Links for November 19, 2015
2015: The Year Asian-Americans Got a Shot on TV
In fact, what’s most remarkable about Dr. Ken is that it’s wholly unremarkable. Even though critics almost universally panned the show, it was one of the first freshman shows that ABC picked up for a full season, because it had solid ratings.... It didn’t have to be perfect, or present a good face, or rep Asian America hard. It could just be fine — mediocre, even — and we don’t have to agonize over whether the show was worth defending because it was “the only one.”
No Longer ‘The Only One’? This Year, Things Changed For Asian-Americans On TV
Looking back, it seems clear that the “first wheel” did indeed come rolling in with Fresh Off The Boat’s success. And then another, and another, with shows like Quantico, Dr. Ken and Master of None. What resulted was a range of shows featuring Asian-Americans, some good, some OK, some not-so-great. And if you think about it, that range of quality is itself a gift, a product of there simply being more.
W.A.G.E. Certification sets standards of compensation to be paid to artists for 14 fee categories.... Fees for each category are calculated as a fixed percentage of each organization’s [total annual operating expenses] by W.A.G.E.’s Fee Calculator and are assigned to each organization as part of the Certification process.
Troop Beverly Hills (1989) — Art of the Title
At that moment, we had a lot going on in the studio. But I wanted to do the job, and I was looking for a way to make it look fresh and different from other things we had done. I had known John Kricfalusi for a while. He was really a talented guy. I think he had just gotten fired from a project [laughs], which was always happening to him. So he was free, and I said to him, “How’d you like to come in and design this title sequence?”