"All-American Girl" (1994) TV series 1994-1995

Creator:

Gary Jacobs
(more)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

14 September 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Based around the stand-up routines of comedienne Margaret Cho, this series looked at the culture clashes...

Plot Keywords:

Korean | Comedienne | Immigrant | Parent Child Relationship | Generational

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

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)

Series Directed by
Terry Hughes		(17 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Writing credits
Dawn DeKeyser		(3 episodes, 1994-1995)
Tim Maile		(3 episodes, 1994-1995)
Douglas Tuber		(3 episodes, 1994-1995)
Elizabeth Wong		(2 episodes, 1994-1995)
Kell Cahoon		(2 episodes, 1994)
Pat Dougherty		(2 episodes, 1994)
Tom Saunders		(2 episodes, 1994)
Gary Jacobs		(1 episode, 1994)

Series Produced by
Gail Berman	....	executive producer (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Sandy Gallin	....	executive producer (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Stuart Sheslow	....	executive producer (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Gary Jacobs	....	executive producer (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Clay Graham	....	supervising producer / co-executive producer (17 episodes, 1994-1995)
Bruce Johnson	....	producer (17 episodes, 1994-1995)
Tim Maile	....	co-producer (16 episodes, 1994-1995)
Douglas Tuber	....	co-producer (16 episodes, 1994-1995)
Brian J. Cowan	....	associate producer (15 episodes, 1994-1995)
Pat Dougherty	....	co-executive producer (10 episodes, 1994)
Russell Dague	....	associate producer (unknown episodes)

Series Original Music by
George Englund Jr.		(19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Nick South		(unknown episodes, 1994-1995)
Wendall J. Yuponce		(unknown episodes)

Series Cinematography by
Daniel Flannery		(19 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Film Editing by
Jimmy B. Frazier		(19 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Casting by
Nikki Valko		(8 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Production Design by
David Sackeroff		(19 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Set Decoration by
Freddie Rymond		(8 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Makeup Department
Adam Christopher	....	makeup artist (9 episodes, 1994-1995)
Yvonne Depatis-Kupka	....	hair stylist (8 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mark Cendrowski	....	associate director (9 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Art Department
Greg Gneier	....	set designer (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Loren Nickloff	....	construction coordinator (18 episodes, 1994-1995)
Jeff Ackerman	....	property master (3 episodes, 1994)

Series Sound Department
Tamara Johnson	....	sound re-recording mixer (18 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Costume and Wardrobe Department
Brian Cotton	....	key costumer (7 episodes, 1994-1995)
Lynda Pyka	....	key costumer (7 episodes, 1994-1995)

Series Editorial Department
Brian Q. Kelley	....	electronic editorial (1 episode, 1995)

Series Other crew
J.J. Paulsen	....	executive story editor (19 episodes, 1994-1995)
Paul Paolasso	....	stage manager (14 episodes, 1994-1995)
Doeri Welch Greiner	....	production coordinator (8 episodes, 1994-1995)
Stacey Hur	....	executive story editor (4 episodes, 1995)
Russ Reinsel	....	technical director (2 episodes, 1994-1995)
Mark Cendrowski	....	associate director (unknown episodes)
Steve Grantowitz	....	production assistant (unknown episodes)
Hector Tinoco	....	production assistant (unknown episodes)

Production Companies

• Sandollar
• Touchstone Television

Distributors

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1994-1995) (USA) (TV)
• Channel 4 Television Corporation (1995) (UK) (TV)
• Shout! Factory (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony BMG Music Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

30 min (19 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Sandollar

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cho Dependent (2011)

Whatever its reality really is, there is okay comedy here.

Margaret is switching her cultural roots completely. Considered like this, the series feels complete, if concise.

*

I found the first episode misleading. This is pilot episode quality. It made me look back to what I had read in the comments here, a quality series about Asian culture, and that did not fit. A series mangled by the channel that it was made for, but this was the pilot, before the mangling?

amended: For episode one to make sense to me I had to redefine it as part of TV sitcom culture, it following those ways and values. I have not seen broadcast television since the eighties and this told me that as far as sitcoms go I did not feel that I was missing anything.

The big difficulty for me was the canned audience response. I tried to imagine Buffy or Shrek with that sort of soundtrack and it did not click, to me it is a way to pull down a story, not to enhance it. I now know that I do not like can and audience applause genre, on principle.

Carrying on watching the series anyway, I did have the DVD set after all, I was discovering that the can factor was a bit calmer in the rest of the series. The humour was allowed to shine. It became noticeable and okay, not pulling down the culture that it was based on. I am from a different culture to the extent that there is a conflict of interests, but I can tolerate this. The humour reminds me of quality stand-up comedy that I used to like a lot. This says that I still like that particular genre. It helps this to be better than many sitcoms that I used to watch way back when for want of an alternative activity. Much of this series is enjoyable.

*

The comment about the negative support that this series received from its funding hierarchy, which would obviously be in tune with accepted sitcom ways. To me that could just be part of the script. I even assume that this one would not object to a series centred on Asians if they thought that it was on the right track. From episode eight commentary I understand the series to have originated with the network, part of a career development scheme for their comedy talent. I understand that many elements of the series content come from the script writers.

I obviously guess askew, the 'making of' video points to the hunger that backers have for precedent. The script that the backers brought in a big name, much bigger than Margaret and Amy, to ensure some sort of audience? Or is that a reminder that some here are babies in the sitcom gender? Or quality control? That Margaret and Amy are miffed by the backers' understanding? Was the series no go from the start? There are things that I do not interpret 100% literally.

The inclusion of children? It was not long after Booktopus and then the death of Inky The Squid that stand up comic Margaret spent part of an episode in jail, an episode that Ashley did not appear in. I assume that script writers play games. Jack Black.

*

I purchased the DVD set, a UK purchase from Canada, because it is an Ashley Johnson and My Price, very affordable. I continued trying to enjoy it because it is an Ashley, and to me it was worth the effort, even though she only appears in the early episodes. Her last episode was 13, with its death of an insect and romance between crickets.

She is a friend of family because of their son, who is not the centre of the stories, so she is not there often, anyway, but this is a nice role and nice script, she shines. I am glad she got the part. She is in 2 to 7, then 11 to 13.

amended: Ashley also appearing with Amy Hill in the series Maybe This Time of 1995. There are plenty of girl culture TV series that I would like to explore, just they are not there as full series in the affordable DVD world yet. Hannah Montana, Lizzie McGuire, etc. There seem to be affordable snippets occasionally available, but so far I do not know what these are really like and the thought of canned audience reactions is a downer. The warfare hinted at in this series would often be a problem for me too. I actually experience warfare to be rife in the media. All American is proving itself as interesting.

This links with my comments re Fame 1980 and Harry Potter 2.