TELEVISION - ABC's 'Fresh Off the Boat' TV Series

"Will ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ turn the tide for Asian Americans on TV?" PBS NewsHour 2/14/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The new ABC sitcom "Fresh Off the Boat" debuted to winning ratings and marked the first time in 20 years you could watch a network series centered on an Asian-American family.  But will the popular sitcom clear the path for more exposure of Asian Americans in pop culture?  NewsHour's Mori Rothman reports.

MORI ROTHMAN (NewsHour):  Like millions of Americans, Jeff Yang watched the recent premiere of “Fresh Off the Boat.”  Yang is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal online and has written about Asian-American issues and America’s changing demographics for decades.

JEFF YANG, Wall Street Journal:  Asian-Americans are disproportionately educated, which means that there’s a growing middle-class and upper-middle class, white-collar population of Asian-Americans, affluent with disposable income.  The kind of demographic that marketers historically have been seeking to reach.

MORI ROTHMAN:  According to the 2010 Census, which defines Asians as people originating from dozens of countries, including China, India and the Philippines, Asian Americans account for a small segment of the U.S. — just over 17 million people.  But a Nielsen report on the Asian-American consumer says Asians are the fastest growing group in the U.S., having grown 58 percent from 2000 to 2013.

That’s why Yang believes TV lineups are diversifying.  Networks made a splash last year by announcing 10 new shows this season with non-white characters or non-white show creators.  But Yang is paying special attention to one show, and not just because he studies demographics.  He’s watching for his son.

JEFF YANG:  I can’t even claim to be a dispassionate observer here, and nor would I want to.  You know, my son, of course, is the lead kid.  He plays 11-year-old Eddie Huang in “Fresh Off the Boat.”

EDDIE HUANG, FRESH OFF THE BOAT:  That’s me, your boy Eddie Huang, check it, 11-years-old…

JEFF YANG:  I could never have imagined that it would be my offspring, the next generation who would be at the very center of a moment that I’ve kind of looked forward to for all of my adult life.

SITCOMS - Creator Norman Lear's Book 'Even This I Get to Experience'

"Sitcom creator Norman Lear talks dangerous television, ‘Family’ inspirations" PBS NewsHour 10/15/2014

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  “In my 90-plus years, I have lived a multitude of lives,” so writes Norman Lear about a life that’s including bombing emissions over Europe in World War II, the founding of a leading political advocacy organization, and the consideration of some of the most seminal programs in television history, most famously “All in the Family.”

CARROLL O’CONNOR (actor):  What are you kicking about?  Ain’t you your wife always telling me that coloreds and whites ought to work together?

(LAUGHTER)

ROB REINER (actor):  Not to stop Puerto Ricans from moving next door!

(LAUGHTER)

JEFFREY BROWN:  It’s all captured in a new memoir, “Even This I Get to Experience.”

Norman Lear joins me now.

Welcome to you.

NORMAN LEAR, Author, “Even This I Get to Experience”:  Thank you.  I love being here.

JEFFREY BROWN:  You had been writing television from the ’50s on.  Were you dissatisfied with what television was doing?  Did you want to blow it up in some sense?

(LAUGHTER)

NORMAN LEAR:  No, actually, I was writing for live television.  And I said to myself, someday, soon as I can, I have got to do a situation comedy.

JEFFREY BROWN:  And when did you decide though that it had to be a different kind of situation comedy, something that was tackling something really not seen before?

NORMAN LEAR:  I don’t ever recall making such a decision.

I read about a British show called “Till Death Us Do Part” about a father and son not unlike Archie and Mike.  And I said, my God, that’s me and my dad.  I have got to write about this.