All-American Girl is an American television sitcom starring Margaret Cho. The series aired on ABC from September 14, 1994, to March 15, 1995. It was loosely based on Cho's own experiences growing up in a Korean American family in San Francisco. Cho starred as Margaret Kim, the rebellious daughter of Korean immigrants and bookstore owners. Her American attitude often comes into conflict with that of her more traditional parents (Jodi Long and Clyde Kusatsu). Among her co-stars were BD Wong as Margaret's brother, and Amy Hill as her eccentric grandmother.

All-American Girl was created by ABC to capitalize on the trend of female comedians headlining their own sitcoms. Cho was included in a Wednesday night lineup that included other women in lead roles—Brett Butler (Grace Under Fire), Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen), and most successfully, Roseanne Barr (Roseanne).

The series was criticized for its depiction of Korean Americans and for stereotyping characters. ABC attempted to counter low ratings by retooling the show into an ensemble sitcom about Margaret and her white friends, but the revamping was unsuccessful. The series was cancelled after one season.

Premise All-American Girl takes place in San Francisco, where Margaret Kim tries to navigate life with her family, friends, and romantic partners. In the Kim family household, Margaret has many squabbles with her very traditional mother, Katherine, who wants nothing more than for her to settle down with a Korean boy and be successful. Her passive father plays more of the middle-man in these touchy debates, and prefers to spend time working in their family-owned bookstore. Also in the house are Margaret's brothers — her successful older brother, Dr. Stuart Kim, and her admiring younger brother, Eric — and eccentric Grandma Kim. Margaret is a college student who frequently bounces between majors and works at the cosmetics counter of a department store with her friends, Ruthie and Gloria.

In the pilot episode of All-American Girl, "Mom, Dad, This is Kyle", Margaret's mother, Katherine Kim, strongly disapproves of Margaret's white boyfriend Kyle. She constantly tries to set up the daughter with successful, intelligent Korean men, creating a recurring conflict between Margaret and her mother.

Margaret, tired of her mother's constant matchmaking, convinces her to have Kyle over for dinner. At the dinner, Katherine makes no effort to accept Kyle. In frustration Margaret rashly decides to announce to everyone that she and Kyle are moving in together, simply to irritate her mother. Margaret realizes that she does not want to move out of the house and decides to stay in the end.

Cast Main Margaret Cho as Margaret Kim, the main character of the series and the daughter in the Kim family. She is much more Americanized than the other members of her family, which is often a source of misunderstandings between her and her family. Amy Hill as Yung-hee "Grandma" Kim, Margaret's eccentric grandmother who is unassimilated and often refers to the "Old Country". She is addicted to watching television. Jodi Long as Katherine Kim, Margaret's mother. She is portrayed as a "tiger mom", imposing strict rules on Margaret and her siblings and setting extremely high expectations for them, especially for Margaret's older brother, Stuart. She runs a bookstore with her husband, Benny Kim. Clyde Kusatsu as Benny Kim, Margaret's father. While also a strict parent, he is also more understanding of Margaret, mostly the straight man and sometimes assists in mediating disagreements between Margaret and her mother. Maddie Corman as Ruthie Latham, one of Margaret's best friends, who works with Margaret in a department store. Judy Gold as Gloria Schechter, another one of Margaret's friends who works at the department store. J.B. Quon as Eric Kim, Margaret's younger brother who looks up to Margaret, much to his parents' dismay. BD Wong as Dr. Stuart Kim, Margaret's older brother who is a successful doctor, and constantly under extreme pressure from himself and his parents to achieve more. He is considered the obedient and well-behaved son. Ashley Johnson as Casey Emerson, one of Eric's friends who spends a lot of time at the Kims' house. After "Malpractice Makes Perfect", she does not appear again.

Notable guest stars Ming-Na Wen as Amy, Stuart's fiancé. ("Redesigning Women") Tsai Chin as Auntie June ("Take My Family, Please") Daniel Dae Kim as Stan ("Ratting on Ruthie") Eric Lutes as Grant ("Loveless in San Francisco") Oprah Winfrey as herself ("A Night at the Oprah") Michael Palance as Derek ("Mommie Nearest") Jack Black as Tommy, a band member managed by Margaret's friend. ("A Night at the Oprah") Quentin Tarantino as Desmond, Margaret's boyfriend who she discovers sells bootlegged videotapes. At the time of All-American Girl, Tarantino was dating Cho, and coming off the success of his film Pulp Fiction. ("Pulp Sitcom") Robert Clohessy as Average Tony ("Pulp Sitcom") Vicki Lawrence as Phone Lady ("Young Americans") John Terlesky as Tim ("Young Americans")

Episodes

Production

Conception All-American Girl was pitched to ABC amidst a boon of female-led sitcoms. The show's creators suggested other titles for the series such as East Meets West and Wok on the Wild Side, before deciding on All-American Girl. Said Cho of the show's concept:[It] is about two basic things: It's about me having these two families that I don't exactly relate to--my family at home, my biological family, who are very traditional, kind of strict and a very Asian, very Korean family. And they don't understand me because I'm just too wild and too Americanized. And then there's my family of friends who understand me but find me a little bit conservative. So I'm in between these kind of two extreme cultures. It's something I think a lot of Asian Americans go through because many live at home in a more controlled environment and then they go out or watch TV and they're exposed to this whole other world. [The series] is exploring the feelings associated with assimilation and becoming an American.All-American Girl was marketed as being based on Cho's stand-up comedy routines, though Cho said that it "was mostly just a gloss" and used to attract fans of her stand-up. ABC also touted the series as the first TV sitcom to center Asian Americans; however, Mr. T and Tina, which centered on a Japanese American man and his two children, had aired on the network nearly two decades prior.

Unlike the stars of shows like Roseanne, Ellen, and Grace Under Fire, Cho said she had little input in the creative process. Before production began, ABC executives began criticizing Cho about her weight, although Cho claims there had been no issue about her weight before filming began. ABC executives and producers encouraged her to go on a crash diet; in two weeks, she lost 30 lbs (14 kg). This resulted in her having to be hospitalized for kidney failure, and leading to major health issues that continued for years after the show. In a later interview, Cho said she believes that because she was not white, executives and the producers felt they had to "make up for it in other ways", which was the reasoning behind this.

Broadcast All-American Girl premiered on ABC on September 14, 1994, airing at 9:30pm after Home Improvement. Thereafter, it aired on the network's Wednesday night comedy block at 8:30pm as the lead-in for Roseanne and Ellen. The premiere episode drew in 16.8 million U.S. viewers, helping the network to a consecutive ratings victory for that week. After its premiere, ratings dropped substantially.

Themes Cultural and generational differences The Kim family is intended to be portrayed as a typical Asian American family, and a recurring concept is the clash of values between the more Americanized Margaret and her traditional parents. Among the values and expectations thought to be typical of Asian American culture that are exhibited by the Kim parents include obedience and respect for elders, a high regard of education and success, and placing the most importance on the eldest son.

Femininity In All-American Girl, Margaret Kim comes across as a typical college-age girl with somewhat of a rebellious streak, much to the chagrin of her very no-nonsense mother. She has an edgy sense of style, wearing short dresses, leather outfits, and following the trends of the average American girl from the 1990s. She wears different clothes, speaks in a higher register, laughs daintily behind her hand, and comes across as very polite—a significant contrast from her typically brash character. She manipulates her femininity to get what she wants, but this inevitably backfires when she is rejected for not maintaining this desired on trait.

This issue of desirable female traits played a part in the production decisions behind the show. Producers told Cho to lose weight, resulting in her drastic weight loss of 30 pounds in two weeks and leaving lasting health complications. Said Cho, "I didn't have these attributes that [producers] think of when they think of like a female star of a show. You know, I wasn't thin [and] I wasn't white".

Romantic relationships Throughout All-American Girl, Margaret Kim flutters around multiple male characters and maintains about 7 short-lived relationships, all of which last for only one episode. The first episode "Mom, Dad, This is Kyle", centers on Margaret Kim and her American boyfriend Kyle, whom her mother constantly claims is a "loser" and that he is not right for her. Margaret then counters that her mother only disapproves of Kyle because he's not Korean, and a fight ensues. Margaret does not in fact have strong feelings for Kyle, but she simply refuses to back down to her mother, who appears to be equally stubborn. In this sense, Margaret's romantic relationship is downplayed in favor of highlighting the conflicting, but loving, relationship between Margaret and her mother. In the second episode, the opposite situation occurs and Margaret finds herself dating a Korean boy that her mother has set her up with. Margaret's mother is ecstatic, but Margaret finds herself slowly altering her behavior to suit the desires of her Korean suitor—by the end of the episode, she ends the charade by coming clean about her true personality and their relationship ends. Unfortunately, because Margaret was honest and true to herself, she ends up losing a relationship due to the discrepancy between her "American" self and her "Korean" self. In subsequent episodes, Margaret finds herself dating a variety of male characters, including a professor, a handyman, and a criminal.

Critical reception On review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of 10 critics gave the series a positive review. The site's critics consensus reads, "Margaret Cho acquits herself nicely as a leading lady, but All-American Girl'''s hit-and-miss laugh quotient doesn't measure up to her talents."

Brian Lowry of Variety wrote, "There’s a smattering of warmth between these characters" and Cho "is instantly appealing with her product-of-suburbia shtick", but "early scripts don’t provide material to define the character beyond her maternal sparring" and there is "not enough demonstrated early to lift the series beyond the most standard sitcom fare". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker lamented that the show was the complete opposite of Cho's stand-up comedy, which he said "is all about exploding ethnic myths, starting with the notion that a Korean-American woman is likely to be quiet and demure."