Asian-Americans uplifting others in their community is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
Ken Jeong, whose Netflix special “You Complete Me, Ho” debuted last week, revealed in a New York Times interview on Thursday that those who worked on “Fresh Off the Boat,” a sitcom widely praised for its strong Asian-American representation, pushed to get his fellow ABC show, “Dr. Ken,” renewed.
The comedian explained that Melvin Mar, executive producer of “Fresh Off the Boat,” was particularly invested in keeping Jeong’s sitcom on the air.
“He would go everyday and call the president of ABC and go, ‘You gotta pick up ‘Dr. Ken.’ Renew it and pick it up for a series,” Jeong said.
He described the “Fresh Off the Boat” crew as “big champions” of his show and he credited them for winning “Dr. Ken” a second season.
“They really pulled for us,” he said.
Both “Dr. Ken” and “Fresh Off the Boat” are considered wins in representation because of their Asian-American leads, a rarity in Hollywood to this day. Jeong has even appeared on “Fresh Off the Boat” as Gene, patriarch Louis Huang’s brother.
Jeong’s own show was canceled in 2017 before a third season. But he told TimesTalks that within 24 hours of the news, he was on a plane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to shoot scenes for “Crazy Rich Asians,” another culturally significant moment for Asian America.