FOB: From the other Latino in the audience

Wednesday night I attended the Fresh Off the Boat (FOB) premiere screening in Little Tokyo with my best friend, Okamoto. Yes, my Japanese-American BFF invited me. So I’m legit.

It was a perfectly executed screening with a nervous and excited energy (#repsweats). After the pilot episode the panel shared their first impressions and opened up to hear questions and comments.

One of the first to speak up from the audience was a self-described Latino. He praised FOB for being genuine and in the same note shit on George Lopez for lacking it -- for being white washed. Still two days later I’m fuming with anger. 

OF COURSE GEORGE LOPEZ WAS WATERED DOWN. 

It was a generic ugly, overweight husband with a smart, hot wife and annoying grandparent that just happen to be Mexican. A typical American family sitcom made possible by Sandra Bullock. George Lopez was in no way revolutionary like FOB. And I’m not talking about the-it’s-been-20-years-since-an-Asian-American-family-has-been-on-TV. It’s a story about the American Dream. A story about an immigrant family. My story.

George Lopez could only have small moments of my story: when the daughter refused to swim in PE because she wasn’t allowed to shave her legs. That was me. A panelist said it best when she noted: the audience wants to see themselves as the narrative, as the central character. George Lopez was safe and didn’t rock the boat too much. George Lopez didn’t want to fail and block out twenty years of Latino Families on TV. The struggle wasn’t so real for the third/fourth generation Lopez family. George Lopez missed the mark.

FOB and Cristela, another non-white family sitcom on ABC hit the mark. And they hit the mark hard. We are different. Our parents do have accents. We sometimes do too. We can make fun of Middle America. And we can do so with intelligence and satire. FOB is victorious and hype-worthy because of its controversial title and memoir. Cristela has a vagina. It’s a sleeper no one is talking about. It wasn’t given airtime in between The Middle and Modern Family. It was given Friday night at 8:30pm. Where TV shows go to die. This walking-dead sitcom was created by, written by, and produced by a Latina: Cristela Alonzo. She is hustling across the nation-- The View appearances, stand-up comedy, guest appearances on General Hospital and working on a sitcom. She is Shonda Rhimes 2.0!

Back to the screening

The question of success was brought up. Will Middle America watch FOB? Maybe. Maybe not. But who cares if a soccer mom in St. Louis doesn’t resonate with FOB. My people will. My people do. And our numbers are too big to ignore anymore. We are the audience. Those Rose Hills commercials should have featured a stereotypical ancient Mayan instead.

Thank you ABC (and other production companies involved) for all the diversity this past season. You’re not all off the hook entirely. But you are on the right track. Finally. We are watching...