TV is about escapism, meaning sometimes people dont want to see stories about humdrum life the way THEY experience it. Coupled with other cultural insensitivities, like the mispronunciation of Korean words, they add up to a series that fails both its Asian cast and the Asian people it was meant to represent. 1 "Past Lives", Scott Adams Asks Readers To Help Him Rename Dilbert 2.0. ), Beyond their compensation, both Liu and Yoon were angered by what they felt was a lack of diversity in the writers room and production team. Even if Liu and his co-stars were not, in his words, paid horsepoop rates compared to similar Canadian television shows with lower ratings, I dont think theres any question they had to have been underpaid just by definition. One year ago, Kims was riding high. Kims Convenience Steps in a Pile of Horse Poop. Fans clamored for the CBC to reconsider. A 2020 report by the Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity found that 68.5% of underrepresented writers experienced discrimination in the TV industry. Andrea Bang, the shows fourth lead, said in an interview with Popsugar in March that the shows abrupt end gave her stomach aches and body aches. We put so much blood, sweat, and tears into this show, and a lot of love, and for it to go down like this, its just super, super disheartening, she said. The actors of Kims Convenience, much like the lesser employees at the shows internal car-rental setting, are unreasonably whiny while the writers/managers are trying to get the real work done. This is far from the first time that writers room tensions over authentic representation have spilled out into the open. Over the last five years, the Canadian sitcom Kims Convenience has garnered a growing and devoted fanbase across the world, with viewers delighting in the hijinks of the fictional Toronto-based Kim family. The characters' Korean background is used more for an authentic setting than it is for cheap laughs. With so much fancasting going on, Neil Gaiman may have come up with the perfect way to decide who will play Delirium in Netflix's The Sandman. Ive got nothing more to give this.. With minimum prompting as to what Kims Convenience even was, I started watching it mostly blind, and was horrified by the reliance on crude stereotypes. As Yoon wrote, the lack of Asian female, especially Korean writers in the writers room of Kims made my life very difficult & the experience of working on the show painful., The actor also said that in Seasons 3 and 4, problematic plots undermine core values of characters, cultural authenticity. Indeed, small departures from authenticity are often a sign that a series writers are not familiar with a culture: Yoon noted that Koreans hardly ever get [multiple sclerosis], with which Umma is diagnosed, and she is correct that the incidence in Koreans of MS is a minuscule 0.1 per 100,000. With the debut of the fifth and final season of the series on Netflix today, Liu wrote a long statement on Facebook about the producers' decision to not continue the series after the departure . The burden to cultivate BIPOC creators shouldnt fall exclusively onto shows such as Kims. Magazines, Digital When the news broke, cast member Simu Liu took to. Kevin had shifted to 'Strays' with the understanding that Kim's Convenience Season 6 would be the follow up. Yoon, who stars as Umma, the wise, witty, sharp-tongued matriarch, wrote on Twitter on June 6 that working on the series was painful, calling some storylines overtly racist. Liu, who plays heartthrob prodigal son and car rental employee Jung, posted on Facebook on June 2 about the series unraveling, which he ascribed to Thunderbird Entertainment production decisions, explaining: The show cant be saved. Thats a trick question, he said. Heres what to know, From Chris Rock to the SAG Awards. He and Choi, he said, discussed a range of possibilities that might have kept Choi connected, perhaps in a supervisory role that would be less taxing. The 5th season is currently running in Canada on CBC and will premiere on Netflix in April after it completes its Canadian broadcast run. Each episode mostly deals with everyday problems. This month, Digital Spy Magazine counts down the 50 greatest LGBTQ+ TV characters since the Stonewall riots. Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker stars in Capture, a satirical short from Financial Times tackling child online safety in a very "unique" way. Three weeks ago, when the producers of Kims Convenience broke the bad news that CBCs immigrant family comedy would be concluding its run next month, one year earlier than anticipated, they posted a brief announcement to social media in hopes of explaining the move. ", In a now-deleted tweet, whoever runs the Netflix Twitter account replied to this post with two crying face emojis. He added that he would not be making any cameos as Jung on the show. Kim's Convenience Cancellation Leaves Unanswered Questions Of course, it's easy to understand why the network and the producers decided to end Kim's Convenience after its co-creators left, especially if they wanted to keep the show's authenticity. Im looking forward to watching for the cast in other projects. If anything, so many of the issues that Kim's Convenience raises has more to do with a generational clash than it does with cultural and racial ones. Kim ( Jean Yoon) has a health scare in season 5 that may or may not provide a story arc. Everyone, including the cast, felt blindsided by the abrupt decision. In another, emotionally needy employees guilt-trip Kimchi for not doing enough to comfort them in regards to personal matters that have nothing to do with work. A true example of elite white people exerting their desires over that of otherswhite, black, Asian, or otherwise. The Help is part of a pattern that emerged in the series writing in these seasons, in which cheap punchlines about race, ethnicity and nationality supplanted the observational humor that brought the series its legions of fans. When Liu faced pushback on social media, his co-star Jean Yoon, who plays his mother on the show, backed him up. Its hard not to see these moments as psychological warfare perpetrated by the writers on the cast. Sign up today. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who played patriarch Appa, said in a broadcast interview with CBC News: The National that the series unceremonious conclusion felt akin to grieving a death in the family. And two of his fellow cast members, Simu Liu and Jean Yoon, have spoken out on social media in recent days about life behind the scenes on Kims Convenience: Despite the appearance of a happy, unified ensemble, both actors claim that Asian cast members struggled with disenfranchisement and alienation from producers and plotlines a not-uncommon assertion for Asians in North American entertainment. all gave us. pic.twitter.com/c1LAg0F58m. CBC gave producers an order for two more 13-episode seasons. For reasons that Im sure we will get into someday, we must prematurely bid farewell to Kims Convenience, he wrote on Instagram. The show may seem like it's taking place in real Toronto, with the store located in the citys Moss Park neighbourhood a neighbourhood known for its diverse community, reflected in the show by the store's customers who mostly come from different ethnicities and backgrounds. The reason why the producers decided not to pursue another season is because co-creators Ins Choi and Kevin White were leaving the show. What does your family think about your doom and gloom outlook on people and life? It just wasnt the actors who were the face of the program. Interested in Digital Spy's weekly newsletter? The show had grown out of an autobiographical one-act that premiered at the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival, written by Ins Choi, a Korean-Canadian actor who had followed the dictum to write what he knew. Was there a major disagreement about whether the characters in Kim's Convenience should stay static? Still, does he believe he did enough to bring in writers of colour? It's a formula that has kept the show running on a steady stream for 5 seasons and its fans seem content to continue watching. Attack on Titan Final Season: The Final Chapters Special 1 is now streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu ahead of the full season premiere. Losing Kim's Convenience not only means we're losing one of the few remaining Asian-led TV shows right now, but it also means we're losing a show that dares to dream of a better world. Theres so much pressure on them, and theres going to be even more pressure as they go into production and when they go to air. It is a tale about the prosaic and often gruelling realities of the Canadian TV machine. Studies have shown that people of color and women are often heavily underrepresented behind the scenes and in decision-making positions; they also face bias and discrimination more regularly than their peers. Kim's Convenience co-creators Ins Choi and Kevin White have come under a media spotlight following the cancellation and subsequent comments from Liu and other castmembers regarding issues. We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. Im just delighted that we have a series with Andrew Phung, who is a tremendous talent from Kims and who will now have a series that speaks to his authentic voice, said Catto, who was concerned viewers might perceive there was a one-for-one calculation that involved swapping out Kims and substituting Strays, or trading one Korean-centred show for another. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon in Kim's Convenience, which will conclude at the end of Season Five.CBC. Im white but I grew up where theres lots of Koreans. the shows fifth season would be its last, behind-the-scene problems Liu described on Facebook, a 1-month free trial, only on Apple News+. Co-stars Simu Liu and Jean Yoon voiced their . Liu and Yoon revealed that, after Chois presence on set diminished, they began to feel increasing discomfort with proposed storylines that were everything from culturally inaccurate to overtly racist.. Yet far from suffering workplace discrimination, Lius character always seems shockingly comfortable working at a car-rental store, where he even has the benefit of his goofy Korean best friend Kimchi. Enjoyed this? Kims Convenience is based on playwright and actor Ins Chois play of the same name. Liu has gone on the record, describing Choi as. Rather, fans of any background can appreciate the familiar dynamics of a family that just so happens to be indisputably Korean-Canadian. We discovered storylines that were OVERTLY RACIST, and so extremely culturally inaccurate, that the cast came together and expressed concerns collectively, Jean Yoon, who plays the Kim matriarch, wrote on Twitter on June 6. In one episode of the latest season, a conflict seems to hinge on Lius character realizing that hes over-ethnicizing his mothers possible reactions to his live-in girlfriend. Simu Liu Has a Lot to Say About Why 'Kim's Convenience' "Can't Be Saved The show is quite popular around the world and focuses on a Korean family living in Toronto, running a convenience store. Sounds like a bunch of horsepoopy. An inconvenient truth: How 'Kim's Convenience' became a cautionary tale I certainly have sympathy for the cast not getting paid as well as they deserved, and of course the writing would have only improved with more input and creative direction from Koreans and the community that their lives in America and Canada are based in. You accuse the actors of this show of being ignorant puppets of white writers whose goal is to make them look stupid. Will there be a Sweet Magnolias season 3? The show will be missed. But those in the industry have told The Globe that the loss of Kims and the troublesome optics around Strays are merely symptoms of serious structural problems that producers and networks across the country have ignored for too long. Yeah. He wrote in part: "I know what you're thinking and, to be clear, I was fully expecting to come back for our sixth season. There wasnt a pipeline [that might have developed talent]. Back in March 2020, CBC announced that its hit family sitcom Kims Convenience, had been renewed for at least two more seasons: the fifth and the sixth. Studies have shown that people of color are severely underrepresented in behind-the-scenes roles like production, direction and writing. Mr Kim makes the comments not because he's homophobic, but because he can't keep up with the changing cultural landscapes, which in this case is about the significance of Pride Parade for the gay customers. More recently, actors like Sandra Oh and Daniel Dae Kim have talked about having to fight for cultural specificity for their characters in Killing Eve and Lost, respectively. If your understanding of racism is based around woke representationalism, then anyone working to make Kims Convenience for broadcast has to be not racist by definition. Courtesy of CBC. It's gleaned from some interviews and conversations that the general producers didn't feel comfortable continuing Kim's without Ins. Im heartbroken. Now that's a . The Sandman: Neil Gaiman Pitches Perfect Delirium Fancasting Idea, Star Trek: SNW's Anson Mount Addresses His "Dearest Discovery Family". The show plays off apparent racisms by his white boss and eventual love interest, Shannon, as poorly timed malapropisms, the kind of racism for which you can forgive a sympathetic white person. ", Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. So far, there has been no explanation for why beyond the producers announced that the show's creators had opted to move on. While focusing on the life of the couple and their children, the show tries to delve deeper into the conflicts and the generational tension that immigrant families go through because . Look no further than the show's pilot 'Gay Discount', where Mr Kim creates an impromptu discount for gay customers after he makes an insensitive comment to them. Disney has already invested in him in such a way they cant back out. This isnt goodbye, only #OKSeeYou. Kims did work hard to embrace diversity on-screen, and not just among the lead actors. The show's executive producer, Ins Choi, also released a statement, saying that he is "saddened" by Liu's decision to leave but that he respects his decision. The Flash star Danielle Panabaker shared a video from her final filming day; Superman & Lois star Elizabeth Tulloch congratulated Team Flash. Simu Liu Slams Kim's Convenience Cancellation and Spinoff - E! Online This is part of what makes the idea of the majority white male writing staff putting words into the mouths of Korean female characters while ignoring their input that much more absurd. You get a gold star for being a good person for recognizing whites sins and calling them out. And that kind of pressure is not put onto white showrunners.. That gave the show an authentic sense of downtown Toronto. It follows a Korean immigrant family in Toronto where the father owns a neighborhood bodega and finds himself often befuddled by the ways of the West and his grown children's comfort and embrace of them. Instead, the producers opted to end the show.