When Harry Met Sally... starring Asian Americans!

Film Independent presents a live read of the classic romantic comedy, directed by Randall Park.


Steven Yeun and Maya Erskine (Photo: Getty Images/Film Independent)
The origins of the Netflix romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe, starring Randall Park and Ali Wong, can be directly and indirectly traced to When Harry Met Sally... Park, who also co-wrote and produced Always Be My Maybe, has cited the 1989 Billy Crystal/Meg Ryan rom-com classic as his favorite film.

More directly, in a 2016 New Yorker profile of Wong, the Baby Cobra comedian mentioned that she and Park had always wanted to make a romantic comedy together -- "our version of When Harry Met Sally..." Overhwelming fan reaction to that single line, near the end of a 4000+ word piece, is apparently what got the wheels turning to get Always Be My Maybe written, produced, and dropped into your Netflix queue.

The influence of When Harry Met Sally can be seen all over the blueprints of Always Be My Maybe and dozens of other films in the genre -- a genre that, let's face it, has been traditionally very very white. But what if When Harry Met Sally... had actually starred Asians? What if Harry and Sally, rom-com icons, had been played by Asian American actors? On Sunday, we got a glimpse of what that might look like, and it was amazing.

All the Asians on TV: Fall 2017 Series Premieres

Here are the new scripted shows featuring actors of Asian descent. We counted.



These are new shows. The new fall television season is well underway, and as usual, we've been keeping an eye on the new Asian faces on the tube. Because we like to keep track of such things. But with cable and streaming services, as well as new shows now premiering year-round, the old model of a new fall "season" as a programming benchmark is not quite what it used to be. Nevertheless, after scouring the slate of new shows, here's a general rundown of actors of Asian descent who are series regulars (not technically guest starring or recurring) on new scripted prime time network, cable and streaming shows premiering this fall.

We might have missed a few, but here you go. These are new shows.