'Fresh Off The Boat' TV Show Picked Up: ABC Orders First Asian-American Comedy Series
Television network ABC has ordered "Fresh Off the Boat", a new comedy series, for its 2014-2015 lineup. The announcement was made over the weekend, making the series the first to feature an Asian American family on a network television sitcom in around 20 years. ABC was able to close the deal with 20th Century Fox TV following "intense negotiations," eater.com reported.
The show is based on the memoir of Eddie Huang, a chef and restaurateur, and is set in Orlando in the 1990s. The half-hour, single-camera comedy follows the misadventures of Eddie as a 12-year-old kid with his Taiwanese immigrant family experiencing culture shock as they move to Florida from Washington D.C. in pursuit of the American Dream.
Actor Hudson Yang will be playing the role of a young hip-hop loving Eddie Huang in the television comedy series. The show will also be starring actors Constance Wu as Jessica, Randall Park as Louis, Forrest Wheeler as Emery, and Ian Chen as Evan. Nahnatchka Khan, creator of the American sitcom "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," will write and executive produce the show. Jake Kasdan will also executive produce the show, which will be under the production of 20th Century Fox Television.
After some confusion over what the title of the TV show would be -- whether it was going to be called "Far East Orlando" following the setting of the show or if it should keep its more catchy title "Fresh Off the Boat" -- producers chose to go with "Fresh Off The Boat."
Aside from ordering "Fresh Off the Boat," ABC also got hold of another comedy, "Cristela," while renewing Tim Allen's "Last Man Standing" for its fourth season. The show is expected to offer a fresh concept and just as much hilarity as it debuts with the television network.