All-American Girl: Complete Series
Many people know Margaret Cho for her raucous, occasionally filthy comedy routines that have produced such concert films as Notorious C.H.O and Assassin. What fewer people remember is that back in the mid '90s, some television network suits found her comedy stylings funny enough that they developed an entire show around her frequent premise - growing up with a madcap Korean family in America. That show was called All-American Girl and while it wasn't consistently perfect (when Margaret moves away from her family and with a group of guys, things go downhill), it does nicely showcase her blend of humor.
The show's central focus was the culture clash between the young, hip Margaret, a 21-year-old Korean girl who completely buys into the pop culture and trends of the U.S. Her mother, on the other hand, was extremely traditional. For those who are a little more up to date on current television, their relationship was more or less on the same level as that of Lane and her mother on Gilmore Girls - with similar issues and conflict occurring at every turn.
Along with Margaret and her mother, the characters included Stuart, Margaret's straight-laced older brother; Eric, the younger brother who looked up to Margaret; Dad, who stayed out of the way of the battles of the women; and Grandma, a woman who might have been either senile or brilliant - it was difficult to know for certain. The family owned a bookstore, but Margaret worked at a department store cosmetics counter (which naturally agitated her mother as well).
While I won't sugarcoat things to say that the show was an instant classic (it was canceled after a season), but it had cute moments and embraced Asian-American culture at a time when few networks would even have considered such programming. I was a regular viewer, as I had enjoyed Cho's comedy act and found the crossover to be pretty effective. Now that the complete series has been released on DVD, viewers can decide for themselves.
View Quicktime Trailer
View Windows Media Trailer
Many people know Margaret Cho for her raucous, occasionally filthy comedy routines that have produced such concert films as Notorious C.H.O and Assassin. What fewer people remember is that back in the mid '90s, some television network suits found her comedy stylings funny enough that they developed an entire show around her frequent premise - growing up with a madcap Korean family in America. That show was called All-American Girl and while it wasn't consistently perfect (when Margaret moves away from her family and with a group of guys, things go downhill), it does nicely showcase her blend of humor.
The show's central focus was the culture clash between the young, hip Margaret, a 21-year-old Korean girl who completely buys into the pop culture and trends of the U.S. Her mother, on the other hand, was extremely traditional. For those who are a little more up to date on current television, their relationship was more or less on the same level as that of Lane and her mother on Gilmore Girls - with similar issues and conflict occurring at every turn.
Along with Margaret and her mother, the characters included Stuart, Margaret's straight-laced older brother; Eric, the younger brother who looked up to Margaret; Dad, who stayed out of the way of the battles of the women; and Grandma, a woman who might have been either senile or brilliant - it was difficult to know for certain. The family owned a bookstore, but Margaret worked at a department store cosmetics counter (which naturally agitated her mother as well).
While I won't sugarcoat things to say that the show was an instant classic (it was canceled after a season), but it had cute moments and embraced Asian-American culture at a time when few networks would even have considered such programming. I was a regular viewer, as I had enjoyed Cho's comedy act and found the crossover to be pretty effective. Now that the complete series has been released on DVD, viewers can decide for themselves.
View Quicktime Trailer
View Windows Media Trailer
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<$I18NLinks to This Post$>:
Create a Link
<< Home