Diasporhahaha! How Fresh Off the Boat reshaped sitcom convention

Set in 1995, and based loosely on the memoir of Viceland TV chef Eddie Huang, Fresh Off the Boat is about the fictionalised Huangs, a family of Taiwanese-Americans who move from Washington DC’s Chinatown to a mostly white neighbourhood in Orlando, Florida, so dad Louis can open a cowboy-themed steakhouse.

ABC’s family sitcom treats stereotypes with ridicule, doesn’t shy from controversy and proudly presents life from an Asian American perspective

First airing in the states in 2015, it was the first US network TV show about an Asian-American family since Margaret Cho’s short-lived All-American Girl in 1994. As for the UK, even if we admit all Asian-diaspora sitcoms into the category, it still sits alongside Citizen Khan and The Kumars at No 42 in a tiny handful. There have, of course, been Asian characters in other shows – including, unusually, an Asian male love interest in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – but nothing quite like Fresh Off the Boat, with its 90s hip-hop references and acutely observed relationships.