"Fresh Off the Boat" TV series

I'm certainly glad to see Asians represented in the media, but at first, I was apprehensive. First, Eddie Huang's memoir was certainly atypical of the Asian American experience.  This is not a 'tiger mom',piano-playing childhood, it was alot of violence, drugs, partying, gangs, rap-music, cursing, etc. Yes, there was certainly relatable moments-feeling ostracized at school and the bullying...but in general, the book and Eddie's life wasn't something I could relate to. So I worried about the TV show, Of course, being on TV, it had to be cleaned up, and also because it portrayed the younger years, it would avoid some of the more 'rough' parts, including the rough parts about his dad (the TV dad is soft compared to the dad portrayed in the book).

That being said, after the first 2 episodes, I can say, I think it can do well, and it even made me laugh out loud. I haven't watched sitcoms in quite a while, and when I do, I find them overly-contrived, forced, and unnatural. I was a bit disappointed after the first episode, and it made me cringe at times because it seemed too over-the-top, but once I embraced the 'over-the-top' antics, I thought it was laugh-out-loud funny!

The title of the second episode "Home, School, Home-school", admittedly, made me a little nervous. Not only was I now worried about Asian Americans being misrepresented, but also homeschooling! But I really do know so many Asian moms who made their 'A' students do extra tutoring programs outside of school and workbooks at home, that it was spot on! It's not really 'homeschool', as I do still think that a huge majority of Asians would never consider REMOVING their kids from school (at least not first generation Asians),

As the series continues, I hope this can really be a show that will launch Asians into the 'norm' of our culture. There's been so many blog posts and articles about this, there are so many expectations, and so many misgivings. I don't know how it is going to be received by non-Asians. Will they be offended ("Are you all sisters??", celebrating Cs on the report card)? Will they now form a NEW stereotype of Asians? Only time will tell, but I hope it will open the dialogue for more understanding of Asian culture.