"All-American Girl" (1994) TV series 1994-1995

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Creator:

Gary Jacobs

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

14 September 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Based around the stand-up routines of comedienne Margaret Cho, this series looked at the culture clashes...

Plot Keywords:

Korean | Comedienne | Immigrant | Parent Child Relationship | Generational

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Margaret Cho	...	Margaret Kim (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Amy Hill	...	Yung-hee 'Grandma' Kim (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Jodi Long	...	Katherine Kim (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Benny Kim (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Maddie Corman	...	Ruthie Latham (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Judy Gold	...	Gloria Schechter (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
J.B. Quon	...	Eric Kim (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
B.D. Wong	...	Dr. Stuart Kim (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Ashley Johnson	...	Casey Emmerson (12 episodes, 1994)

Runtime:

30 min (19 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Sandollar

Trivia:

This show became famous for Margaret Cho's battle with ABC executives which ended in the show's cancellation and her subsequent health problems. Cho used her own material but executives kept making changes in an effort to boost ratings but resulted in bad critical reviews which commented on the show's constant shift in tone and characters. Cho later said that she was approached by the network to drop a great deal of weight in a very short time. She was also told that she was not acting Asian enough which resulted in the hiring of an Asian consultant. All the Asian characters were dropped from the show in order to make Cho stand out but then Cho was accused of acting too Asian. These constant changes led to the show being canceled after only one season. After the show was canceled Cho suffered kidney failure due to the rapid weight loss and spiraled into drug and alcohol addiction. She eventually got clean and her problems with the show has become material for her stand-up act.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Angels' Revenge (#7.22)" (1995)

Had a Great Start Until Changes were Made

All American Girl in the beginning was a pleasure to watch. I liked Margret's comedy of her family life, but mainly, being an Asian-American guy, I could relate to most of the things going on, as I used to hear he same things from my Grandmother when I was a kid. For example, "Marry a nice Japanese girl"

When I was growing up, I had to deal with being different compared to most other Asians my age, as I didn't like the same type of sports they played to dating girls outside my race. After watching this, In some ways, I didn't feel alone being the way I am and I could see some similarities in Margret and myself.

The problem I had with the show was when they made changes in the show, when got rid of virtually the entire original cast and replaced them with another group. When I watched the show, I found it unfunny. I felt couldn't identify with the show any longer and I stopped watching it, which is too bad because in my opinion, this show had a great start.