All-American Girl (TV series)

All-American Girl is an American television sitcom starring Margaret Cho. The series aired on ABC from September 14, 1994, to March 15, 1995. It was loosely based on Cho's own experiences growing up in a Korean American family in San Francisco. Cho starred as Margaret Kim, the rebellious daughter of Korean immigrants and bookstore owners. Her American attitude often comes into conflict with that of her more traditional parents (Jodi Long and Clyde Kusatsu). Among her co-stars were BD Wong as Margaret's brother, and Amy Hill as her eccentric grandmother.

All-American Girl was created by ABC to capitalize on the trend of female comedians headlining their own sitcoms. Cho was included in a Wednesday night lineup that included other women in lead roles—Brett Butler (Grace Under Fire), Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen), and most successfully, Roseanne Barr (Roseanne).

The series was criticized for its depiction of Korean Americans and for stereotyping characters. ABC attempted to counter low ratings by retooling the show into an ensemble sitcom about Margaret and her white friends, but the revamping was unsuccessful. The series was cancelled after one season.

Premise

All-American Girl takes place in San Francisco, where Margaret Kim tries to navigate life with her family, friends, and romantic partners. In the Kim family household, Margaret has many squabbles with her very traditional mother, Katherine, who wants nothing more than for her to settle down with a Korean boy and be successful. Her passive father plays more of the middle-man in these touchy debates, and prefers to spend time working in their family-owned bookstore. Also in the house are Margaret's brothers — her successful older brother, Dr. Stuart Kim, and her admiring younger brother, Eric — and eccentric Grandma Kim. Margaret is a college student who frequently bounces between majors and works at the cosmetics counter of a department store with her friends, Ruthie and Gloria.

In the pilot episode of All-American Girl, "Mom, Dad, This is Kyle", Margaret's mother, Katherine Kim, strongly disapproves of Margaret's white boyfriend Kyle. She constantly tries to set up the daughter with successful, intelligent Korean men, creating 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. In frustration Margaret rashly decides 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.

Cast

Main

Margaret Cho as Margaret Kim, the main character of the series and the daughter in the Kim family. She is much more Americanized than the other members of her family, which is often a source of misunderstandings between her and her family.
Amy Hill as Yung-hee "Grandma" Kim, Margaret's eccentric grandmother who is unassimilated and often refers to the "Old Country". She is addicted to watching television.
Jodi Long as Katherine Kim, Margaret's mother. She is portrayed as a "tiger mom", imposing strict rules on Margaret and her siblings and setting extremely high expectations for them, especially for Margaret's older brother, Stuart. She runs a bookstore with her husband, Benny Kim.
Clyde Kusatsu as Benny Kim, Margaret's father. While also a strict parent, he is also more understanding of Margaret, mostly the straight man and sometimes assists in mediating disagreements between Margaret and her mother.
Maddie Corman as Ruthie Latham, one of Margaret's best friends, who works with Margaret in a department store.
Judy Gold as Gloria Schechter, another one of Margaret's friends who works at the department store.
J.B. Quon as Eric Kim, Margaret's younger brother who looks up to Margaret, much to his parents' dismay.
BD Wong as Dr. Stuart Kim, Margaret's older brother who is a successful doctor, and constantly under extreme pressure from himself and his parents to achieve more. He is considered the obedient and well-behaved son.
Ashley Johnson as Casey Emerson, one of Eric's friends who spends a lot of time at the Kims' house. After "Malpractice Makes Perfect", she does not appear again.

Notable guest stars

Ming-Na Wen as Amy, Stuart's fiancé. ("Redesigning Women")
Tsai Chin as Auntie June ("Take My Family, Please")
Daniel Dae Kim as Stan ("Ratting on Ruthie")
Eric Lutes as Grant ("Loveless in San Francisco")
Oprah Winfrey as herself ("A Night at the Oprah")
Michael Palance as Derek ("Mommie Nearest")
Jack Black as Tommy, a band member managed by Margaret's friend. ("A Night at the Oprah")
Quentin Tarantino as Desmond, Margaret's boyfriend who she discovers sells bootlegged videotapes. At the time of All-American Girl, Tarantino was dating Cho, and coming off the success of his film Pulp Fiction. ("Pulp Sitcom")
Robert Clohessy as Average Tony ("Pulp Sitcom")
Vicki Lawrence as Phone Lady ("Young Americans")
John Terlesky as Tim ("Young Americans")

Episodes

Production

Conception

All-American Girl was pitched to ABC amidst a boon of female-led sitcoms. The show's creators suggested other titles for the series such as East Meets West and Wok on the Wild Side, before deciding on All-American Girl.

Unlike the stars of shows like Roseanne, Ellen, and Grace Under Fire, Cho said she had little input in the creative process. After its premiere, ratings dropped substantially.

Brian Lowry of Variety wrote, "There’s a smattering of warmth between these characters" and Cho "is instantly appealing with her product-of-suburbia shtick", but "early scripts don’t provide material to define the character beyond her maternal sparring" and there is "not enough demonstrated early to lift the series beyond the most standard sitcom fare". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker lamented that the show was the complete opposite of Cho's stand-up comedy, which he said "is all about exploding ethnic myths, starting with the notion that a Korean-American woman is likely to be quiet and demure." Guy Aoki, head of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), said, "If there is one Asian group that needed a show like this to take care of the misunderstandings people have about them, it's Korean American. We see a family, and we don't see rude grocers who shoot people randomly. I don't think this show will solve all the problems, but given a chance to grow, it will sure help."

The series also received criticism for its casting.

Furthermore, the show's use of "butchered Korean language" was criticized.

Playwright Philip W. Chung wrote a defense of the show in the Los Angeles Times, arguing that as the only Asian American focused-TV show at the time, All-American Girl was subject to unfair expectations.

Revamp and cancellation

The series struggled in the ratings from the beginning. In the fifteenth episode "Notes from the Underground", Margaret moves into the basement of her parents' home, then moves out altogether in "Young Americans". The spin-off would have focused on Margaret and her roommates — Spencer (Diedrich Bader), Phil (Sam Seder), and Jimmy (Andrew Lowery) — plus Grandma Kim and Jane (Mariska Hargitay), a bartender at the roommates' hangout. The revamped concept was meant to emulate Friends, which had become a hit on rival network NBC that same season. Despite this retooling, ABC ultimately decided against ordering the revamped series. Footage from All-American Girl made a brief appearance in the ABC comedy series, where the characters poked fun at its faults. Cho later returned to ABC to guest star for another sitcom featuring an Asian American lead, Dr. Ken.

Home media

The complete series was released on DVD in a four-disc set from Shout! Factory/Sony BMG Music Entertainment on January 31, 2006. The set features commentary by Cho (joined twice by Hill) on one episode per disc and retrospective interviews with Cho and Hill.

References

External links

All-American Girl at epguides.com