Details

Release year: 1994

Storyline

Follows the culture clashes that occurred between a traditional Korean mother and her fully-Americanized daughter.

Top credits

Cast

Margaret Cho — Margaret Kim
Amy Hill — Yung-hee 'Grandma' Kim
Jodi Long — Katherine Kim
Clyde Kusatsu — Benny Kim

Did you know

• 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.

• BD Wong, who portrayed Cho's brother on the show, says the issue with the series was "they took the raw uncut diamond that was the 24-year-old Margaret and just sanded her down. Ellen and Roseanne got to be themselves, and those shows were wildly successful. The show's failure had nothing to do with Margaret's Asian-American-ness but in the refusal to present her Asian-American-ness authentically."

• Amy Hill was only 41 when she was cast as Grandma Kim and wore heavy aging makeup to play the role. Hill is only 15 years older than Margaret Cho, who played her granddaughter, and five years younger than Clyde Kusatsu, who played her son.