Asians on American TV | Asian American Poll

HOW THE TV NETS TREAT ASIANS
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:08:06 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Which U.S. TV network is most Asian-Friendly?
ABC | 24%
CBS | 28%
FOX | 27%
NBC | 21%

Which U.S. TV network is least Asian-Friendly?
ABC | 28%
CBS | 20%
FOX | 26%
NBC | 26%

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WHAT YOU SAY

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Pearl TV,

Please, please do tell more! I'm afraid I'm not a rich investor, BTW, just a recent (and therefore fairly impoverished) Ph.D. BUT, if I can help out in any way, however minor, I'd be very happy to lend a hand.

Do you have a website?
Asian Dominatrix Wednesday, February 06, 2002 at 14:38:05 (PST)

AC - Wong Fei Hung was a real person, so his English name should be pronounced in his own dialect. I see where you are coming from though. My last name is Wong (a distant relative, so I've heard), and I am Cantonese. I guess if you were to translate, it would be Huang in Mandarin, and Huynh in Vietnamese, but my English name will always be Wong.

Say, I am part of the "Wong" village in southern China. If I went to the "Huang" village in northern China, will they accept me with open arms? NOT!

"It's true we Asians only make up about 3% of the nation, but if you look at it, how many times are Asians ever featured in a full year of People magazine or any other magazine? And in a positive light too?"

Okay, I've said this before, and I'll say it again because I don't think the message got through. Hollywood and the publishing industry are a BUSINESS! They are out to make MONEY! They do not care about all that PC crap! Is 3% of the population a large enough demographic to cater to?! NO! How many people other than Asians would watch a show about Asians (other than kung fu)?

Even out of that 3%, you have a wide range of economic classes, age, gender, etc. So, in essence, you may be looking at a less than 1% market share! Yeah, let's try to propose something like that to the bigwigs in Hollywood. I hope you have extra thick padding on your butt because it's going to get kicked straight out the door faster than Ethan on the movie, Slackers!

Furthermore, since most Asians don't care about other Asian nationalities, they will not watch a show about a specific Asian ehtnicity. For example, I know few Chinese people who watched Margaret Cho's American Girl. Since she is Korean, mostly Koreans liked that show. I saw the Filipino movie, The Debut (because I grew up in a Filipino area), but I know few other Chinese who saw it.

Do you think Chinese, Thais, or Cambodians will flock to the theaters just to see Rick Yune (Korean), or Dante Basco (Filipino)?!?! They might as well be white!

No Asians in magazines, eh? I've said this before, and I'll say it again as well. KRISTIN KREUK! She is everywhere! I've seen a handful of features about her over the last two months. And you konw what? As far as I'm concerned, I don't care if there is never another Chinese girl on TV again because she is all I'll ever need to see. =)
Toi San Jai Eric@KristinKreuk.net Wednesday, February 06, 2002 at 14:32:32 (PST)

"newspapers and magazines"

Does it make a difference at this point. How will you even know they are asian. They could just take up a pen name.

"Crossfire, the Point, or Larry King"

There was Connie Chung. But she doesn't associate with Asian. But I see what you are getting at. Is that discussion format even popular anymore?

"Asian American equivalent of Mark Twain"

My god if Amy Tam is made into required reading in the USA. I will personally support book burnings. Pearl Buck is more Asian/Chinese than Amy Tam ever will be. And I don't even like Pearl Buck.

"And what about programs on the history of the various Asian nations?"

PBS and other education channels have this. After 9/11 PBS did a 3 part series on Islamic Nations and Arabs to educate the mass.

"Or an adaptation of a great Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Indian/etc. classic?"

"Masterpiece Theater Asia" in English. In Asia they have mini-series of the classics every year. I just don't think anybody in America wants to watch. PBS had "Dream of a Red Mansion" a while back. I don't remember people scrambling for their sets to see this kind of stuff.

We have Tia Carrera as the star of some Treasure Hunting show on UPN. Asian have come a long way since I was growing up where the only asian I saw on TV were MASH and Magnium PI.
AC dropout Wednesday, February 06, 2002 at 12:04:42 (PST)

Asian Dominatrix;

You obviously haven't seen Michelle Malkan on CSPAN, CNBC and in the Newspapers. She's a nationally syndicated conservative columnist and a Filipina American, and is only 30 years old! You need to look at the newspaper more closely, hon!
Bruce Lee Wayne Wednesday, February 06, 2002 at 11:01:35 (PST)

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