoff, which would go through the regular pilot process.
The Asian American family comedy will return to ABC for a historic sixth season.
The Huangs will be back! Season 6! ABC has renewed Fresh Off The Boat for the 2019-20 season.
Inspired by the best-selling memoir of food personality and provocateur Eddie Huang, the family comedy follows the adventures of the Huangs, a Taiwanese American family getting their immigrant hustle on in 1990s suburban Orlando, in pursuit of the American dream.
The single-camera comedy, executive produced by Nahnatchka Khan and Melvin Mar, stars Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, Ian Chen, Lucile Soong, Chelsea Crisp and Ray Wise.
'Fresh Off The Boat' celebrates its landmark 100th episode.
My, how far we've come. Tonight marks the landmark 100th episode of ABC's Fresh Off The Boat, starring your favorite prime time network sitcom family. You never thought the Huangs would take it this far.
Now in its groundbreaking fifth season, Fresh Off The Boat follows the continuing misadventures of the Huangs -- Jessica and Louis, their sons Eddie, Emery and Evan, and Grandma -- as they pursue the American dream in 1990s suburban Orlando. The series, based on the memoir by Eddie Huang, stars Constance Wu, Randall Park, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, Ian Chen, Lucille Soong, Chelsey Crisp and Ray Wise.
Need to catch up? Here's a ridiculously fast recap of every single episode that got us here:
An Asian (North) American TV family cross-over, sort of.
Two of your favorite Asian TV families are about to cross over, sort of.
Simu Liu, who stars on the hit Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience, will step into another Asian (North) American family comedy when he guest stars on an upcoming episode of ABC's Fresh Off The Boat.
Liu will play a character named "Willie." The role has something to do with noodles.
Season five premieres October 5 as part of ABC's re-launched "TGIF" lineup.
The Huang family is back! Fresh Off The Boat returns for its landmark fifth season on October 5, premiering in its new Friday night time slot, holding down the re-launch of ABC's iconic "TGIF" programming block.
And it appears they're fully embracing their Friday night responsibilities, invoking one of TGIF's flagship legacy shows, Full House, for a funny bit in this week's premiere. In this scene, Louis imagines his family by way of a beloved 1990s family sitcom's opening credits -- complete with the Full House theme song.
"The cast is top notch. The guy who plays the father is very handsome."
Let's get real, fellow Fresh Off The Boat fans: the show is at risk of being canceled.
Creatively, Fresh Off The Boat is still one of the joys of prime time television. But after wrapping its unprecedented fourth season last month to middle-of-the-road ratings, the ABC comedy is firmly on "the bubble." Its future is uncertain, and renewal is not guaranteed. So if you want to see another season of your favorite Asian American family comedy, this is the time to raise your voice and let the network know what's up.
Who better to lead the charge than the show's star? In this video for USA Today's "Save Our Shows 2018" feature, Randall Park, who plays patriarch Louis Huang, makes an impassioned plea, literally getting on his knees and begging ABC to renew his show. He also offers some solid reasons to bring the show back.
"The cast is top notch," Park explains. "The guy who plays the father is very handsome. It also happens to be, in my opinion, the best show on network television. Or at least the best show about an Asian American family on network television. Out of all those shows -- there's so many of them -- and ours is definitely the best."
Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.
What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. Each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.
This episode, we welcome our good friend, actor Randall Park, aka "Asian Jim." He reflects on the fourth(!) season of Fresh Off The Boat, shares almost nothing about his role as Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man & The Wasp, and considers the Good, the Bad and the WTF of being "Asian Famous."
Iconic 'Star Trek' actor will play "a charming ESL instructor."
Sooner or later, it had to happen, right? Sulu, meet the Huangs. Legendary Star Trek actor George Takei will guest star on an upcoming fourth season episode of the ABC comedy Fresh Off The Boat.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the iconic actor and activist will play Bernard, "a charming ESL instructor for whom Grandma Huang (Lucille Soong) has a sweet spot." Love it. Ah, Uncle George, always the charmer.
Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.
What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. Each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.
This week, we recorded with a live studio audience at the offices of TBWA/Chiat/Day and welcomed young actors Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler and Ian Chen, who play brothers Eddie, Emery and Evan on ABC's Fresh Off The Boat. Yeah, we called in that favor.
Award-winning creator talks about making comic books for Panda Express and Fresh Off The Boat.
If there's a comic book creator who's at the center of Asian American pop culture, it's Gene Luen Yang.
He recently partnered with Panda Express for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month to revisit his brilliant re-imagining of the obscure Golden Age superhero The Green Turtle, with artist Sonny Liew, in Shadow Hero Comics #1 (available with the purchase of a kid's meal).
Gene also penned the Fresh Off The Boat tie-in comic book, with artist Jorge Corona, featured on this week's episode of the popular ABC sitcom, available in comic shops May 6 as part of "Free Comic Book Day."
I recently caught up with Gene, who's on the road for his numerous school visits and speaking engagements. He talked about his collaborations with Panda Express and Fresh Off The Boat, possible future adventures for The Green Turtle, and his efforts to get people to read outside their comfort zones.
The City of Los Angeles declares May 2 "Fresh Off the Boat Day" in honor of the hit ABC sitcom.
Los Angeles loves Fresh Off The Boat. May 2 has been officially declared "Fresh Off The Boat Day" in Los Angeles, as part of the city's celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
To kick off Heritage Month and "celebrate the rich diversity, identity, and cultures of the Asian Pacific American community," the City of Los Angeles declared May 2 "Fresh Off the Boat Day" in honor of the hit ABC sitcom.
The declaration ceremony took place Tuesday morning at Los Angeles City Hall, with remarks by Mayor Eric Garcetti, council member David Ryu, council President Herb Wesson Jr. Fresh Off The Boat star Randall Park and the show's executive producers, Nahnatchka Khan and Melvin Mar.
The celebration ended with a luncheon sponsored by Panda Express, of course.
Episode 309: "The Best of Orlando" airs January 17; Episode 312: "Clean Slate" airs January 18.
ABC's hit Asian American family sitcom Fresh Off The Boat airs Tuesday nights at 9:00pm. The comedy, inspired by the memoir of chef Eddie Huang, tells the story of the Huang family, a Taiwanese American family getting their immigrant hustle on in 1990s suburban Orlando, in pursuit of the American dream. Previous episodes are available for viewing on the ABC website
Fresh Off The Boat stars Randall Park as Louis, Constance Wu as Jessica, Hudson Yang as Eddie, Forrest Wheeler as Emery, Ian Chen as Evan, Lucille Soong as Grandma Huang Chelsey Crisp as Honey and Ray Wise as Marvin. This week, we get two nights of brand new episodes. In "The Best of Orlando" (1/17), Louis is named "Small Businessman of the Year." In "Clean Slate" (1/18), the Huangs celebrate another Chinese New Year.
Here's a preview of this week's double dose of Fresh Off The Boat:
