Who wasn’t excited when news of Fresh off the Boat first came to light? After all, it had been 20 years since we last saw an Asian American family on television. But obviously, one Asian American family can’t possibly represent all of us. Thankfully, ABC seems to agree with us and (hopefully) the Huangs were just the beginning.
The next Asian American family to join primetime network television will be found in ABC’s Dr. Ken, starring and executive produced by Ken Jeong.
The show is inspired by Jeong’s actual experiences back when he was a real-life doctor and will focus on Jeong’s character unsuccessfully trying to juggle a career, a marriage and kids.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you ought to forget about the Huangs! We all held our breath at the end of the first season, but it appears we can all let out a sigh of relief. ABC has officially renewed Fresh off the Boat for a second season.
And that’s not all. ABC has claimed its commitment to diversity and thankfully, they seem to be following through with it. In addition to Fresh off the Boat, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has also been renewed for another season.
“Truthfully, the characters May and Skye weren’t designed to be Asian American,” co-creator and co-showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon explained when asked about the Asian characters. “They were designed to be strong, complex, kickass women, and Ming-Na Wen and Chloe Bennett were just the best actresses for the part. I’d like to think that we’re just creating characters that Asian Americans have always been capable of playing.”
And speaking of strong, kickass women, ABC has also renewed the medieval musical comedy Galavant for another season. The lead actress Karen David, who is of Indian and Chinese descent, admits that she came into the audition thinking she wouldn’t get the part.
“I loved Galavant when my agents sent me the script. Then my heart stopped when I read the bit where [Princess Isabella] is described as Jennifer Lawrence,” David admitted to us late last year. “So I went into this casting process feeling like the underdog and just having fun with it.”
Of course, it worked. Filmmaker Dan Fogelman instantly fell in love with her and knew audiences would too.
Feature image courtesy of Angry Asian Man.
