Premise and Production Notes
At the time the show was launched, the premise centered around Cho, as Margaret Kim. The onscreen Margaret was a twenty-three-year-old, modern American young woman who lived with her more traditional Korean family. She had a contentious relationship with her mother (Long).
Themes often revolved around Margaret's desire to live a wild lifestyle and her parents' disapproval. Also in the family was a zany (but wise) grandmother (Hill) and Margaret's over-achieving medical student brother Stuart (Wong).
Margaret worked as the clerk at the beauty counter of a department store, and her friends Gloria (Judy Gold) and Ruthie (Maddie Corman) were often seen interacting with her. Various episodes found Margaret trying to reconcile her own desires - dating whomever she wanted, finding a career in music or stand-up comedy, and living on her own - with her parents' more traditional expectations of her.
Midway through the season, the premise changed and Margaret moved into the basement of her parents' house. In an effort to boost the ratings, producers and writers kept tweaking the premise.
By the final episode, the entire cast, except for Cho and Hill, was fired. With very little explanation, Margaret suddenly was living with three men (Phil, Jimmy, and Spencer). One of the roommates was played by Diedrich Bader, who went on to success in The Drew Carey Show; also, actress Mariska Hargitay appeared as a sassy bartender. Hill made a guest appearance, briefly mentioning the support of Margaret's parents for her decision to move out on her own. In this new scenario, Margaret worked for a music magazine but struggled with typical issues for a young adult, such as paying the phone bill. This episode was shot on film rather than tape and was a pilot for a proposed but unrealized follow-up series, The Young Americans.
During the run of the show Amy Hill's character Grandma became the most popular character on the show and was arguably considered the breakout character of the show. This was even noted in the interview by Margaret Cho and Amy Hill that they gave in the show's 2006 DVD release.
Read more about this topic: All American Girl (1994 TV series)
Famous quotes containing the words premise, production and/or notes:
“We have to give ourselves—men in particular—permission to really be with and get to know our children. The premise is that taking care of kids can be a pain in the ass, and it is frustrating and agonizing, but also gratifying and enjoyable. When a little kid says, “I love you, Daddy,” or cries and you comfort her or him, life becomes a richer experience.”
—Anonymous Father. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, ch. 3 (1978)
“Constant revolutionizing of production ... distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“A little black thing among the snow
Crying “’weep, ‘weep,” in notes of woe!
“Where are thy father & mother? say?”
“They are both gone up to the church to pray.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)