What do you think of LAX?

[BigLew]

Anybody watch this episode?

I got this from an email via asianmediawatch.net

"China Doll," the exotic and submissive Filipino Woman on NBC's premiere of LAX

In the premiere of NBC's LAX, a young, attractive Filipino woman is stopped upon arriving to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) under the suspicion of drug possession. The show invokes themes reminiscent of Asian mail-order brides and cheap Asian prostitutes. The woman immigrates to America to marry her rich, overweight, balding, middle-aged White fiancée. She is detained by a young white immigration officer who becomes enamored with her as she playfully flirts with him during her detainment. Her character epitomizes a long-enduring stereotype of Asian women depicted by Hollywood: the subservient, exotic, and hyper-sexual Asian female who is the focus of desire by White men. And the show reminds us that there is a name for this caricature when her fiancée calls her "China Doll."

In one scene, the immigration officer tells his supervisor that he wants to sponsor her into the United States. His supervisor tries to convince him otherwise by admitting that he too at one point had considered keeping an Asian woman. He says, "Same thing happened to me once. I sent mine back," referring to his Asian woman with a possessive pronoun as if she were an object. Further reinforcing the status of Asian women as a commodity, the Filipino woman's name is never revealed although she plays a key role and has dialogue in several scenes. Although LAX takes place in a city that is 12% Asian American, this episode has only one Asian American speaking role -- one that perpetuates negative stereotypes.

[Banana]

Another show to be ignored.

[tommyhtown]

I don't like LAX. Everytime I flew to LA I felt like sardines in a can when I go pick up my luggage. The baggage claim area for Continental airlines is way too small. I don't like all the busing between terminals either.

Oh wait this is a different topic.

[truMp]

cmon, the plot of the story is around an airport. who is going to watch that?
hollywood is messed up.

[SunWuKong]

cmon, the plot of the story is around an airport. who is going to watch that?
hollywood is messed up.

there has been plenty of stupid plots for tv series that achieved popularity. namely, any number of shows about a bunch of whiny-ass white teenagers. and much more. as long as there are hot chicks in it, people will watch it.

[tommyhtown]

LAX has the 'Heather Locklear Factor.' Some people will watch this show because of that very reason.

[nameless]

it never freaking ends. well, at least now when i get on my soap box i'll have something recent to cite...

[Tao]

"Same thing happened to me once. I sent mine back,"
hehe, he traded his up for a more recent model

[truMp]

there has been plenty of stupid plots for tv series that achieved popularity. namely, any number of shows about a bunch of whiny-ass white teenagers. and much more. as long as there are hot chicks in it, people will watch it.

whiny ass white teenagers because almost every teen in the united states can relate to them because they are all whiny asses. although the chick factor may come into play, I don't think LAX will last too long.

[younggiftedandblack]

Speaking of the "Asian Mail Order Bride" plot. Did anyone see Reno 911 last week? One of the cops on there accidently got married to a mail order bride and she ended up stealing his mobile home and driving off into the sunset. LOL!!

[seanp]

Not watching it, but it does remind me of the day my family enters the U.S in LA airport!

Man, I was scared when I saw my first big Black women in the immigrant place.

[nitro]

What do you think?

In the premiere of NBC's LAX, a young, attractive Filipino woman is stopped upon arriving to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) under the suspicion of drug possession. The show invokes themes reminiscent of Asian mail-order brides and cheap Asian prostitutes. The woman immigrates to America to marry her rich, overweight, balding, middle-aged White fiancée. She is detained by a young white immigration officer who becomes enamored with her as she playfully flirts with him during her detainment. Her character epitomizes a long-enduring stereotype of Asian women depicted by Hollywood: the subservient, exotic, and hyper-sexual Asian female who is the focus of desire by White men. And the show reminds us that there is a name for this caricature when her fiancée calls her "China Doll."

In one scene, the immigration officer tells his supervisor that he wants to sponsor her into the United States. His supervisor tries to convince him otherwise by admitting that he too at one point had considered keeping an Asian woman. He says, "Same thing happened to me once. I sent mine back," referring to his Asian woman with a possessive pronoun as if she were an object. Further reinforcing the status of Asian women as a commodity, the Filipino woman's name is never revealed although she plays a key role and has dialogue in several scenes. Although LAX takes place in a city that is 12% Asian American, this episode has only one Asian American speaking role -- one that perpetuates negative stereotypes.

Watch the video clips of LAX at:
http://www.asianmediawatch.net/lax

Asian Media Watch
Web: http://www.asianmediawatch.net
News: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asianmediaalerts
E-mail: alerts@asianmediawatch.net

[Faithless]

Watched the video clips.

This probably has nothing to do with anything, but her accent seems off, if she's supposed to be playing a Filipina.

From a review in the Star Telegram (http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/9638002.htm?1c) --

Take, for instance, the plotline of Nick the naive immigration officer. He's so beguiled by the beauty of a stranded Filipino passenger that I kept waiting for him to ask his boss: "Can I keep her? Huh? Can I?" And, well, he doesn't use those exact words, but what he says is nearly as patronizing.

[SunWuKong]

threads have been merged.

[FrankieY18]

cmon, the plot of the story is around an airport. who is going to watch that?
hollywood is messed up.

better than the movie, phone booth..at least the airport is bigger :biggrin:

[SunWuKong]

better than the movie, phone booth..at least the airport is bigger :biggrin:

they just didn't have enough hot chicks in that movie. if it was, for example, a hot chick in scanty clothes trapped in that phone booth, and if it was, for example, a hot chick in tight leather playing the villain, then that movie would have had many more viewers.

[Faithless]

I guess what can be really galling about the Asian bride segments is that they portray her like this thang that's just willing to get into this country for whatevah. And that's as deep as they get.

It sounds like they leave open the possibility that the rookie will call her number.

[Faithless]

When all is said and done, this one won't last. Old article, but it lets you know what some reviewers are thinking about this show:

'LAX' can't rely on looks alone (http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/9651156.htm?1c)
'LAX," THE RATHER lame new airport-based drama from NBC, is the only show this fall in which you'll hear Blair Underwood blurt out to Heather Locklear, "You don't mess with my terminals and I won't mess with your runways!" and wonder if he's spouting some sort of kinky innuendo.

It's also the only show that will have America's headline writers doing cartwheels over the rare opportunity to dabble in a little aeronautical wordplay. I can just see it:

NBC series never takes off. Or ...

Airport series should be grounded. Or ...

This one just doesn't fly. Or ...

OK, I'll stop. I don't want our own headline writers getting ticked off at me for stealing all their ideas.

In "LAX," Locklear plays Harley Random, the feisty airfield empress of Los Angeles International airport, and Underwood is Roger De Souza, the airport's slick and suave chief of terminal operations. As tonight's pilot unfolds, this stunningly attractive duo is locked in a bitter power struggle to assume the hub's top spot, which recently came open when the former chieftain decided to take his own life by becoming roadkill under the wheels of a 747.

Lots of anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better banter ensues between the rivals in elevators and airport walkways as they jockey for an edge. Along the way, we learn that a while back they had a martini-fueled one-night fling, which isn't at all surprising since you have to figure that every prime-time airport drama absolutely must contain a healthy dose of sexual tension because, if not, the terrorists have won.

But any actual sex will have to wait. LAX, after all, is an extremely busy place. That becomes evident in tonight's opener, which launches enough converging plotlines to make an air traffic control officer's head spin. In the space of an hour, Harley and Roger and their staffers deal with drunken and belligerent Serbian pilots, an impending visit from the governor, a bomb scare, a hassle in customs, a drug smuggler and even a stray dog running about the facility. At one point, Locklear is seen strutting out onto the tarmac to gaze up into the windshield of a jumbo jet and stare down those surly Serbs.

If on paper this all sounds a bit doofy and over-the-top, wait until you see it on the screen. "LAX" is teeming with clunky dialogue and eye-rolling situations. NBC bigwigs probably realized this going in, but hoped the mere presence of Locklear and Underwood would be enough to keep us from noticing. It almost is, but not quite.

You can see, however, why a show such as this would intrigue the network. Last season it hit the ratings jackpot with "Las Vegas," a workplace drama stocked with similarly sexy bods, a touch of humor and soapy story lines.

But Sin City, with its stay-and-play ethos, is the perfect setting for such prime-time shenanigans. In contrast, the occasionally lighthearted tone of "LAX" seems somewhat out of place considering the post-Sept. 11 anxiety often associated with air travel. An earlier version of the pilot, which was even more zany, was wisely toned down, but there remains an uneven -- and unsatisfying -- feel to the show.

Still, the guess here is that, at least initially, "LAX" will attract a substantial number of viewers simply on the strength of the Locklear and Underwood pairing. My advice to them: Fasten your seatbelts; there could be plenty of turbulence ahead.