NEW YORK, New York (The Adobo Chronicles) – Most book authors take great pride in having their work transformed into a movie or a television series. Such is not the case with Eddie Huang, author of the book ‘Fresh Off the Boat,’ which is now a sitcom on the ABC network. The book is based on Huang’s experiences growing up as an Asian American in Orlando, Florida in the 1990’s.
The 33-year-old author who shocked the television world by admitting he doesn’t watch the TV show, used his Twitter account to lodge his complaints against the boob tube version of his true-to-life story.
Huang listed a number of criticisms, mostly aimed at how he thought the show had sugarcoated his childhood memories. But he also struck out at the ways Asian Americans as a whole aren’t being authentically portrayed.
“I don’t think it is helping us to perpetuate an artificial representation of Asian American lives and we should address it.”
The show, which depicts a fictionalized version of Huang’s real family as they acclimate to life in a sun-splashed, white-dominated Orlando, received strong buzz when it first aired as the first network show starring an Asian-American family in 20 years, although the luster has worn from it in recent weeks, with ratings down significantly.
Today, Huang announced that he was suing ABC for misleading him when he sold the rights to make his book a TV sitcom.
” I don’t recognize me at all in the sitcom,” Huang said. “ABC might as well have bought the rights to film the life of Justin Bieber as a Canadian trying to adjust to American life,” Huang said.
The Adobo Chronicles has learned from very reliable sources that rival network NBC is in negotiations with Huang to film a truer-than-the-ABC version of his book.
Since ABC has all bought the TV rights to the title “Fresh Off the Boat,” the NBC sitcom will be titled, “Fresh Off the Plane.”
It is rumored that the role of Eddie’s mom Jessica (played by Constance Wu ) will be played by Michelle Yeoh in the NBC version. Yeoh is best known for her role in the Academy Award winning film, ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.’
The Asian American community is holding its breath for what happens next.
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