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December 31, 2005
Asian American Soap Opera in the Works

CBS has ordered a script for Red Doors, a prime-time soap opera about an Chinese American family based on the indie movie of the same name directed by Georgia Lee.

I've not seen the movie, but it's about a dysfunctional suburban family that has three daughters. This could be a breakthrough or All-American Girl (it wasn't very good and tanked) all over again.

Posted by harry at December 31, 2005 11:08 AM


Comments

I thought Margaret Cho was coming out with a new sitcom sometime soon. Anyone hear about that?

Would love to see Red Doors the movie. God, I hope it's not cheesy, and for the sake of Asian men, I hope one of the daughters actually has an Asian boyfriend that's not an asshole. Anyone have insight on the movie itself?

Posted by: Jimmy at December 31, 2005 2:50 PM

I saw Red Doors at the Tribeca festival, where it won the best feature film award. It was excellent. The best character is the dad, who is played by Tzi Ma from Rush Hour. As for the boyfriend issue, the director mentioned in the Q&A that 2 of the 3 male love interests were originally cast with Asian actors, but that they both dropped out at the last second because of scheduling issues, and the second choice actors who were available both happened to be non-Asian. The female love interest (to the lesbian middle sister) is played by a Hapa (Mia Riverton, also one of the producers). But none of that really bothered me, because of the way the family story is laid out and the overall themes and messages (I won't ruin it by giving away the whole story here).

I've since befriended one of the filmmakers, and she told me that if the CBS show gets a greenlight, they are definitely going to cast Asian male actors in key love interest roles. The only reason they couldn't make it happen for the film was due to constraints of time and money, and the need to replace the actors at the last second (not to take away from the non-Asian actors who ended up playing the roles).

Anyway, the movie is really good, and they have a distribution deal, so it should be out in theaters in the spring. The filmmakers have a website to announce all of their news: www.reddoorsthemovie.com

Posted by: Charles at January 2, 2006 12:44 AM

Let's hope everthing you say about the TV show comes true, Charles.

Posted by: Harry Mok at January 2, 2006 2:40 PM

YIKES!!!

Posted by: yikey at January 3, 2006 10:47 AM

Hate to say it Charles, but what you said about two of the three male roles having gone to Asian Men, but due to scheduling, were unable to play the part, so they were given to Non Asian Men - that sounds soo full of sh*t. Like all the other Asian Male actors out there just didn't exist, and the only two that would have been cast, just happen to be UNAVAILABlLE. Just tell the truth, the American media is just too racist to share the screen with an Asian Male who is not gay, gook, geek, or gangster. The American Media is the most racists media on the planet, the way it degrades all other races and cultures.

Posted by: ron at January 13, 2006 8:10 PM

I know this is old but I was bored so I started shifting through the archives.

It's hard to believe that they couldn't find a few Asian male actors to fill in these roles when all we hear about regarding Asians in the entertainment industry are about Asian actors that are available but are only offered stereotypical roles.

Sadly, nothing makes me cringe more than when Asian women are put in charge of portraying Asian men. They're just as bad as white men.

Posted by: Rob at May 4, 2007 12:16 PM

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