ALL American means apple pie, grid iron and blonde cheerleaders, right? Wrong. Not now that 'minorities' have gone primetime.
If Bill Cosby broke down the barrier for middle-class African Americans, a new sitcom is set to crack the stereotypes about Asian Americans on network television and explore the unique pressures they find themselves trying to resolve . . . and all with a laugh.
The ABC-screened, Walt Disney Television-made comedy is called All American Girl, and its stars represent the new generation of Asian Americans who have struggled with the cultural confusion of feeling as American as the next jock, being treated like an outcast by their blue-eyed counterparts, and all while being expected to be true to mother-country values by their families.
It is a tug of war, and love, familiar to many young Hong Kong people and its stars - all American by birth but Chinese, Korean and Japanese by ethnic background - are happy that this cultural dilemma is at last being portrayed.
Starring as the all-American girl is Margaret Cho, who grew up in San Francisco and made her mark as a stand-up comedian. She is delighted that Asian Americans have finally gone mainstream.
'This whole thing is so great. If you look at the American sitcom, it is the most conventional, commercial, conservative medium of entertainment there is. It is the most American. And it is one of the things we do very, very well.