All-American Girl (1994–1995)

Based around the stand-up routines of comedienne Margaret Cho, this series looked at the culture clashes that occured between a traditional Korean mother and her fully Americanized daughter... See full summary »

Creator:

Gary Jacobs

Stars:

Margaret Cho, Amy Hill, Jodi Long

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Margaret Cho	...	Margaret Kim (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Amy Hill	...	Yung-hee 'Grandma' Kim (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Jodi Long	...	Katherine Kim (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Benny Kim (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Maddie Corman	...	Ruthie Latham (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Judy Gold	...	Gloria Schechter (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
J.B. Quon	...	Eric Kim (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
BD Wong	...	Dr. Stuart Kim (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Ashley Johnson	...	Casey Emmerson (12 episodes, 1994)

Storyline

Based around the stand-up routines of comedienne Margaret Cho, this series looked at the culture clashes that occured between a traditional Korean mother and her fully Americanized daughter. Mom just wants Margaret to marry 'respectable' men: doctors, lawyers, scientists (and always Korean), while her daughter is more interested in Caucasian bikers, musicians, and any other type that her mother is bound to hate. Through all of this, Dad knows better than to interfere, and just keeps out of the fray.

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Plot Keywords:

korean | comedienne | immigrant | parent child relationship | generational | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

All American Girl

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sandollar, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (19 episodes)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This show became famous for Margaret Cho's battle with ABC executives which ended in the show's cancellation and her subsequent health problems. Cho used her own material but executives kept making changes in an effort to boost ratings but resulted in bad critical reviews which commented on the show's constant shift in tone and characters. Cho later said that she was approached by the network to drop a great deal of weight in a very short time. She was also told that she was not acting Asian enough which resulted in the hiring of an Asian consultant. All the Asian characters were dropped from the show in order to make Cho stand out but then Cho was accused of acting too Asian. These constant changes led to the show being canceled after only one season. After the show was canceled Cho suffered kidney failure due to the rapid weight loss and spiraled into drug and alcohol addiction. She eventually got clean and her problems with the show has become material for her stand-up act.

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Connections

Referenced in Cho Dependent (2011)

User Reviews

Margaret Cho the Real All-American Girl!

During her slightly hilarious stand-up routine, Margaret Cho is more than successful at pointing out the absurdity of racial and ethnic stereotypes! She was successful enough to join the likes of: Tim Allen, Jerry Seinfeld, Rosanne, and Drew Carey in the world of situation comedies! In "All-American Girl" she plays Margaret Kim: the daughter of Korean Immigrants. Three generations of Kims stay in the same household. Her parents (the bread-winning Kims) often set her up with Korean boys. Not just any Korean boys, but: doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other upwardly mobile professionals! Margaret however, likes to interracially date: aspiring musicians, actors, artists, writers; in other words worthless bums! She is much happier with the club hopping crowd than the silver-spoon eggheads that her parents try to set her up with!

Margaret probably had the most underrated supporting cast in the Industry. But sitcoms that cast a stand-up comedian as the lead only survive if they are well written! Casting Margaret as a party going mall rat did not give her the wiggle room to develop her character into an Emmy nomination! The series could've easily lasted more than one season if it were even SLIGHTLY better written! However ABC was notorious for abruptly pulling the plug on ethnic sitcoms! Margaret has enough talent to appear elsewhere, so look for her in the near future!