The current flood of people releasing statements about their sexual harassers and abusers is both a good and a bad thing: It’s horrible that any of these incidents should happen to anyone, but at least now the truth is coming to the surface and the healing can begin (and at least some of the predators can hopefully…
Even though the season-two finale of Fresh Off The Boat made it almost certain that the Huangs would be traveling to their native Taiwan, the journey still feels like a big deal. For one, the season-three premiere marks the first time that any American network television show—sitcom or otherwise—has been filmed in the…
A running theme this season on Fresh Off The Boat has been the Huang children wanting to be taken more seriously by their elders. This reached an apex last week in “Doing It Right,” where Eddie split off from his father during a chili cook-off to come up with his own recipe. Evan, also experiencing feelings of…
Ever since the first episode premiered back in February, there’s been a lot of debate about Fresh Off The Boat’s treatment of race. While most viewers seemed to praise the slightly uncomfortable but important storyline of Walter perceiving Eddie as a threat for being their school’s only other minority, many people…
Last season, Fresh Off The Boat didn’t always know what it wanted to be. In one corner was the real-life Eddie Huang, who, rather unrealistically, wanted the series to deliver all the uncomfortable family strife and racial tension found in his memoir. In the other corner was creator Nahnatchka Khan, who realized that…
Like many of my favorite episodes from the first season, Fresh Off The Boat’s second season premiere revolves around a cultural difference: Eddie’s friends believe that the summer after seventh grade sets the stage for their whole eighth-grade career, but his working-class immigrant parents do not “believe in…
Shocking people with no capacity for intuiting the inevitable, it seems Eddie Huang now has one less line on his LinkedIn profile. Turns out repeatedly trashing the sitcom based on your memoir is not the best way to ensure your continued employment on said show: Vulture reports Huang is no longer doing voiceover…
During World Cultures Day at Eddie’s school, each student is assigned a different country to study. Unsurprisingly, the kids don’t end up studying their respective locales as much as they latch on to a stereotype on which they can base their entire presentation. That’s usually how World Cultures Day—or whatever your…
Whenever I tell people that Fresh Off The Boat tends to delve into broadness and unoriginality during its weaker episodes, they often say something like “What do you expect? It’s an ABC sitcom.” But I refuse to give the show a pass for that. ABC sitcom or not, the series has proved it can draw effective humor from…
Many immigrants’ introduction to America (or any place, really) comes in the form of pop culture—they often see a Hollywood blockbuster or hear a top-40 hit before ever stepping foot in the country itself. And that’s a beautiful thing. Film, television, music, and books all have the power to shape our worldview, and…
It’s always dangerous when a show’s reputation precedes it. Ever since ABC announced Fresh Off The Boat, it has prompted a hailstorm of preemptive criticism, essays, and questionable questions. The show is based on chef Eddie Huang’s sharply funny and ruthless memoir of the same name. Huang also does the voiceover for …
