Image Credit: ABC
My family doesn’t watch much network TV, but that may soon be changing with the premier of ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat. I’ve waited 20 years to see a show that even vaguely resembles my own on the screen. And now, the sitcom based on celebrity chef and TV personality Eddie Huang’s memoir Fresh Off the Boat features a Taiwanese immigrant family… named the Huangs… in prime time.
Opening with a riff from Notorious B.I.G.’s Big Poppa — instead of say, chop-schticky chimes — it’s apparent from the get-go that Fresh Off the Boat is going to portray an image of an Asian family that’s going to go against a lot of preconceived notions. The show centers around the experiences of the 11-year-old Eddie in the 1990s. In the pilot episode, which airs Wednesday, February 4 at 8:30 p.m., the Huang family has just moved to Orlando, Florida from Washington D.C. Chinatown. Along with Eddie, the ornery oldest son obsessed with Shaquille O’Neill and rap music, there’s Louis, the entrepreneurial dad who’s just opened a wild west themed steakhouse; Jessica, the skeptical and smart-talking mom; plus Eddie’s two younger brothers and his Chinese grandma.
There’s a lot riding on this season of Fresh Off the Boat, as it’s been fodder for discussion for months on the Asian American Internets. The last time there was a network (or really, ANY) TV show all about an Asian family, Bill Clinton was in his first term and Margaret Cho was starring in the one-season sitcom All-American Girl. And even with many Asian Americans on the team — including producer Melvin Mar and lead writer Nanatchka Khan — Eddie Huang still struggled with the network team to find the sweet spot between his brand of edgy, ethnic voice and the middle American kind of humor popular with network audiences.
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Thanks for info. I believe you meant “Wednesday” Feb 4 (instead of “Tuesday” though.
I wasn’t interested when I saw the trailers but recently changed my mind and watched the first episode last night. It was pretty funny and sad. Being that it was taking place on the mainland, instead of my childhood home of Hawai’i, it reminded me that in the 90’s, being an immigrant was tough. Growing up in a multiracial state, our Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Samoan & Fijian immigrant classmates were still ostracized, but not as bad because everyone looked like them. It will be interesting to see how things pan out for Eddie.