Fresh Off the Boat follows the dream.
ABC really, really wants you to sample its new family comedy Fresh Off the Boat.
The network is so eager that it’s airing the thing twice Wednesday. The pilot premieres at 7:30 p.m. following The Middle, and a second episode comes at 8:30 right after Modern Family.
Don’t get used to the Wednesday airings. Fresh Off the Boat will move to its regular 7 p.m. Tuesday slot Feb. 10.
With this new sitcom, ABC now offers a complete diversity smorgasbord. The Middle covers white, suburban America, and Modern Family has straight couples, married gays, an adopted Vietnamese girl and — and — voluptuous Colombia native Sofia Vergara.
ABC’s The Goldbergs features a suburban Jewish family in the 1980s, although being Jewish doesn’t play an overt role in the comedy. Black-ish follows an upper-middle-class black family where the dad is worried about a loss of cultural identity. It’s the top new comedy of the season.
Cristela, starring stand-up comedian Cristela Alonzo, follows the adventures of a Mexican-American law school graduate in Dallas, and now Fresh Off the Boat gives us Asian-American assimilation humor.
When asked about the sudden spurt of broadcast diversity, ABC Entertainment chief Paul Lee told Entertainment Weekly, “To be able to pull this off, you need not just stars on air, you need storytellers. You need the people telling the stories to truly reflect America as it is.”
Lee explained further, “Specificity is so key to great television and great storytelling. What really worked for us … was to find voices of people who are bringing in their own stories. Every one is relatable because it’s so specific. The truth is it’s as much about culture as it is about race.”
Telling his specific, relatable tale of culture and adaptation in the ’90s is restaurateur Eddie Huang. Fresh Off the Boat is loosely based on his best-selling 2013 autobiography of the same name. The series was created by Nahnatchka Khan (Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23), herself a child of immigrant parents from Iran.
Huang may be AsianAmerican, but his tale of a kid struggling to find his place in new surroundings is universal.
The series is set in 1995, when 11-year-old hip-hop loving Eddie (Hudson Yang) has just moved with his Taiwanese-born parents and two younger brothers from Chinatown in Washington to suburban Orlando, Fla.
Culture shock has hit with full force. To say that the Huangs stand out in lily-white Orlando is putting it mildly.
Eddie’s dad, Louis (Randall Park), has dragged the family to Florida to pursue his version of the American dream, opening Cattleman’s Ranch Steakhouse, a struggling Western-theme restaurant that everyone believes is a Golden Corral.
“No!” Louis exclaims. “Look, the stuffed bear is a different color!” And the cacti are planted in spittoons “for authenticity.”
Louis loves everything about America and believes in the natural goodness of people. Nonetheless, he believes that the best way to entice customers is to hire a white host (Paul Scheer) to greet them and make them feel comfortable. The results are hilarious.
Eddie’s mom, Jessica (Constance Wu), has agreed to the move to support Louis, but she finds Orlando an alien place. First there are the blond, Stepford-esque, rollerblading, stay-at-home neighborhood moms. Then there are the sprawling, hospitallike grocery stores. And the Orlando humidity has ruined her hair.
Jessica is a strong, protective mother. She is also a frugal, business-minded woman who loves Stephen King novels and is an especially talented singer.
Meanwhile, Eddie is struggling to find his niche in his strange new middle school, but he has a plan. First, get a seat at the lunch table by subbing his mom’s smelly Chinese sack lunches with pizza Lunchables. Second, meet Orlando Magic star Shaquille O’Neal. Third, change the game (possibly with the help of Shaq).
Not having any adjustment problems are younger brothers Emery (Forrest Wheeler) and Evan (Ian Chen).
Middle son Emery adapts well to the move, instantly becoming the cool, popular kid at school. Youngest son Evan is a mama’s boy and a stickler for rules.
Added bonus: Scene-stealer Lucille Soong guest stars as Grandma Huang. Her zingers are in subtitled Chinese.
Huang, who was born in Washington in 1982, provides the narration for the series and, in case you wondered, sees the title not as a racial slur, but a badge of honor.
Witty, clever, culturally sardonic, insightful and occasionally even sweet, Fresh Off the Boat is a welcome addition to the ABC lineup and shows how far TV has come since Margaret Cho’s 1994 one-season fizzle All-American Girl.