Posted Tuesday, April 10, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
I'm out of the country through April 18. I'm posting a few items that I wrote before I left. This is one of them. If you want fresh entertainment news, check out Jennifer Brett's AJC Buzz or Melissa Ruggieri's AJC Music Scene.
I've been friends for years with Jeff Yang, a long-time media writer and head of strategy for a cultural research firm sparks & honey. He used to run an Asian-American pop culture magazine called A. He was in town this past weekend because his 14-year-old son Hudson Yang, who stars in ABC's "Fresh Off the Boat," was participating at a King Center youth summit,
My wife Helen, who also knew Jeff in the early 1990s in New York City, and I met with Jeff and Hudson at Food Terminal for dinner. I had heard ABC had not yet renewed "Fresh Off The Boat" for a fifth season, that it was so-called "on the bubble."
The comedy concluded its fourth season March 20 with 79 episodes under its belt. It was the first series featuring a largely Asian-American cast in two decades.
Its ratings had fallen off a bit this year, though virtually every show on broadcast TV has lost steam. Its ratings were only a shade worse than "Black-ish" and "Speechless," also on the fence. ABC has a lot of factors to weigh. "The Middle" is leaving but "Roseanne" has been a monster hit. The decision may come down to what else ABC sees during pilot season among its comedies.
Hudson thinks if the show survives, it may get moved to Friday. His dad believes if the show does make it to a fifth season, it may be its last.
Hudson, who plays hip-hop loving Eddie Huang in the ensemble comedy set in the late 1990s, has grown massively in the past year in height. He's now at least 5 foot 10 and is just 14 years old. He actually is the same age as who he plays on TV and is finishing up ninth grade.
Check out the Facebook Live I did with them outside Food Terminal on Buford Highway. Hudson insisted his dad join him. They make a hilarious pairing.
