On this mini episode we talk TV! What were your favorite TV shows growing up? As 80s babies we rehash our love of Saturday morning cartoons, Saved By The Bell, and A-Team. Do you remember Ernie Reyes Jr on Sidekicks?
Or are you a fan of TJ Perkins on WWE?
What would a Filipino American TV show look like for the TFAL crew? Want to know what the Filipino American version of The Walking Dead would be called? Take a listen to find out!
Let us know what your favorite TV shows are! Or what would your TV pitch be for a Filipino American TV show? Email it to us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com. Or leave us a voice message on the TFAL hotline (805) 394-TFAL and maybe, just maybe, we’ll play it on our next podcast episode!
Listen through the embedded player below, download directly here, or subscribe to us on iTunes here!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
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This was quite an engaging episode. I liked learning about the TV shows you guys grew up with and how there were always components to them that you, as kids, didn’t grasp the full meanings of or never consider doing (i.e. being grounded, throwing parties while the parents are out, etc.). I also liked how you guys shined a light on Filipino American representation in television, and how even as kids, that was something you looked for and valued.
So I should note that my answers to your questions might give away the age gap between myself and you guys, for the TV landscape I grew up with was a little different. Being born in the 90’s, you might hear how people around my age probably grew up on anime and “Power Rangers” and what not. For me as a kid, I was very much a PBS junkie, and it was through their children’s programming that I first learned about some of the industry’s notable entertainers. I didn’t know who Whoopi Goldberg was until she appeared on an episode of “Sesame Street” and the first thing I saw Pat Morita (a.k.a. Mr. Miyagi from “The Karate Kid”) was on a short-lived kids show that was shot right here in the Bay Area.
I didn’t let the entire 90’s pass without venturing out to other stations. I was one of those kids who grew up on “Pokemon” and during, what I consider, the “Golden Age” of Disney Channel, I was very invested in a series they had called “So Weird” (it was basically “The X-Files” for kids).
I didn’t grow up seeing that many Filipinos on TV, and to see Hapas was pretty much nonexistent. Had I seen more of them on TV, maybe my self-esteem wouldn’t have been as low as it was as a kid.
So if I were to pitch a Filipino American TV show, I was thinking of maybe it be about the adventures and misadventures of a college PASA. Perhaps the show can focus on how students rebuild it after it dismantled years before and attempt to carry on traditions such as entering the Friendship Games in the fall and put on a PCN in the spring. In between time, storylines can branch off to the individual students who make up the club and see how they lead their lives in their academics, their potential careers, their relationships, and in their identities as Filipino Americans.