I am an avid reader of your ...
Question: I am an avid reader of your column, but have never felt strongly enough about any topic (even
Moonlight, and that's saying something) to write. I just watched the ABC Family "event"
Samurai Girl and found it quite entertaining. It was clean enough for the family, but engaging enough to keep my interest for six hours. I understand that this miniseries was based on a series of novels. Do you know if ABC Family has any intentions of continuing this as an ongoing show or was it simply an isolated "event?" A few other shows have begun as miniseries and then have gone on to do fairly well as an ongoing series on cable:
The 4400, The Dead Zone and, to a lesser degree,
The Starter Wife come immediately to mind. On another note, how sad (for me and the network) is it that I watch more ABC Family than actual ABC?
Answer: It's never sad if this is what you truly enjoy. As I write this, I haven't heard anything yet about a decision on the show's future. But the ratings appear promising, and when the miniseries was being presented to critics over the summer at the TCA press gathering, the network's programming chief made it clear he was high on the project. If the numbers do lead to a pick-up, the most likely route for it continuing would be as a weekly series. Stay tuned.
On a related matter, here's this reaction from Nicole A: "I watched ABC Family's Samurai Girl last weekend, and it stirred up some issues for me that I had to get your opinion on. Asians are statistically the least represented racial group in television, and as a Japanese-American I was very delighted to hear they turned a book series I read as a teenager about a Japanese girl into a TV miniseries. Then I saw commercials for it and discovered that one of the two main characters was changed from being a Japanese guy named Hiro to a White dude named Jake. To me if feels as if the producers decided that the miniseries would not be as successful if the male lead (who's also the romantic foil) was played by an Asian actor. The character made more sense as an Asian character when you examine the relationship he is supposed to have with the female lead and her family, but they completely changed his background for this series so he could become a caucasian character. One could say that the reason they changed him into a white character is to diversify the cast and make the series more relatable to the majority racial group. However, there are already three white characters who have important roles in the main character's new life to fill that quota. This character is described as being a ridiculously handsome man, and to me it seems that Hollywood doesn't think that an Asian man is appealing enough to hold an audience and be a believable love interest, which is absolutely absurd. Just look at Daniel Dae-Kim on Lost. Lots of people love his character and his relationship with Sun. So, now that my long rant is over, I want to know what you think about the situation. Why do you think the producers of this show chose to change the male lead from an Asian character to a caucasian one?"
Sounds to me like you've already reasoned it out. I can't say for sure why they changed the character, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was thought to make the show more "accessible." (I'm sorry to say that with new-season priorities, I didn't watch this miniseries.) Sounds like a missed opportunity to me, which isn't a slam on Brandon Fehr (Jake), who I've enjoyed since Roswell. Just saying.
