Fresh Off the Boat

Fresh Off the Boat is an ABC Network sitcom that aired on ABC since February 4, 2015. This series based on chef, restaurateur, food personality Eddie Huang's memoir "Fresh Off The Boat."

Plot

Based on Eddie Huang's memoir, it is set in the 1990s and revolves around a Chinese family that moves to suburban Orlando. After moving to Orlando from DC’s Chinatown, 11 year old, hip-hop loving Eddie and his immigrant family experience culture shock in this comedy about pursuing the American Dream.

Cast

• Randall Park as Louis Huang
• Constance Wu as Jessica Huang
• Ian Chen as Evan Huang
• Forrest Wheeler as Emery Huang
• Hudson Yang as Eddie Huang

Production

Eddie Huang's 2013 Fresh Off the Boat caught the attention of TV networks upon release, with ABC and 20th Century Fox Television signing in late that year. Huang, the show's creator and one of the producers of the series, led a Twitter campaign to change the original show name, Far East Orlando, when it was in development.

On May 13, 2014, ABC ordered the first season of the show during the May 2014 upfront to air in 2015 as a mid-season replacement.

The Fresh Off the Boat cast at a panel discussion for the show. The real-life Eddie Huang narrates the first season only. Eleven episodes into the first season, Huang expressed frustration over ABC's approach, saying it presents an "ambiguous, cornstarch story about Asian-Americans" that perpetuates "an artificial representation of Asian American lives". The sitcom was adapted to suit a broader American audience. He also Tweeted in April 2015, "I understand this is a comedy but the great comics speak from pain: Pryor, Rock, Louis...This show had that opportunity but it fails." Despite his concern for authenticity, he finds the show a "milestone" for Asian-Americans as they are at the forefront of this television series. Huang further explained in an interview on National Public Radio, "The studio and network are not on a mission to not represent us. They just don't know how to."

Huang described the exchange between his team and ABC as brief. In an article in Vulture Huang expressed concern over the studio's decision that Nahnatchka Khan, an Iranian-American writer, would represent his memoir for the TV scripts, believing that she would present the story as less than realistic and authentic. "I would be excited, but you attached a Persian writer, and I'm kinda worried it's going to be The Shahs of Cul-de-Sac Holando."

In 2015, Constance Wu was interviewed by Jenny Zhang for The Lenny Interview. In this interview, she spoke about her initial fear of criticizing some of the shows details. Now in its second season, Wu speaks openly about her request for the staff to make the show more specific, stating, "If you change the food to a 1,000-year-old black egg with tofu and scallions, it will be a little more specific, and specificity is just better for character, and it's more interesting than, say, tofu and rice."

Reception

The second episode which aired after "Modern Family" was promoted as a bonus episode and it formally premiered in its prime time slot on February 10, 2015 The first of the two preview episodes garnered 7.94 million viewers, becoming the second highest rated comedy premiere that season.

The first of the two preview episodes garnered 7.94 million viewers, becoming the second highest rated comedy premiere that season.

External links

• Fresh Off the Boat Wiki on Fandom

Fresh off the Boat
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Nahnatchka Khan
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	101
Production
Executive Producer(s)	Nahnatchka Khan Jake Kasdan Melvin Mar
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Fierce Baby Productions The Detective Agency 20th Century Fox Television
Distributor	20th Television
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	February 4, 2015 – Present
Status	Active