Margaret Cho, who blogged earlier this week about how the media either patronize Asian-Americans or else render them invisible, is now in a position to do something about the situation. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the comedian is developing a Fox sitcom about her Korean-American family, a show in which she’d play a character inspired by her own mother (a character familiar to fans of Cho’s stand-up work).
Of course, Cho has been here before, with her 1994-95 family sitcom All-American Girl. Cho managed to turn her painful experience with that show, which she said ABC was constantly tweaking to make it more stereotypical, into comedy fodder for her concert film I’m the One That I Want. Is TV enlightened enough 11 years later to let Cho present her family the way she wants to, or is she going to be licking her wounds from this experience in a future concert film?
For someone so vocal about losing creative control last time around, I doubt Margaret’s going to let that happen again. I’d just be more worried about expanding her cult fanbase enough to garner good enough ratings. Her brand of comedy just isn’t quite for everyone. I’ll definitely be looking forward to it and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed other people will be to.
Cho said in I’m the One that I Want that All American Girl got a big audience for her premiere, so I suspect there’s an audience that is looking for Asian stories on TV. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if someone like Cho gets a comedy good enough to keep the audience that checks it out. I think only the most dedicated fans watched All American Girl to the bitter end.
More importantly, can we get Amy Hill to be in this show, too? That is one woefully underused funny woman.
I think this is AWESOME! I doubt that this time around she is going to let anyone push her around and hopefully Fox knows what it’s getting into. Also, I doubt they’d want her telling bad stories about thme for years to come. Best of luck to her – hopefully it will be funny – if so, I know I’ll be watching.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to hear this news!! Can’t wait!
Will Cho’s considerable gay fanbase follow along with a program where she essentially plays her own mother?
Just thinking out loud.
Loved All-American Girl! I hope it’s at least that funny! Never could figure out why they dumped it…
Love Margaret Cho and would love to see more of her. But, she is at her funniest when she is crass and nasty. I’m not sure if she can keep it funny and keep it clean for network television.
Nighttime Blood Pressure Linked to Heart Failure
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