Archives for posts with tag: CBS

The Fairy Princess is recovering from the joy of seeing that Dallas Summer Musicals has cast the very talented Alan Ariano in the role of The King in their production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s The King & I. She was also thrilled to see that the Broadway Cast of the same show has wound up in Vogue Magazine, and that Anna Wintour is rumored to be taking over the Red Carpet of the TONY Awards so that everyone stops wearing a dress ripped from The Little Mermaid and puts on a damn eyelash!

These are good things and must be celebrated accordingly.

tumblr_n6ee7cdMjw1tcq54io1_400Then she read this article from Hollywood Deadline which yes, ‘reports’ Insider industry news, but in this case has forgone actual facts and gave us instead, a fearful Zombie Apocolypse “What if“, should projects like EMPIRE continue to decimate all others on the television and cable landscape and leak it’s considerable influence into pilot season.

Apparently the writer at Hollywood Deadline is concerned about all these pesky minority actors getting opportunity.

tumblr_mmqykm7uiz1ql5yr7o1_400In fact, the writer of this, Nellie Andreeva, is so concerned about minorities booking jobs on television shows, she is so fearful of the result this may have on , well, I guess on ‘the children‘, everyone is always worried about ‘the children’ right?, that she has manufactured her own ‘backlash’ with the ridiculous question – has Hollywood in pilot season ‘gone too far‘ in casting minorities during Pilot season?

“The TV and film superhero ranks have been overly white for too long, workplace shows should be diverse to reflect workplace in real America, and ethnic actors should get a chance to play more than the proverbial best friend or boss.

But replacing one set of rigid rules with another by imposing a quota of ethnic talent on each show might not be the answer. Empire, Black-ish, Jane the Virgin and Fresh Off The Boat have been breakouts because they represent worlds and points of view that were not on TV

Hmmm. So what you are saying is that now that there is Jane The Virgin, the television landscape is full and we no longer have a need for a world with Latinos on our screens?

SlapTFP has one word for you – Univision. (Look it up)

Did anyone else get a little ‘privilege’ in their eye, or was that just The Fairy Princess?

58251898b6b8b5f4471580313c43e76aAnd now you are going to ‘come at me’ because my eyes are a slightly different shape, oh Miss Andreeva?

I don’t think so.

giphyFirst of all, the logic here is faulty – Networks are not casting more creatively because Cookie Lyon needs a friend with a fabulous hat and four inch heels on another network – they are casting that way because the world in which we live, in America, is colorful. As TFP has often said, and which is backed by actual numbers – Diversity equals Dollars!

Producers are not sitting around trying to think “Hey, how can I cast a show that totally will not find an audience and will waste everyone’s time and money” – No, they are not. They are trying to make shows that sell. Television is the one place in the world where ‘trickle down’ theory works (perhaps that is where President Regan got it, when he was President of SAG)  does not work economically, but in showbiz? Yeah, it works.

its-all-about-the-money-4In the long history of Television in America, they have always, always done the exact same thing – they look at what is on television that is finding an audience, pulling in revenue, and entertaining people and then they toddle along and try to do that same thing. That #TGIT is making everyone wake up to the reality that there are strong Actresses of Color who can anchor a show and keep viewers coming back week after week with smart, snappy dialogue, and complex plot lines is a great thing. That this investment in opening minds is the brainchild, essentially, of one woman, Shonda Rhimes, is staggering.

The fact that Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling have two of the most successful and talked about comedies available to watch is mind blowing. That Maurissa Tancharoen Whedon has successfully rewritten the narrative of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to include an expanded possibility of what it means to be seen as a Hero in America, is nothing short of amazing. The Gender Gap that was so prevalent behind the camera in the creation of shows is not fixed, not by a LONG shot, but the successes of it cannot be argued with it. Nanatchka Khan has created a number one network comedy with Fresh Off The Boat – have any of their shows ‘suffered’ by waving the banner of diversity?

No.

tumblr_mn7lilBTsO1sqykc2o4_r4_250Looking, Orange Is The New Black, Devious Maids all yes, meet a ‘demographic’ audience, but they surpass what is expected – because when there are multiple actors who can pull from varying life experiences, it gives the writers that much more to work with.

One could even argue that these shows are not waving any banner at all – they just cast wider, they looked further than the ‘status quo’ – they looked to the world.

raceethpewGrey’s Anatomy was successful,

imagesso now we have The Night Shift.

the_night_shift_s2_mainelementNCIS was successful, so now we have one in every damn city except Poughkeepsie…and that is probably coming if Mark Harmon gets a summer house there. The joy in this for ethnic performers is that they can finally have a Pilot Season flush with auditions just like less pigmented friends!

‘You booked a Pilot? Hey wait, ME TOO! – HIGH FIVE!”

Cat-High-Five Actors do not live in a bubble of privilege unless they are a child of celebrities – Actors are out there, seeing plays, supporting friends, making connections – and they get, sorry ‘we’ get, that the world is made up of supremely talented people – people who through career longevity and talent should get that  moment of peace that being on a television show will give them artistically, which will have a ripple effect to their career, and that skin color has nothing to do with talent.

giphy-2Color has only do to with opportunity and perception in Hollywood – and that is a truth most will not admit, but it is a truth nonetheless.

tumblr_n5kp9zyT2T1rosb88o1_250If you are an API Woman you will get called in for a hooker at least once in your career, to a cop show, because they are going to do the classic variant of ‘a brothel in Chinatown’ story that shows up on EVERY cop show. If you are Latino, you are going to be called for a Gang Member at some point in your career – why? Because that same Cop Show has a Latino Gang episode.

ohh-snap-7400_previewYou may meet the API Hooker in the hallway of the audition and you kind of give each other a ‘Hey, what’s up” – because you both know why you are there – you are there to up the ‘Diversity Numbers’ for that particular show so that the Producers do not have to have ‘a conversation’ about Diversity on their show set in a major city with no Ethnic Main characters, even though the city in which the show is set, has large ethnic populations.

Or that is the way it has been.

However it seems that THIS pilot season…things are changing!

VeTSjsRThere is a clause in the SAG Contract that the Producers sign about this very issue – it is worded that the Producers, in getting the permission from SAG/AFTRA to produce this show, that THEY agree to ‘reflect the American scene’, which is what they are finally doing!

Casting is an art – if it is done well, as most Directors can tell you, they do not have to do much ‘heavy lifting’ at all. Some of the most successful shows on television right now – ABC’s Fresh Off The Boat, Fox’s Empire, CBS’s Elementary demonstrate that bringing Casts together of different experiences and backgrounds enhances the ability to tell compelling stories. Also, according to Scientific American, Diversity makes you smarter!

But you do not have to take TFP’s word for it, we can look at what people ON TV RIGHT NOW IN HIT SHOWS are saying:

For example, Constance Wu, when interviewed by TIME said:

It’s important to see Asians in those leading roles because it changes what I’m calling the anglo-heteronormative status of TV. [Imagine] that a producer says, “Guy and girl meet-cute at an ice skating rink. They fall in love, but then she has to move away.” If you say that to anyone, including an Asian person, you picture a white person because that’s what’s become normative to us.

She seems pretty smart…and if you do not think so, may TFP ask you when the last time you used the word “Anglo-heteronormative’?

Duh_duh_duhThere are of course, shows that exist ‘within a world’ that is, for all intents and purposes, Caucasian – AMC’s MAD MEN for example, but MAD MEN is wrestling with specific time period and the inclusion of women in the workplace and the change in America at the time. There are many, MANY more shows that exist within a Caucasian world than there are within the America we all actually live in – so to write

“ABC’s medical drama pilot The Advocate was based on the story of former CAA agent Byrdie Lifson-Pompan and Dr. Valerie Ulene, who launched a healthcare consulting company. While the real-life inspiration for the two central character are both Caucasian, the show cast them with one white actress, Kim Raver, and one black, Joy Bryant’

is ridiculous.

Oh, it’s not?

You want to get into a discussion about WHITEWASHING ETHNIC PEOPLE OUT OF ROLES BY HOLLYWOOD NOW

MS. ANDREEVA?

noperaja-1Where to begin? Where to begin?

You see, not even John Wayne can pull off Yellowface

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You want TFP to keep going or should we just let the Spirit of Bruce Lee smack you in the head, Ms. Andreeva?

giphyTFP is gonna lay some truth down now, Ms. Adreeva, so get ready:

There is NO WAY that out of the HUNDREDS of pilots being shot, the casting of a small percentage of minority actors IN ANY WAY imperiles the status quo of white privilege in this country we know as America. Casting some people of color and gender and sexual preference on one or two televisions pilots that may or may not be picked up for broadcast will IN NO WAY harm Caucasian people in this country looking to turn on the television and see reflections of themselves.

tumblr_m8s5mtj1381qffn6mo1_500You know why the pendulum will never, ever swing ‘too far‘ to prevent Caucasians from seeing themselves on television?

Because television is run by Caucasian people!

See all the Presidents…look close, can ya see what TFP is talking about?

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They don’t look like they are leaving anytime soon, now, do they?

(Also, Gentlemen and Lady, thank you, sincerely, for shaking up your Pilot seasons and diversifying, congratulations on that)

Which you should know, because DEADLINE actually published the UCLA Diversity Report ! A report that shows among other things:

1. Minority actors are underrepresented in film by a percentage of 3:1

2. Women are underrepresented  in lead roles in a film by a factor of 2:1

3. More than 1/2 of the films had 10% OR LESS casting of Minority Actors

4. Minorities amongst Film Directors are underrepresented 3:1

5. Minorities are underrepresented among Writers by 5:1

6. In Television, Minorities in LEAD Roles are underrepresented 7:1

7. In Television, Minorities are, 7:1 more likely to be leads on REALITY SHOWS than Network shows (thanks Top Chef)

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8. Minorities are underrepresented by a factor of 9:1 in creating Broadcast Comedies and Dramas

9. Women are underrepresented by a factor of 2:1 in creating Broadcast Comedies and Dramas, and are ‘less likely’ to be creators on Cable

10. Dominant Talent Agencies contribute little to Broadcast Television Diversity

So you can relax, Ms. Andreeva…’Mount HollywoodLand”  is for the most part safe from these pesky hordes of creative people whose skin shade is not alabaster, who have feelings and talent and ambition and the will to use them – for the most part….in the grander scale of things…white television is safe, and will be for a long, long time.

TFP is sure you will sleep better at night, on your lvory pillow, wrapped in a blanket of Caucasian condescension within the fortress of solitude that the internet firewalls provide, so you do not have to interact with the peasants and dream on, Ms. Andreeva….

photoWe‘ of the minorities are not ‘coming for your TV“, we would just like to expand the meaning of what it means to see and be seen, and ‘we’ would like to book a pilot because for an Actor, it can be life changing. It can provide a bit of financial security, health insurance, and opportunity to continue on in a life of creation.

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It has nothing to do with which way your pendulum swings….we have a broad definition of inclusiveness, in that we, of the minorities (which include people of age, sexual preference, color, women, differing physical abilities) would like to be seen in this country, and television is the best way to do that.

tumblr_inline_n3seih9SZf1rtr2xyFor stirring up racial panic in the midst of what looks to be a good Pilot season for Minorities, TFP fines you 35 whacks of the wand – you invoked racial fear to write a column that had no statistics to back it up, just a general sense of warning to show runners not to get ‘carried away’ with this pesky “People of Color” thing – and that is wrong. Flat out wrong. TFP read your article and was not going to say anything, because it was so poorly substantiated, but then she thought “what if someone actually takes you seriously?” and then she thought

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Not only is it wrong, it is disheartening when there is good news, to have someone who has a national platform to discuss these issues, choose to come down to “Boogie Man’ threats that get in the way of progress.

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You should be ashamed of yourself.

TFP is thrilled that Pilot Season is getting with the program of inclusion – it makes us all better – what you did, was to try and make it worse.

Also, KISS MY FAN TAN FANNIE!

The Fairy Princess eagerly awaited “Up-fronts’ this year like a small child whose dreams of sitting on the lap of a costumed man of girth had not yet been dashed by the commercialization of the holiday in question.

LUCKIES? Seriously Santa, WTF?

LUCKIES? Seriously Santa, WTF?

 

And, unlike when someone wanted a BB gun….

 

She got what she has wanted for every major holiday and wish upon a star for a long time….

The Fairy Princess heard tell of 4 new shows with Asian Americans featured prominently and thus, she did NOT want to shoot her eye out – which is usually how she feels after hearing what got picked up at the Up-fronts.

How many IS that Feist?

 

Let’s, for the heck of is, just list them:

Madame Secretary:

 

Set in Washington, DC – unlike other shows set in that fair city, this one has a diverse cast that does include Asian Americans like Actor, Geoffrey Arend – who was so great in Body of Proof. Also in the cast, Yale Grad, Mozhan Marno, CMU Grad & TONY Winner Patina Miller, and of course, from the Musical Theater, Mr. Erich Bergen, who is also going to be appearing in the feature film directed by Clint Eastwood, Jersey Boys coming out in June.

The cast in exceptionally diverse in gender & ethnicity & most likely, sexual preference (because why would they leave that out?), and The Fairy Princess looks forward to this show. It seems smart, quick, and topical, and when looking at the bios of the cast on IMDB, quite a few are fluent in several languages, and that can only add to the portrayal of a dynamic White House with a Madame Secretary of State.

Selfie:

 

The Fairy Princess likes this trailer for several reasons –

1. it takes it’s concept from Pygmalian by George Bernard Shaw.

2. It looks like it is going to examine our current obsession with all things superficial

3. Stars John Cho as the Romantic Lead. Yeah, I said it – ROMANTIC LEAD. JOHN CHO. ROMANTIC.

GET INTO IT.

Fingers crossed for you, Mr. Cho – I hope the show knocks it out of the park.

STALKER:

 

The Fairy Princess is going to like this show – it is going to scare the s##t out of her, because it will remind her of friends who have gone through this problem, and it will remind her of when someone did not like her blog and threatened to hurt not only her, but her kid….but she will watch this show, for sure.

The Fairy Princess is particularly partial to Hapa Actresses whose surnames end in Q.

(You may have heard that before….)

Quigley? Quill? Get it? Get it?

Quigley? Quill? Get it? Get it?

And finally….drumroll please…

Fresh Off The Boat

 

Now Fresh Off The Boat, is the story of a little guy named Eddie who grows up to be this guy:

 

Celebrity Chef, Eddie Huang. It’s based on a book that he wrote, and it is, for all intents and purposes, his ‘brand’.

The term Fresh off The Boat is giving some in the Asian American Community agita, and here’s why – because we, Asian Americans, use it amongst ourselves to denigrate one another.

We totally do.

We do. Not anyone else. We, us.

It is a term used to separate ‘cool’ Asian Americans, with an emphasis on American, from those who were freshly arrived immigrants who probably had accents, and perhaps lacked some fashion sense, according to American Asians. We are very judgy, Asian Americans – no wonder we suffer from depression – right, Kristina Wong?

So now, APIs who have been gleefully disdaining one another for YEARS, are worried that “White People” are going to hear the term, “Fresh Off The Boat’ or “FOB” (sometimes said, fob, as in watch fob and not just the initials), and they are going to add it to the pantheon of insults to call Asian Americans as they walk harmlessly down the street.

It should be acknowledged that ABC Network wanted to change the name of the show to “Far East Orlando”, but no one liked that title either – particularly not Chef Huang, and he lobbied fiercely to get it changed back to match his title and his brand.

The Fairy Princess is not disavowing that racism happens – she could not possibly when she herself has harmlessly walked down the street and been called all sorts of racial names by ignorant people driving by safely in cars, or heard what was yelled from a school bus while she rode her bike to school, or even, just you know, well, for example this is a conversation she actually had, but it is repeated at least twice a week, somewhere in her week:

ME: Bagel and Coffee Please

COUNTER GUY: Where are you from?

ME: New York.

COUNTER GUY: No, where were you born?

ME: Manhattan.

COUNTER GUY: NO, I mean, where is your Family from?

ME: Ireland.

Never got that bagel and coffee. A bit of Hapa Humor – because what he really wanted to hear was China…or Japan…or Korea…or some other Asian country that he would then be able to tell me he either wanted to visit, was once stationed there during a war, or perhaps, he wanted to tell me to go back to there.

These are all things I have heard throughout my lifetime. And worse. Much, much worse.

The Fairy Princess gets that APIs are concerned about the title – but growing up in New York, she can assure you of one thing – we all borrow from other languages to express ourselves, capice?

Even if FOB makes it into the vernacular – is it really worse than ‘Chink‘? Or “Jap“? Or “Gook“? Or “Slant“? Or “Hey, Love You Long Time“? Or “Bitch“?

Or any combination of those with added slanderous words concerning my perceived place of origin, my Parents, or my very existence, is it?

Given those variables, The Fairy Princess would relish simply being called a FOB. Because she has been called all those other things throughout her life – being a Viking explorer would not actually be that insulting.

These Folks are Fresh Off the Boat as well....I dunno, they look pretty fierce

These Folks are Fresh Off the Boat as well….I dunno, they look pretty fierce

So I’m newly arrived? So what?

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Is that, in a nation of Immigrants, really a big deal? That one arrived by boat? Shouldn’t one be glad that someone in his or her family took a giant leap of faith and left everything they knew, in order that we, Asian Americans might wallow in hypersensitivity and yell about titles of television shows that have not even aired yet?

My Forefathers took a boat to get here – they were escaping oppression and war, and they took a boat.

It was from Dublin.

Everyone has suffered from Xenophobia in America - Everyone

Everyone has suffered from Xenophobia in America – Everyone

My point is – at one time, any transoceanic travel was only accomplished by boat – Asian Americans do not have a monopoly on arriving anywhere via ocean.

The uproar over FOB is because we are the ones that turned it ‘into something’ and now, we do not want to reap the consequences of that. Too bad.

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This show has not only been trashed talked because of the title, but because the lead actress, Constance Wu, has a accent. Which, she should – because her character is from Taiwan. Asian Americans do not get their increase in numbers from birth rate, we get them from immigration.

Let me put it another way – if the character were Caucasian and from Dublin, and had an Irish accent – would you have a problem with it?

Colin Farrell would probably play the part with an Irish accent, but then everyone would be upset he was playing a Mom

Colin Farrell has an accent. I am ok with it- Ladies? How about you?

No. Because it would make sense for a character from another country to arrive in America and speak with a slight accent. As it does in this case – it makes sense for the character.

The complaints keep coming though, and they are getting more and more upsetting…

I read a comment that said they were upset that lead actor, Randall Park, who is of Korean heritage, is playing a Chinese American.

Really?

REALLY?

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The Fairy Princess says NO!

Absolutely NOT!

Do not project your own issues onto an unsuspecting sitcom. Do you have ANY idea how GREAT it is to have not one, not two, but FOUR television shows on major networks with Asian Americans, showing a panoply of the depth of Asian America? DO YOU?

The Fairy Princess does.

It has been a long, hard struggle for those both in front and behind the camera to get to where we are now – twenty years have gone by since an Asian American family was the subject of a sitcom on a Major Network.

DO NOT BLOW THIS FOR US! 

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Or just do us all a favor and just watch kitten videos for the rest of your life. ONLY kitten videos.

 

The Fairy Princess will NOT listen to any more of your idiotic complaints….

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The Fairy Princess is going to challenge Asian America – here goes:

I want you to watch, DVR, On Demand, Internet – however you watch television now – I want you to watch the above four shows.

I want you to prove to NBC, CBS, and ABC that Diversity matters.

I want you to prove that Diversity = Dollars.

What you are doing, by going to town with these complaints is proving that Diversity = Damage Control.

This is the wrong message to send.

The end result will be less Asian Americans on television, because you will have effectively told the Networks that you are going to raise hell every time an Asian Family hits the air, and you will make it ‘too much trouble’ to have an Asian American family hit the air at all.

Are you hearing me?

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All this bickering and in-fighting and you know what? No one cares about your insecurities except you, your Family, and a trained Therapist that you should definitely call after reading this.

The Fairy Princess does care if your internet hashtag war it is going to give a network exec pause before greenlighting another sitcom about an Asian American family that may be coming down the pipeline. Or if it gives ABC second thoughts about where it places Fresh Off The Boat come mid-season.

The Fairy Princess thought the trailer was funny. The end. Funny trailer, it deserves it’s shot.

Pull it together, Asian America – you are acting like someone who needs a Snickers bar cuz they are having delusions that they can see Russia from their backyard.

I am going to leave you with these final words, Hunties….think about them, because all these ‘protests’ seem to come from deep rooted insecurities and perhaps a smidge of self-loathing, what scares you about this show? Really? Because, it’s a comedy. It is not supposed to send you to your ‘dark place’, but if it is – you have other things to think about.

Because as Mama Ru says:

 

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Can I get an ‘Amen’?