All American Girl (1994 TV series)
| All-American Girl | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Gary Jacobs |
| Starring |
Margaret Cho Jodi Long Clyde Kusatsu Amy Hill Maddie Corman Ashley Johnson Judy Gold J.B. Quon B.D. Wong |
| Composer(s) | George Englund Jr. |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 19 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Sandollar Television Heartfelt Productions Touchstone Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 14, 1994 – March 15, 1995 |
All-American Girl is a 1994 American sitcom featuring Margaret Cho as the rebellious teenage daughter of a traditional Korean-American family. The main cast that plays the part of Cho's family includes Jodi Long, Clyde Kusatsu, B.D. Wong, J.B. Quon, and Amy Hill.
Based upon the comedy material of Cho, the show premiered on September 14, 1994 and was cancelled on March 15, 1995 after one season, following an attempt by the network to reboot the series.
Cho directly states that although the ending credits say Based on the stand-up of Margaret Cho, the show did not in fact incorporate her comedy. Producers used this idea more as a plug for the program, which underwent nearly constant changes in an attempt to gain better viewership ratings.
With conflict regarding Cho's Asian American identity and the production goals of ABC, this translated into unoriginal plotlines, objectified character portrayals, and poor audience reception.
"When you're the first person to cross over this racial barrier, you're scrutinized for all these other things that have nothing to do with race, but they have everything to do with race—its a very strange thing", says Cho. Cho received heavy criticism for All-American Girl from the general public, from critics, and from Asian American viewers.
Footage from the show made a brief appearance in the ABC 2015 comedy series Fresh Off The Boat, which is ABC's second (and more successful) attempt at an Asian-American-focused sitcom. In the scene, an Asian-American watches All-American Girl and pokes fun at its faults.
In the pilot episode of All-American Girl, “Mom, Dad, This is Kyle”, Margaret’s mother, Katherine Kim, strongly disapproves of Margaret’s boyfriend Kyle, and constantly tries to set her up with successful, intelligent Korean men, a recurring conflict between Margaret and her mother. Margaret, tired of her mother’s constant matchmaking, convinces her to have Kyle over for dinner. At the dinner, Katherine makes no effort to accept Kyle, and a frustrated Margaret makes the rash decision to announce to everyone that she and Kyle are moving in together, simply to irritate her mother. Margaret realizes that she does not want to move out of the house and decides to stay in the end.
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