In Community (Season 3 premieres Sept. 22 on NBC), Alison Brie plays Annie, an less creepy Tracy Flick-like character who excels at everything. So what do you do to dethrone such an overachieving character? You cast an Asian American actress. Specifically, Irene Choi.
You may recognize Choi’s face from some shows such as Entourage, Greek, and Wilfred, but in Community she will give Annie a run for her money as an equally ambitious (if not more) student who will probably kill to be the best. Think of her as Sunshine Corazon to Rachel Berry on Glee — except more tolerable and funnier.
[Source: AOL]
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Falling Skies, which premiered on June 19th, is a science fiction drama about human beings are fighting to survive on Earth in a pretty classical alien invasion story, but what really caught my attention was the fact that they had entirely created a small version of a stereotypical American populace setting. On top of that, the Asian, portrayed by Peter Shinkoda, seems like he’s a supporting role consistently throughout the series which makes me happy to see more Asian faces in bigger hit series even if they aren’t leads.
Shopping With GASP!
On this week’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, Nicole Scherzinger “loosened up her buttons” as Jessica Glitter, Robin’s (Cobie Smulders) ex-BFF from her days as Robin Sparkles, her Canadian pop star alter-ego of the ’80s.
Drenched in hyper-overstyled, skank-friendly attire, the two were stars of Space Teens, a kids show where they fought crime from space via math (and with the help of Alan Thicke!).
The funniest part of the show was the fact that, even though it was a kid show, there were layers upon layers of pornographic innuendos including slow motion jiggly jumping, stroking of a joystick, a song about beavers and, of course, the aforementioned skank-friendly attire — and let’s not forget the fact that Scherzinger’s character played the keytar! It’s so good to know that our favorite Filipino Pussycat Doll’s musical skills are being put to good use. Video clip of beavers and, uhm, keytars, after the jump:
Character Baljeet Rai studying during summer vacation
One of my sons’ favorite shows is a Disney Channel cartoon called Phineas and Ferb. It’s about two stepbrothers who have adventures while looking for things to do on a summer day. Phineas and Ferb are excellent engineers and builders and create incredible machines and other constructions. As a continuing plot device, their older sister Candace tries to get them in trouble, and every episode she tries and fails to reveal their incredible handiwork to their mother. Phineas and Ferb have a pet platypus named Perry, who is really an undercover secret agent. An ongoing subplot is Perry’s struggle with the evil Doctor Doofenshmirtz. Their fights often destroy Phineas and Ferb’s work just as Candace is about to show that work to their mom.
But what does Phineas and Ferb have to do with Asian-Americans? Continue Reading »
I was channel surfing the other night when I came across a Chinese version of this McDonald’s commercial on the Bay Area’s local Chinese channel KTSF. I had wondered why a Korean American would be in a Chinese language commercial, but much to my delight, I was able to find the commercial in English. At first, I wasn’t too sure who that cute Chinese girl was (I just assumed she was Chinese since the commercial was in Chinese until I saw Michelle’s name). I’m surprised I haven’t seen or heard of this commercial yet. I hope to bump into Michelle at a local McDonald’s near Stanford University one of these days!
Yesterday, I attended the CW network upfront, which is a major annual event where the TV networks reveal their fall schedules. The CW was the last of the Big 5 networks to present and as you have probably heard by now, the network has two new shows for the fall: Hellcats, a college cheerleading drama reminiscent of Bring It On, and Nikita, a remake of the 1990 action thriller La Femme Nikita.
We saw previews for both and I was surprised at how action-packed Nikita was. The show was definitely no-holds-barred when it came to violence. It was like watching a female Jack Bauer. After the preview, lead star Maggie Q came onstage to greet the audience and talk a little about the show. She was the only actor to not read off the teleprompter, and she was funny, self-deprecating, and genuine. I think all of us in the audience fell a little in love with her, particularly after she said, “I don’t think any of you understand how good-looking it [the other CW stars] is backstage. It’s really intimidating. I had to push the A-cups up a little bit.”
If Maggie Q’s charm isn’t enough of a reason to check out Nikita (airing Thursdays this fall at 9PM), check out a sneak peek at the series above.
Before Harry Shum Jr. was poppin’ and lockin’ on the pop culture phenomenon known as Glee, he was — well — dancing. Before his stint as Mike Chang on the show, he appeared in iPod commercials as well as dance-centric movies like Stomp the Yard and the Step Up franchise (including the 3-D version out in August). He can also be seen ticking and floating in the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD). On top of all that, he will be going on tour starting May 16 with his fellow New Directions members.
He’s quite a busy guy.
Nonetheless, Shum’s role as the jock-turned-show choir member is part of a show that is a current staple for Tuesday night TV. I had the opportunity to talk to him in an early morning phone interview about stereotypical Asian American paths, his role as the “Other Asian,” and how he’d react if Christopher Walken guest starred on the show. Check the interview out, after the jump!
Continue Reading »
I don’t care what you say. Life is supremely unfair when the one week I’m out of the office, John Cho comes in for a special visit on Attack of the Show. I don’t know if this is the universe’s way of telling me that things between the two of us are just not meant to happen, or that our eventual meeting, courtship and marriage will be even better than ever when it FINALLY happens. Or maybe his handlers read this post and made sure I far away from him as possible.
I may be a little bitter now, but his on-air interview made up for it, where he gives away details about his character on FlashForward, news on the Star Trek sequel and the Harold & Kumar trilogy (3D!!!). Sadly, he makes no mention of me, not even in the behind-the-scenes interview after the cut. Continue Reading »
I am one of the millions of Americans who has seen each and every sorry episode of Jersey Shore. I was horrified at some of the antics of Snooki, The Situation and friends, yet I couldn’t tear my eyeballs away.
Now I’m reading about this ad on Craigslist from Tyrese Gibson’s production company looking for what could be a totally awesome…or truly abominable new reality series: an Asian-American version of Jersey Shore. Here’s what the ad says:
Looking for interesting, attractive, colorful Asian-Americans to cast in a reality show similar to JERSEY SHORE, REAL WORLD, THE HILLS, etc. We need attractive Asian-Americans with lively, strong, and unique personalities between the ages of 18 to 30 with equally interesting life stories and perspectives to share, especially individuals who know about and/or experienced the Koreatown life. If you are not Asian but are obsessed with Asian culture or people in some way, email us and please explain.
Three things came to mind when I read this ad.
- I’m not sure what to make of the fact that they welcome non-Asians who are “obsessed with Asian culture or people in some way.” (The f word is right on the tip of my tongue.)
- Why does the ad ask for Asian Americans, and yet they emphasize “Koreatown life”? Then again, Jersey Shore sought to cast guidos, but they ended up with a couple of non-Italians, like JWoww.
- Reality TV often exploits and stereotypes its contestants, so I have my reservations about how “Koreatown life” would be portrayed.
Regardless of how you feel about this, it’s best to keep in mind that this potential show is a long, long way from becoming a TV series. A long way. It might not even happen. I mean, just think about it. An all Asian American cast on TV? Yeah, right!
Of course, three days after I blog about the lack of Asians in lead roles on TV, a friend sent me a recent article about Maggie Q being in talks to star as the female assassin lead in the CW’s remake of La Femme Nikita. Maggie Q, a Hawaiian-born actress (whose mother is Vietnamese), is known for her roles in Mission: Impossible III and Live Free or Die Hard. If cast in the CW’s take on Nikita, she would “mark the highest-profile series role for an Asian actress on a broadcast drama series and the highest-profile CW minority casting in the network’s four-year history.” Pretty swank!
It’s TV pilot season, which means the networks are loading up on new projects they’d like to pursue in hopes of finding the next hit series. Since I work in TV research, I hear pilot news on a regular basis. Every day, I hear about this actor or that actor signing on to star in this new show or that one.
Guess what? Not a single lead actor is Asian or Asian American.* Yes, I am elated that Daniel Dae Kim has found life after Lost, but he’s technically in a supporting role to Alex O’Loughlin. And there aren’t many other Asian Americans in the dozens of pilot projects currently in development: a minor role here, a minor role there. It’s the same as always.
The Hollywood Reporter recently came out with an article discussing the expansion of minorities in lead roles in TV pilots. Forest Whitaker, an African American man, is heading the Criminal Minds spinoff on CBS. Biracial actors Gugu Mbatha-Raw (South African/English) and Boris Kodjoe (German/Ghanaian) are leading NBC’s new JJ Abrams drama, Undercovers. Afro-Cuban Laz Alonso is headlining Fox’s new project, Breakout Kings. According to THR, casting for the leads in Undercovers “was done color-blind, with producers looking for the actors who best fit the characters and had the best chemistry … [E]arly breakdowns had Michael Keaton and Kiefer Sutherland as prototypes for the role on the Criminal Minds spinoff that was offered to Whitaker.”
I applaud the producers of Undercovers for being able to look beyond race, so they could cast purely based on chemistry and how the actors fit into the roles. (Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Mbatha-Raw and Kodjoe are both gorgeous.) I’m happy for all these actors; since I am not familiar with most of them or their work, it’ll be a pleasure to see some fresh talent on the small screen next season.
I just wish that Asian American actors could take part in what looks like a breakout year not just for new actors, but actors of color.
* Is Iranian considered Asian? ABC ordered a pilot called Funny in Farsi, based on the memoir by Iranian American Firoozeh Dumas. Iran is geographically in Asia but Persians are racially Caucasian. I’ll leave this up to you guys to figure out.
(Image Credit: ABC)
Here’s a SuperBowl commercial that annoyed me, courtesy of Doritos. In this ad, some guys in a gym take Doritos from samurai– and suffer the consequences!!!111!!1 OMGLOLWTFBBQ! This ad was popular enough that it ranked in the Top 20 of the USA Today Super Bowl Ads Meter. (This was one of 4 consumer-created ads which aired during the big game.)
I don’t care that the Doritos Samurai is a white guy– in fact, I think it might be kind of racist if it was an Asian guy. This ad annoyed me because it used various martial arts in combination with each other– mixing up of the martial arts– not to be confused with intentionally featuring “mixed martial arts” (MMA).
Maybe I’ve just seen too many depictions of various martial arts being confused for each other– I’m talking about you Karate Kid 2010 and The Foot Fist Way– that my first reaction to the commercial was “Why is the Doritos Samurai throwing Doritos shurikens and swinging a Doritos nunchaku?” I mean, would it be so hard to make the guy swing a Doritos katana? Maybe shoot the guy with a Doritos yumi?
Then again, we are talking about a guy wearing a samurai outfit made out of Doritos, so who cares about accuracy?
On a side note, his outfit does look quite cheesy, crunchy, and delicious. Too bad it probably chafes. (Ow.)
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