"Presidio Med"

[Shuriken]

This fall, CBS unveils a dramatic medical series set in San Francisco titled Presidio Med. One in three San Franciscans is Asian. One in six medical workers in the United States is Asian. Set in the city by the bay, Presidio Med has six regular chracters, but not one of them is Asian. When asked about this omission earlier this year, the show's producers promised that some of the recurring charcters would be Asian.

If it were up to me, I'd try to get advertisers to boycott the show. What do you think???

[SunWuKong]

i think i smell bullshit is what i think.
i am so disillusioned with american popular media that all i ever watch now are chinese tv and chinese movies.

[boycott]

Don't any of you even tell you you're surprised. As if it hasn't happened before and as if it isn't always happening under our noses, look at all shows shot in SF and you'll see that they hardly feature any Asians /Asian Americans at all. Remember "Charmed", the three little slutty white witches shot in SF, almost never see any Asians on that show except as characters killed and that come back as ghosts or vampires, demons, ghouls & goblins or more. I believe "Suddenly Seeking Susan" starring Brooke Shields don't have any Asians on their show either. This Presidio Med bullshit definitely needs to be boycotted unless they have at least three or more Asian doctors.Aaargh!

[deez nuts]

Originally posted by boycott@Aug 27 2002, 03:48 AM
Don't any of you even tell you you're surprised. As if it hasn't happened before and as if it isn't always happening under our noses, look at all shows shot in SF and you'll see that they hardly feature any Asians /Asian Americans at all. Remember "Charmed", the three little slutty white witches shot in SF, almost never see any Asians on that show except as characters killed and that come back as ghosts or vampires, demons, ghouls & goblins or more. I believe "Suddenly Seeking Susan" starring Brooke Shields don't have any Asians on their show either. This Presidio Med bullshit definitely needs to be boycotted unless they have at least three or more Asian doctors.Aaargh!
Yup that's why I never watch those hospital shows. My surgical resident team comprises of 24 people of which 4 are asian. And thats just the surgical residents not counting the other medical fields. And the last time I saw here around the hospital I work at, there was more than 1 or 2 Asian hospital personal working here.

I can somewhat see if the hospital show was based in Boise, Idaho. But with ER (asian Ming Na and that asian nurse guy; I cant stand Crichton) based in Chicago and Presidio Med based in SF, there is a high asian population working in those hospitals. I mean come on, if you gonna do a "real-life" hospital drama show at least be demographically correct in the hospital you're basing it out of.

Heh even my white friends and the white co-workers even noticed and asked me why there aren't any asians in these so called "real life" hospital drama shows. I just tell them it's cause the producers are trying to get all the medical jargon, terms and acronyms right, that they failed to see that they forgot something. And the black residents always say "Woohoo there's that token black MD/resident!"

But those shows do make us look good, haha I wished I look like that all clean, hair in place after a 72 hr rotation.

Lawyer TV shows are just as bad. Woot go Ling!

Ok done with my daily rant.

[Ayers]

Just playing the Devil's advocate for a moment and throwing out some food for thought:

In Hollywood (or Whitey-ville as some people seem to be proposing), how many of the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card-carrying members are asian? My research (albeit only a few minutes) didn't reveal any hard and fast numbers, but my contention is this:

There are less Asian roles because there are less Asian actors.

Once again, this is all conjecture and anyone who can post the numbers -- please do! My feeling though is that Asians are not only less represented in the entertainment media, but also in the field of acting as a whole. There are less Asian parents out there pushing Asians to become soap opera stars or Shakespearean actors. And so like bunboy has so aptly pointed out, we see quite a few asians in the medical/legal professions rather than on television or on the big screen. But not only there!

How many times have people pointed out the absolute lack of 'yellow'-ness among professional musicians (more specifically classical musicians). Not very often I hope, considering most of us here probably had to learn some instrument at a very early age and some of us were bound to be talented enough to pursue a career in that field.

The point is, with less actors to choose from, the tendency would be to underrepresent those ethnicities in the media. This, in no way, condones the underrepresentation of Asians, especially when such a misrepresentation skews people's views on reality (such as this show Presidio Med). However, I think one way of helping increase asian media exposure is to encourage the asians in the entertainment industry and not harp on the 'hillbilly white fascists' who seem to be the focus of attack. Boycotting works sometimes, but other times you end up with a label (eg radical, left-wing, whiners) which diminishes the strength of the statement trying to be made.





Here is some research I came across... In summary they say the number of roles for Asians is less than the percentage of Asians in the US population. And that the roles asians tend to get is the smaller, villian role. They also propose some solutions and there is a notable increase from the early 90's to now in the number of Asian roles.

http://www.sag.org/pr/pressreleases/pr-la001220.html

http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/issues/m...rts/gerbner.htm (http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/issues/minrep/resource/reports/gerbner.htm)

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Ayers@Aug 27 2002, 10:57 PM
Just playing the Devil's advocate for a moment and throwing out some food for thought:

In Hollywood (or Whitey-ville as some people seem to be proposing), how many of the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card-carrying members are asian?  My research (albeit only a few minutes) didn't reveal any hard and fast numbers, but my contention is this:

There are less Asian roles because there are less Asian actors.

Once again, this is all conjecture and anyone who can post the numbers -- please do!  My feeling though is that Asians are not only less represented in the entertainment media, but also in the field of acting as a whole.  There are less Asian parents out there pushing Asians to become soap opera stars or Shakespearean actors.  And so like bunboy has so aptly pointed out, we see quite a few asians in the medical/legal professions rather than on television or on the big screen.  But not only there!

How many times have people pointed out the absolute lack of 'yellow'-ness among professional musicians (more specifically classical musicians).  Not very often I hope, considering most of us here probably had to learn some instrument at a very early age and some of us were bound to be talented enough to pursue a career in that field.  

The point is, with less actors to choose from, the tendency would be to underrepresent those ethnicities in the media.  This, in no way, condones the underrepresentation of Asians, especially when such a misrepresentation skews people's views on reality (such as this show Presidio Med).  However, I think one way of helping increase asian media exposure is to encourage the asians in the entertainment industry and not harp on the 'hillbilly white fascists' who seem to be the focus of attack.   Boycotting works sometimes, but other times you end up with a label (eg radical, left-wing, whiners) which diminishes the strength of the statement trying to be made.





Here is some research I came across...  In summary they say the number of roles for Asians is less than the percentage of Asians in the US population.  And that the roles asians tend to get is the smaller, villian role.  They also propose some solutions and there is a notable increase from the early 90's to now in the number of Asian roles.

http://www.sag.org/pr/pressreleases/pr-la001220.html

http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/issues/m...rts/gerbner.htm (http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/issues/minrep/resource/reports/gerbner.htm)
no i don't think that's it at all. i think they just want to market to a white audience that mostly want to see only white people on the screen - big or small. like it or not, there are many many parts of the US where asian == foreigner. they just don't know how to deal with the presence of an asian person.

and with the exception of a few, most characters who are asian are actually contingent on them being asian. meaning that they're asian characters. makes life kind of difficult for asian actors and actresses when they're simply being told "we're not looking for asian". can't they not play a character where race is not an essential part of the character? most characters on the small screen happen to be like that.

anyway i've been boycotting american popular media by watching chinese tv and chinese movies. well it's actually because i like those more now, not because i want to boycott hollywood. :rolleyes:



<!--EDIT|SunWuKung|Aug 27 2002, 11:15 PM-->

[Shuriken]

Just playing the Devil's advocate for a moment and throwing out some food for thought...

Okay, that's fine...

There are [fewer] Asian roles because there are [fewer] Asian actors.

Or maybe there are fewer Asian roles because the roles are not conceived as Asian.

What I would like to know is how many Asian actors were given the opportunity of auditioning for these roles. If you are a white producer or writer, and you conceive a show where all of the regular characters have European surnames, how many Asian actors will you audition for those parts?

Okay, there are exceptions. Several years ago, producer Alan Goodman was casting his Nickelodeon show "The Mystery Files of Shelby Wink," which would presumably have a white lead character, and he auditioned the young Chinese American actress Irene Ng for the role of Shelby's friend. However, Goodman was so impressed by Ng's audition that he decided to cast her as Shelby, so he changed the character's name to "Shelby Woo." And the rest is history — or at least, it ought to be history. Similarly, when Ally McBeal producer David E. Kelley was casting the role of Nelle Porter, he allowed Lucy Liu to read for the part. The role of Nelle ultimately went to Portia de Rossi, but Kelley liked Liu's audition so much that he wrote the character of Ling Woo (that name again) especially for her, and audiences went ballistic.

These, unfortunately, are the exception. In my experience, entertainment developers develop their chacters as white (and sometimes make room for a black supporting character). Therefore, they usually look for white actors to play these roles. This is the reason, I would submit, why a show like Presidio Med has no Asian regular characters.

[deez nuts]

Ok Ayer's understand your point about mainstream TV drama. Reasonable point.


I can only speak from my experience and field:

But what about those documentaries that follow the life of a resident in various hospitals and specialties? I'm sure you know and seen those, Ayers.

A&E actually came to NY Hospital Cornell once and asked if they can film and follow the lives of 5 residents from random specialties for a week. Mind you this is the hospital I work at, it's right in NYC and I am familiar with the hospital demographics. Out of the five residents they chose; to the best of my knowledge from speaking with the other residents, all of them chosen were caucasian. And all those so called real life documentaries I have yet to see them follow the life of one Asian resident. I just find that odd. I mean you don't need acting experience or be a good actor. Don't need screen presence or look good. It's just they follow you around for a week, and half the time they aren't admitted into some areas of the hospital. The only time I saw an Asian is when they interviewed this one guy's Asian attending for like 2 minutes.

[Ayers]

Originally posted by Chasiubao_Boy@Aug 28 2002, 06:12 AM
I can only speak from my experience and field:

But what about those documentaries that follow the life of a resident in various hospitals and specialties? I'm sure you know and seen those, Ayers.

A&E actually came to NY Hospital Cornell once and asked if they can film and follow the lives of 5 residents from random specialties for a week. &nbsp;Mind you this is the hospital I work at, it's right in NYC and I am familiar with the hospital demographics. &nbsp;Out of the five residents they chose; to the best of my knowledge from speaking with the other residents, all of them chosen were caucasian. &nbsp;And all those so called real life documentaries I have yet to see them follow the life of one Asian resident. &nbsp;I just find that odd. &nbsp;I mean you don't need acting experience or be a good actor. &nbsp;Don't need screen presence or look good. &nbsp;It's just they follow you around for a week, and half the time they aren't admitted into some areas of the hospital. &nbsp;The only time I saw an Asian is when they interviewed this one guy's Asian attending for like 2 minutes.
I remember that show, and I cannot explain/rationalize why 5 caucasians were chosen for that particular mini-series. But neither will I assume that it was racially-driven prejudice that selected those particular interns.

I DO think it was a travesty that you weren't selected! I mean, c'mon :) That could have been your big break into showbiz and you let that pass you by?

----------------------------
On another note: I seem to remember a noticeable representation of minorities (including Asians) on MTV. Real World, Road rules, their news broadcasts... Sure most (99.999999%) music videos don't feature Asian artists, but MTV can't help that (they do have MTV in Asia which airs the Asian artists popular there).

--Do you agree/disagree?
--Have anything to do with targetting the younger audience?
--Is MTV extra PC?

[deez nuts]

Originally posted by Ayers@Aug 28 2002, 09:40 PM

I remember that show, and I cannot explain/rationalize why 5 caucasians were chosen for that particular mini-series. &nbsp;But neither will I assume that it was racially-driven prejudice that selected those particular interns.

I DO think it was a travesty that you weren't selected! &nbsp;I mean, c'mon :) &nbsp;That could have been your big break into showbiz and you let that pass you by?

----------------------------
On another note: &nbsp;I seem to remember a noticeable representation of minorities (including Asians) on MTV. &nbsp;Real World, Road rules, their news broadcasts... &nbsp;Sure most (99.999999%) music videos don't feature Asian artists, but MTV can't help that (they do have MTV in Asia which airs the Asian artists popular there).

--Do you agree/disagree?
--Have anything to do with targetting the younger audience?
--Is MTV extra PC?
Fair enough. I'm like that too. Was just playing devils advocate to you too.

Nah no one from the surgical side got picked, guess we're no exciting enough in the eyes of the producer or not enough material <chuckle>

Haha I never put in for it (although many of my asian friends did). But there was a shot of me eating lunch my ex-fiancee in the cafeteria. Sigh guess my big break will come one day! RAaaaaaar!

Oh and my bad is was on lifetime or something.

So when's match day for you, bro. You figure out where you wanna go yet or is too early for you?



<!--EDIT|Chasiubao_Boy|Aug 29 2002, 07:41 AM-->

[deez nuts]

Originally posted by Ayers@Aug 28 2002, 10:40 PM

----------------------------
On another note: &nbsp;I seem to remember a noticeable representation of minorities (including Asians) on MTV. &nbsp;Real World, Road rules, their news broadcasts... &nbsp;Sure most (99.999999%) music videos don't feature Asian artists, but MTV can't help that (they do have MTV in Asia which airs the Asian artists popular there).

--Do you agree/disagree?
--Have anything to do with targetting the younger audience?
--Is MTV extra PC?
Yeah there were a few minorities ie Asians on MTV, especially in the shows you mentioned. But I think most were Asian women, if not all? Lost track, correct me if I am wrong.

I don't blame MTV for airing videos that don't show Asian artists, because I don't think Asian artists are mainstream enough here in America to get mad burn. But, like you said MTV in Asia airs Asian artists, because there is a market there.


I don't know if MTV is PC, I feel they do somewhat acknowledge and recognize diversity. Shrug, haven't seen MTV in awhile.



<!--EDIT|Chasiubao_Boy|Aug 30 2002, 08:00 PM-->

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by Ayers@Aug 29 2002, 03:40 AM


----------------------------
On another note: I seem to remember a noticeable representation of minorities (including Asians) on MTV. Real World, Road rules, their news broadcasts... Sure most (99.999999%) music videos don't feature Asian artists, but MTV can't help that (they do have MTV in Asia which airs the Asian artists popular there).

--Do you agree/disagree?
--Have anything to do with targetting the younger audience?
--Is MTV extra PC?
I agree. Maybe that's why I keep trying to say... "hey, I think there's lots of Asians in the media." There's a lot on the Disney channel, too.

I think there's a lot on MTV 'cuz MTV's one of those stations that lets viewers get really involved. A lot of Asian people must really like MTV.



<!--EDIT|angel nympho|Aug 31 2002, 01:04 AM-->

[LIBRAGAL1011]

Yep, the representation of Asians in mainstream media (TV, film mainly) in the US is extremely minimal. The availability of roles is partically non-existent. I've heard that more minority actors find better roles in independent films as opposed to mainstream Hollywood. Apparently, that's where their best chances of getting work is. Occasionally, we catch a glimpse of an Asian actor in a minor role on a hot TV show or big time movie. Did any of you see "National Lampoon's: Van Wilder" ?? There, we see Kal Penn, an Indian, with a lead role in this comedy hit. :P