Fresh off The Boat Makes Diversity Hilarious

Sharing is caring!

For this post, I did receive an all expenses paid trip courtesy of Disney/ABC, but all awesomeness is my own.

One of the benefits of working with Disney and ABC is that I get to check out hot new shows! This week, we had a chance to screen a few episodes for Fresh off the Boat, a great new comedy from ABC airing on Tuesdays at 8pm.

Honestly, not having immigrant parents, I wasn’t sure how I would relate to the show. This girl is all about her comedy and quick wit, but part of me wondered if it would be just another TV family sitcom.

Fresh off the Boat is based on a memoir by the same name penned by chef Eddie Huang. The creator, Nahnatchka Khan , decided to set the series when the family gets up rooted from Washington, DC. The father takes the family all the way down to Orlando, Florida to help save the family restaurant, Cattleman’s Ranch, which isn’t doing as well as he had hoped. Seen through the eyes of the eldest son, Eddie, it’s a hilarious adventure as the whole family tries to fit into their new suburban Florida neighborhood.

Having the whole show through Eddie’s point of view is hilarious. It was only a few minutes into the first episode when I started dying. The series is set in the mid 1990s, and being a child of the 90s, this show brought on so much nostalgia for me. From the dial up Internet, to the roller blading pack of moms in their new neighborhood it was like watching my childhood all over again.

Fresh off the Boat is a great addition to the already diverse lineup on ABC. The best part is that it’s not just something one culture can relate to. In the wise words of creator, Nahnatchka Kahn, ” We’ve all not fit in at some place, some time in our lives,” which is why FOTB hits home with such a wide audience. The Huangs represent any family that hasn’t quite fit into a new place, and how they learned to cope and build a happy life in a place that might not be what they thought it was.

If you just felt like an Outsider for whatever reason, Fresh of the boat is a Show that you can relate to. -Nahnatchka Khan

 

During my trip to Los Angeles, we had the chance to meet with the series creator, Nahnatchka Khan and co-executive producer Kourtney Kang. It was really awesome to hear Nahnatchka share how she really loved the memoir written by Eddie Huang and how, as a daughter to immigrant parents, she could really relate with his struggle to get his parents to understand trying to fit into a new culture.

The immigrant story allows to kind of shine the spotlight on some of the things that we take for granted . Nanatchka Kahn, creator

We also had a chance to meet Forrest Wheeler and Ian Chen who play Emery huang and Evan Huang in the series. One thing I can tell you is they are both adorable as heck. Each of them is just as adorable in person as they are on screen.  Before chatting with them, they were both sweet enough to take a picture with each of us! Check me out hanging with them.

My favorite part of meeting Forest and Ian was watching their reactions as they saw themselves on TV. There were giggles, head nods, and smirks. Ian described watching and shared, “It’s just seeing yourself on TV and really can’t believing that it’s you.  Because when I watch it, is that really me or is that just some other person that they edited”.

It was really nice to see that they were still very much kids. You could see that in their manners and the fact their favorite things to do on set were playing around with their co-stars, and learning how everything worked on a TV set . The crew seems really eager to teach the boys anything they want to know about what goes into a television show.

I really enjoyed watching Fresh off the Boat before my trip to Los Angeles, but after meeting the producers and the boys, it’s something that we are going to watch every week. It’s not only a great show, but it’s a great step forward bringing more diversity to ABC TV. One thing that helps bring down the walls of race issues is understanding, learning more about others, and definitely a good sense of humor. This show is all that and more. Make sure to tune in every week 8pm/7pm C on Tuesday on ABC.

Want to follow along with the Fresh off the Boat fun, make sure to follow along on social media!

• www.facebook.com/FreshOffTheBoatABC…
  www.twitter.com/FreshOffABC (‪#‎FreshofftheBoat‬)

  http://freshofftheboatabc.tumblr.com
  https://plus.google.com/+FreshOfftheBoat/posts