TV networks are introducing falls lineup in full force. Everywhere you look you see an ad for this show and that show. I’ve never had the time to watch much television in the past, but this year I’m especially excited. Why? Because of a colleague of mine Daniel Dae Kim and his new show Hawaii Five-O! I met Daniel in the mid nineties when I use to wait tables, he and his wife would frequent the restaurant I worked at. We would chat about this and that, he was always very cool and always very grounded. Daniel had just moved to LA from New York and was well on his way to becoming a working actor. The thing people knew him from was a hilarious Cheese commercial where he played a state trooper, it aired every other minute on every channel back then. It was really cool to see an Asian guy in a funny non-stereotypical spot. I saw him as an actor that had made it! Funny I thought that back then. ’Making it’ to me was just being on TV back then.
Out of the countless number of actors I have met over the years, I consider Daniel as one of the few that really has ‘made it’. When I say ‘made it’, it’s not in the obvious career sense, but who is as a person. He makes me happy to be an actor, he makes me want to be a better person, he reminds me to have humility, he reminds me to have a smile about it all. For myself Daniel has always been a great example to follow. Not just in work but in the journey as a man. A loving father, a loyal husband and a sincere soul. A wonderful representative of an Asian American actor for Hollywood to use as a bar.
Life is pretty black and white, it’s easy to fall into the habit of looking at the world through a grey lens. When I feel a bit grey about things, I think about people like Daniel. Life seems fair then. Love what you do, work hard at what you do, be a good person and things work out. Life is fair! Life looks a lot more Black and White. When so many act like A-holes, life can seem grey, but think about it. A-holes are seen as A-holes, successful or not. Rich or Poor. Hot or Not. A-holeness inspire others to be shit. That’s not success, that’s …well, just shit! People like Daniel are loved and respected for who they are not because he’s on some TV show. Now isn’t that really making it!
Driving around town and seeing Daniel’s billboards make me so happy and so very hopeful. The success of his show will only help all of us who strive to make a living as an actor. What a wonderful ambassador to have out there. I can’t but help root for him every time I see his mug. Much success and happiness to him! Hope all of you enjoy his show!
A big ditto. I remember years back at auditions and he’d be there with his baby in tow. Totally blew me away. How can an actor dare be a father let alone bring a toddler to his audition? He was making it work. Always respected him for that. And for many other reasons too.
He also has rad hair
Sung, many of us feel the same way about you, too!!!
Can’t wait to see you kickin’ ass in FA5T!!!!!!
Saw the premiere last night. It was pretty fun & action packed. I hope we see more of DDK & Grace Park. Especially more of Grace Park. In a bikini.
Too bad the show went “Chinatown” on the premiere episode… WTF? I was hoping the series with 2 principal Asian actors and based in Honolulu will steer clear of the “Chinatown” tripe. Seriously… human smuggling and Chinese underground gangs in the first fucking episode? And to add insult to injury, all the bad guys were Asian or vaguely Hawaiian.
I guess I gave CBS too much credit. I’m going to give it one more shot next week but if all the crook, criminals, and informants are “ethnics” again, then I’m out. Best of luck to DDK or Grace Park…
@Irwin, I think the interesting thing about TV is that it’s an ongoing entity unlike a film which ends in 2 hours (or whatever the running time is). So while the pilot may set up the premise, I suspect (well, in this case, I know) that in future episodes you’ll get to see more of all the characters and an evolution which hopefully will be more in line with what you’re hoping for. TV’s all about evolution–remember on Daniel’s last show LOST, his character and Sun (Yunjin Kim) got pummeled by many Asian Americans during the first season for embodying Korean stereotypes, yet over the course of the show those characters grew into three-dimensional people and became the romantic heart of the show. I know a lot of people who hated them the first season who came around later.
And yes, there were Asian bad guys but I would disagree all the bad guys were Asians–as far as I know James Marsters isn’t Asian or hapa. And frankly, the show’s set in Hawaii and I’d love to see more Asians–both good and bad as long as they are once again three-dimensional, interesting and there’s a balance so we see all types.
Whatever problems we may have with the show, the reality is it’s probably going to show more Asian faces in front of the camera than any other network show this season so I hope that it both succeeds and that it does address your concerns and does more with its Asian/Hawaiian characters.
And I agree with Sung and everyone that Daniel is fucking awesome but I’d like to add that everything said about him can also be applied to his co-star Grace who’s equally awesome. Our readers will see an example of her awesomeness on YOMYOMF in a few weeks so stay tuned!
WTF is Will Yun Lee doing in this show playing a Chinese snakehead? is he going to specialize in all the evil Chinese fu manchus now?
you want other Asian ethnicities to support Koreans and Korean-Americans in the media? maybe you should denounce the racist characterizations of other Asian ethnicites by Korean-American actors first.
again, I’m going to wait on yomyomf to post something about RED DAWN and Will Yun LEE when it comes out.
you media-makers say support “Asians” but it’s only for your own ethnicities, not the racist caricatures towards other ethnicities.
and of course, the white boy holding on to Grace Park’s handshake for a few seconds too long and the fact Grace loudly calls DDK her cousin means we all know what is going to develop later on in the show.
is Phillip going to recommend the angry Asian boys to support yet another WM/AF media pairing?
I saw Daniel in Lost, very handsome guy and a very good job there. Certainly, we all can´t help notice bad and ugly things around us, but when we look for inspiration, we see good leads, as just had said Jimmy, we look at people like you… thanks for inspiration, you and many others.
@Philip
I wasn’t referring to James Marsters who is obviously being setup as a recurring “bad guy” character. The problem is all the sundry shady characters/informants are all ethnic, at least in the first episode. I don’t want to see this trend continue. They better round up some whitey and make them play the sundry shady characters in future episodes. The original Hawaii 5-O had some pretty bad racial stereotypes too but this is not 1970s… this kind of casting decision has to stop.
But that isn’t even my main point… My biggest beef is that they went “Chinatown” in the premiere episode. Complete with frail looking assorted Asian people packed in a shipping container and human smuggling storyline. I expected something like this from a creatively dormant series like your typical Law & Order or CSI franchise… but not from a brand new series just getting its story started. It’s very disappointing and left a very unsavory stain on the series in just one episode.
@Irwin: these shows probably also recycle the same old tired writers over and over.
i’m halfway in this discussion on villainy. it doesn’t matter if there are more Asian villains. what matters is the “chinatown” nature of those Asian villains.
instead of Asian villains that are there because the insipid plot requires them to be Asian, how’s about criminals committing crimes but also happens to be Asian?
let’s see some white collar Asian-American criminals or bank robbers! lol that would be foil to the DDK and Grace Park characters. they aren’t there because the plot requires them to be Asian.
after all, like that old adage about cops and criminals: they’re cut from the same cloth, just walked different paths and takes a criminal to catch a criminal.