I hear where you’re coming from, and I’m also a bit salty. But the show may deserve more credit that you’re giving it. The most profound point that the show could make, and what Big Eddie Huang works toward in his memoir IMO, is that identity is a choice. That it’s legitimate for a hyphen-american to feel a kinship with a culture that’s not made for them. Perhaps this is an optimistic view, but when Little Eddie shows that he identifies with black culture, it’s not only for cheap jokes. He’s quoting Biggie to articulate his thoughts to his parents and relates his own experiences to the stories told through rap. Little Eddie isn’t just trying on a hat for fun, even if it’s occasionally funny: he’s parsing life through a lens that makes sense to him. (Eddie makes this point much clearer himself in his interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates at the NY historical society…even his memoir quotes Tupac next to Emerson).

Compare to Fresh Prince of Bel-air for a second, with Will Smith romping through his school with a backwards hat and an inside-out blazer. The premise is a clash of classes, which is funny. The naivest interpretation is that Will doesn’t, and will never, fit into this upper-class society by virtue of his background. He’s just a hoodlum playing in the wrong court. A better and more common interpretation IMO is that what we take for granted (Bel-air in this case) is pretty absurd, and that Will is just trying to survive with what makes sense to him. The clash leads to cheap laughs, but the deeper point isn’t completely over people’s heads. My point is, I don’t think FOB reinforces the model-minority (or “one story”) idea as much as you claim.

And let’s not expect too much of this show. They could always do a better job, and I agree it’s already great to have more Asian representation in mainstream US media. To simply not be destructive is already a step forward (shout-out to Margaret Cho). That said, FOB is only a half hour on TV, designed for consumption by Middle America. To have the courage to even put a different face of AAs forward (they could’ve easily had two doctor parents) and challenge the idea of being a docile minority group (Eddie’s reaction to being called a chink) is admirable. That’s not stale, it’s pretty fresh. This is especially admirable when it’s hard to dive deep — Eddie Huang’s life, raw and unfiltered, is not safe for TV, even if he were white.

All that said, I’m looking forward to seeing how this show progresses and I’d love to discuss this further sometime!

You mention in the beginning that you and your friends debated the show after watching – I’d be interested in hearing more about those conversations as part of this piece.