ENTERTAINMENT RE-ORIENTED: For Asian American entertainment, 2020 marks a new beginning — but the beginning of what exactly?

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series. When we talk about eras in entertainment media, we often define them by decades. Eighties movies, sixties rock or ‘90s video games. This is ultimately pretty arbitrary, of course — when the calendar flips from December 1999 to January 2000, what’s happening in film, books […]

ENTERTAINMENT RE-ORIENTED: #Thiswas2016

“When the house is going up in flames, does what’s on the TV matter?” That’s the question I kept asking myself as I sat down to write this year-end column. In October, Michael Luo, then an editor for The New York Times, was accosted on the street by a woman yelling, “Go back to China!” […]

Coalition praises ABC for ‘historic high’ number of Asians

LOS ANGELES — “ABC will reach a historic high of 18 Asian regulars on their primetime television series” for the upcoming 2015-2016 season, the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition said in a statement. The previous record was 16 by NBC in the 2007-08 season, the coalition said. In addition to the return of “Fresh Off […]

ENTERTAINMENT RE-ORIENTED: A ‘Fresh’ take on the Asian American sitcom

“Fresh off the Boat,” the first sitcom with an all-Asian American cast since 1994’s “All American Girl,” is kind of like rocking a perm or making a martini, in that there’s a right way and wrong way to do it. The right way, is to just watch it as you would any other network sitcom […]

Asians a reality on TV

In the coming weeks, two Emmy-winning reality TV series will premier with a host of colorful personalities vying for fame, fortune and personal accomplishments. Both programs will air on CBS, “Survivor: One World” and “The Amazing Race.” According to CBS, “Survivor: One World” will feature 18 contestants who are split into two tribes of nine […]

Asians nominated for Oscars

The 84th Academy Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will air on Sunday, Feb. 26. Some 5,783 members will have cast their votes for the outstanding film achievements of 2011, with films from 63 countries. The awards ceremony will take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in […]

My Little Love of Ponies

I was born in the ’80s. I was brought up by the miracle of ’90s era-parenting: television. I was a fan of “Cow and Chicken“ and “The Rugrats;” I wanted to be a part of the “Round House“ and “All That“ casts; and, damn it, I really hated Barney, Barbies and My Little Pony because […]

‘The Mentalist’s’ Tim Kang making a mark in Hollywood

It might be hard these days to find someone who has never seen Tim Kang’s face. The Korean American actor has appeared on “Chappelle’s Show,” “The Office,” “Monk,” “Law & Order,” and in the 2008 “Rambo” film. He was in a pivotal, highly memorable episode of the “The Sopranos” and is perhaps best known for […]