Fresh Off the Boat

"Fresh Off The Boat" is so funny, so smart, and so charming that I enjoyed every minute of the first two episodes. I hope the creative team behind it, and the wonderful actors can maintain this high-level of quality.

Randall Park is terrific as Louis Huang the optimistic - perhaps a bit naive - patriarch of the family that has just moved to Orlando from Washington D.C. Park shows refreshing depth to his complex character by understanding certain realities while maintaining optimism; optimism that he hopes can carry him and his family through some rough adjustments.

Constance Wu is spectacular! She is the most beautiful woman on television. Her character - Jessica Huang - makes sure things get done. She makes changes at the family's restaurant, she makes sure the children study hard, and she makes an effort to get to know the neighbors; all of which is shown in smart and funny ways. As demanding as she can be, her mind is open and she shows great empathy and compassion when it makes sense. Jessica is a well-written character performed brilliantly by Constance Wu.

Their three boys in the show are funny, and smart which is quite refreshing compared to other kid characters on television. The grandmother character is like many grandmothers with a foreign background; she may be equal parts traditionalist and "ready for anything" - she seems to enjoy the oldest boy's taste in music more than anyone else does.

Sometimes a stranger, a newcomer, sees people more clearly than they are willing to see themselves...

These TV series are very watchable, rewatchable and perfect as a background watch when you do something else. Many characters have undeniable charisma, relatable and the story line is rather lighthearted instilling the right values. It's also, in a way, generation X's nostalgic porn.

What didn't work for me:

• the family cast is rather mismatched visually, they didn't look as of the same ethnicity to me
• Louis's character is very cardboard like and lacks depth.

• They often forgot to balance Jessica's character, sacrificing showcasing the traits her family loves her for -all for the sake of comedy relief attached to her pushiness and other rather negative traits.

• I lived as a foreigner in a southern US town and it's already difficult to integrate even if you are a crowd pleaser. And though I am white and my town was mostly very lovely, I still experienced xenophobia, at least, once per month. With Jessica's character forget about it...I think the whole integration issue was super sugarcoated.

I came into Fresh Off the Boat with low expectations, as there are seemingly endless ways to make a bad network show, especially by making it dull and mediocre by dumbing down the characters and their experiences. Add in the topic of race and immigration, where I'm certain network producers are terrified of offending anyone, and you're almost certain to brew up a giant batch of watered-down, "family friendly" weak tea.

But, amazingly, the show is good. And funny. Maybe most importantly, all of the characters are human, and they are full people while simultaneously showing different sides of the immigrant experience. I have a feeling you're not going to know who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys," and this really won't be a show about Eddie but about a family. As the first few episodes show, each family member has different, and even contradictory, skills for managing their lives together, and they complement each other. I also bet people outside of the family will soon be part of this equation.

Speaking of which, it's ironic that some reviewers are saying the show is anti-white, as a big critique of white people is how they tend to dominate any experience (like, for instance, a show about an Asian American immigrant family) and make it all about them.

Some background. I came to the states without any knowledge of engish and neither did my parents. It was some midwestern state in the early 1990s. In the school, there were 3 asians, and 1 black kid. From the very first episode to episode 8. I felt like my life was shown. I had the same infatuation with hiphop. My first album was Straight Outta Compton. PE and Ice Cube and Ice T were my favorite groups. I felt exactly as the series describe, it's not that the white folks were disrespectful to me (in fact there where at the beginning), but they just don't know what to do with a person of different race and culture. I could never truly be in the "in crowd". I found commonality in people who are different and music that's different, and most hiphop at that time was portraying rebellion against the establishment. To me, the establishment was white with Christian morales. That's not what I am about. I had 3 Asian kids in school who are straight A and musicians. I ain't about that nonsense. All through school, my best friend was a black kid and he was the one that introduced me to straight outta compton.

So this show is a great authentic view of the Asian minority. Stereotypes of Asian parents are REAL and of the white folks are REAL. Exaggeration of course, but the gist of it is VERY VERY real. My parents HATED rap with a passion because they don't understand it. All they care about 100% of time is where is my grade, what am I doing wrt to studying. No basketball, nothing. I had to find solace in the things that are shown in this movie. I had to conform to pizza and sloppy joe where my parents served Chinese dishes. In the 90s, Chinese is not the in crowd, unlike now.

Overall, this is a VERY realistic view for ANY Asian's coming to a majority white area in the 80s, 90s. I felt my life was displayed on screen. It was hilarious at the same time nostalgic of my life.

I signed up just to say my support for this show. I know there are many Asians like me with the same background, living in the same white neighborhoods.

Every other sitcom I have seen before are either non relevant or non- relateable to person like me or Asian. I get all the jokes of Seinfeld and Friends, but those are non relatable to an Asian person. Supremely refreshing to finally get our voices heard. About time.

US needs more shows like this.

Living in today's world we see more and more Asian people all in our communities I like living around them too, they are intelligent attractive and mostly friendly. This new ABC series set in 1990's Orlando about a Taiwanses family who moved from Washington D.C. to start a new life is a big winner! It centers around the young man and oldest child in the family named Eddie Huang(Hudson Yang)who is learning more and more American culture in the 90's from the style, music, TV, movies and one liners as this series captures the 90's culture well with it's slang and one liners! A real sugar and spice treat is the performance of the mom Jessica(Constance Wu)she's a sexy and sassy outspoken loving matriarch who guides the ship for the whole Huang clan as her husband(Randall Park)runs his steakhouse. Overall great show that learns us about Asian culture all the while being funny, educated and capturing 90's culture without taking things to serious! A thumbs up winner.