The Best Asian American TV Show Ever

My Life...Disoriented Revisted Dept.
by George Toshio Johnston
Saturday, January 6, 2007, Rafu Shimpo

Last time out, I wrote about an installment of PBS' series Independent Lens that was titled My Life...Disoriented, a 30-minute long dramedy about an Asian American family, or, to be more exact, one of the daughters in an Asian American family that has relocated to Bakersfield from San Francisco.

I contended that not only was it very well done, it was the best such Asian American TV project ever. It takes nothing away from the show that the field of competitors isn’t very deep — the show was well-written and executed regardless.

I had the opportunity to meet and chat with two of the creative talents associated with the show, director Eric Byler and writer Claire Yorita Lee.

Byler, who is White on his father’s side and Chinese on his mother’s side, I’ve known for years and it’s been great seeing his career progress. Later this year a movie he directed, Americanese, will get its theatrical release. He told me he is also working on Tre, which is a sequel of sorts to Charlotte Sometimes that focuses on different characters than its predecessor.

Another interesting project he’s working on is a documentary on the election of Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who dramatically defeated incumbent George Allen following his racist comment aimed at an Asian American while on the campaign trail. Byler became involved in the campaign by making short movies that appeared on Webb’s Web site. According to Byler, the incident really galvanized the state’s Asian American community.

"I was a former Virginian living in Los Angeles. It’s one of my homes. It was a place I wanted to defend from people like George Allen," he said. As Byler learned more about Webb and his criticism of the Iraq invasion early on, plus Webb having a Vietnamese wife, Byler wanted to help Webb win. "We won that election by 9,000 votes. Asian Americans voted three-to-one for Jim Webb."

As for MLD’s other writer, Lee is an interesting individual in that her father, (Frank, an orthodontist) is a Sansei, while her mother (Deanne) is a fourth-generation Chinese American. Meantime, her husband, computer programmer Ed Lee is Korean American. Add to that the fact she is currently involved in the ABC Disney Writing Fellowship, she is uniquely qualified to write for the show.

Lee’s involvement in MLD dates back to February 2004, so having the show finally air was very exciting for her. She hopes that Disney will have a writing job for her someday, but also hopes that MLD becomes a show in its own right.

Growing up, Lee says that while there was no burning desire to write for TV or movies, "I always loved to write. I used to write plays for my cousin and classmates in elementary school." By the time she got to college, she thought she was going to be a lawyer or something "normal."

Then she realized she wanted to pursue writing. She got a job in Business Affairs at Warner Bros., which led to an assistant job for TV writer Jim Leonard. "For me, better than going for school was just doing it. Writing everyday," she says. "He would read my stuff, give me notes. He was very encouraging."

Whether MLD becomes a series, Lee has her eyes on eventually getting a feature film made from her script about one of her relatives. From what she told me, it would be unlike any other Asian American-themed movie that’s been made. If it comes to fruition, it would undoubtedly be because of something she said that could serve as her credo: "You write best when you write what’s real." Maybe that’s why I liked MLD so much.

Until next time, keep your eyes and ears open.

(George Toshio Johnston has written this column since 1992 and can be reached at gjohnston@rafu.com. The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect policies of this newspaper or any organization or business. Copyright © 2006 by George T. Johnston. All rights reserved.)