The announcement of ABC’s Dr. Ken as the “third” Asian American family sitcom in history felt somewhat underwhelming, especially given the recent success of Fresh Off the Boat. Premiering just a year after Fresh Off the Boat revitalized Asian representation on television after a 20-year gap, Dr. Ken arrived with the weight of expectations, particularly after the disappointing run of Margaret Cho’s All-American Girl. Even with Margaret Cho herself guest-starring on Dr. Ken, the sitcom struggled to capture the cultural moment in the same way.
Dr. Ken inadvertently highlights the concerns Eddie Huang, the chef and author behind Fresh Off the Boat, voiced about his show. Huang criticized the sitcom for diluting his life story for mainstream television, yet Dr. Ken demonstrates that his standards might have been exceptionally high. While Fresh Off the Boat, under Nahnatchka Khan’s writing, is undoubtedly a network sitcom, it retains a certain sharpness absent in Dr. Ken.
Khan’s writing, though tailored for network TV, still hints at the Huang family’s experiences as outsiders in a sometimes unwelcoming world. Huang’s critique of “reverse yellowface,” which led to his departure from narrating Fresh Off the Boat, resonates even more strongly with Dr. Ken. The show, unfortunately, falls into the trap of being a generic sitcom, employing familiar tropes from white-centric shows but merely substituting an Asian family to check the diversity box.
This approach isn’t inherently negative. Dr. Ken is set in 2015, while Fresh Off the Boat is based in 1995, reflecting different eras of Asian American representation on TV. Progress has undoubtedly been made since both Eddie Huang’s and Ken Jeong’s childhoods. Meaningful representation involves acknowledging unique struggles while also allowing Asian American characters to simply exist without their race being the sole focus.
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The Misuse of Ken Jeong’s Comedic Brilliance in ‘Doctor Ken’
While a family sitcom with Asian leads is welcome, Dr. Ken struggles to be anything more than just that. It lands in the category of shows that suggest “Asian-led shows don’t have to be groundbreaking to be good,” but it doesn’t even fully achieve that modest goal. Not every show needs to open with racial slurs to create conflict, as seen in Fresh Off the Boat‘s sister show, Black-ish, which reserved such heavy topics for later seasons.
The fundamental issue with Dr. Ken is its underutilization of Ken Jeong’s immense talent. As a dedicated admirer of Jeong’s previous work, it’s disheartening to see an actor known for his bold and outrageous performances playing it safe. Dr. Ken’s primary flaw is its consistent timidity. Similar to how Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Asian character, Dong, felt like a missed comedic opportunity, Dr. Ken flirts with edgy humor but never fully commits, resulting in jokes that feel awkwardly underdeveloped.
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From Mr. Chow to Dr. Ken: Watering Down the Zany
Ken Jeong shone in The Hangover trilogy and as Señor Chang in Community precisely because those characters were extreme and outlandish, shattering stereotypes. Mr. Chow in The Hangover is so wildly over-the-top that he transcends ethnic clichés entirely. Jeong broke free from the “lovable nerdy dork” archetype often assigned to Asian men, claiming the mantle of aggressively, frighteningly, and explosively weird comedy, reminiscent of Andy Kaufman.
Alex Jung’s retrospective on All-American Girl in the Los Angeles Review of Books rightly points to Señor Chang in Community Season 1 as Jeong’s best work, and some of the strongest Asian character portrayals on television. Within minutes of his introduction, Chang was more complex than most Asian characters on TV at the time. He defied racial stereotypes by embracing others (Latino), aware his act wasn’t convincing, yet reveling in the forced pretense of respect he commanded through his minor authority. He was acutely aware of his pathetic nature, yet paradoxically empowered by this self-knowledge.
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Hopes Dashed: ‘Doctor Ken’ as a Missed Opportunity
Upon hearing that Dr. Ken would feature a sharp-tongued, sarcastic doctor based on Jeong’s medical background, expectations were high for a blend of Mr. Chow’s surreal madness and Señor Chang’s dark humor – a Korean American Dr. House, perhaps, or an amplified version of Jeong’s misanthropic doctor role in Knocked Up. Sadly, the writers opted not to “go there.” They hinted at it, making Dr. Ken a grumpy curmudgeon prone to inappropriate jokes, but never exceeding the typical sitcom dad’s level of grumpiness.
Even promising moments in the pilot, such as Dr. Ken ripping his clothes to infiltrate a rave, fall flat. The pilot’s comedic highlight is Dr. Ken joining his son on stage for an interpretive dance to Katy Perry’s “Roar,” but in Community, this would have been the start of an escalating comedic sequence reaching sublime absurdity. In Dr. Ken, we get a brief glimpse of Jeong’s wacky dance during the credits, eliciting a mild chuckle before the screen fades to black.
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‘Doctor Ken’ and the Pitfalls of Blandness
This recalls the unfortunate attempt to soften Andrew Dice Clay into a likable sitcom dad in Bless This House, or diluting Jeff Foxworthy’s humor in The Jeff Foxworthy Show by setting it in suburban Indiana. While not everyone appreciates Jeong’s style, casting him as a sitcom lead and then diminishing his signature zaniness into a pale imitation of Cliff Huxtable seems like a critical misstep. It’s disappointing to see Señor Chang get his own show only to become a milder, safer “prickly nerd” than Sheldon Cooper.
Adding to the pilot’s missteps, Dr. Ken opens with Dr. Ken delivering unfunny, clichéd, and offensive fat jokes to a patient to motivate weight loss. This is not only unprofessional and ineffective, but it also discourages overweight individuals from seeking medical care.
While Dr. House’s similar behavior could be excused (initially) as part of his damaged, misanthropic character, where the humor stemmed from his self-destructive nature, Dr. Ken is portrayed as a generally good person with his patients’ best interests at heart. His casual abuse is consistently resolved positively. This reluctance to make Dr. Ken a genuine jerk paradoxically makes him less compelling than flawed characters like Dr. House or Señor Chang, who grapple with their inner demons.
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Stock Characters and Predictable Plots in ‘Doctor Ken Show’
The pilot’s sharpest moment, where Ken searches for his daughter at a rave and is arrested for asking an undercover cop about “Molly,” is predictable to anyone under 40. Ken’s family and colleagues are all sitcom archetypes: the sarcastic nurse, the gently scolding wife, the sassy teenage daughter, and the overly cute son. Dave Foley is sadly wasted as an evil boss whose villainy extends to smug expressions and weak, ambiguously racist remarks. It’s problematic when Dave Foley’s character is less memorable than his roles in NewsRadio or Scrubs.
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In contrast, Fresh Off the Boat established each Huang family member as distinct from the beginning, subverting or amplifying sitcom tropes from the outset. Fresh Off the Boat‘s Emory and Evan are far more engaging “funny cute kids” than Dr. Ken‘s forgettable Dave, and Grandma Huang’s Mandarin one-liners are funnier than Dr. Ken‘s cringe-worthy humor involving Ken’s Korean parents. (However, the scene of Ken’s parents bonding with his family over Ken’s flaws is a rare genuinely funny moment.)
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The Inevitable Comparison: ‘Doctor Ken’ and ‘Fresh Off the Boat’
It’s unfair that Dr. Ken is immediately compared to Fresh Off the Boat, a comparison even explored in Fresh Off the Boat‘s episode “Philip Goldstein,” featuring Albert Tsai, who plays Dave in Dr. Ken, as the “other Asian kid.” However, in the limited landscape of Asian American sitcoms, such comparisons are unavoidable. Unfortunately, Dr. Ken also evokes memories of All-American Girl. While not as poorly executed, it leaves a similar impression: a generic sitcom we’re pressured to like because it stars a beloved Asian actor, yet it lacks the very qualities that make him appealing.
In conclusion, while Doctor Ken Show aimed to provide a dose of sitcom entertainment, it ultimately prescribes a formulaic and somewhat bland experience, missing the comedic brilliance of its lead and failing to break new ground in Asian American representation on television.
