Margaret Cho Returns To TV

RIGHT at the outset of "The Cho Show," Margaret Cho brings up her unfortunate first dalliance with television, the 1994-95 flop "All-American Girl."

"Hollywood thought I was too Asian, and Asians thought I wasn't Asian enough," she says of her short-lived ABC sitcom.

"The Cho Show," a new seven-episode, half-hour series billed as a "reality sitcom" and set to start on Aug. 21 on VH1, will be her chance to show a television audience who she really is. In the first episode Ms. Cho, 39, appears naked except for a painted-on dress and a G-string. She also introduces her quirky entourage: Selene Luna, Ms. Cho's 3-foot-10 assistant and enabler; a gay "glam squad" in charge of the star's makeup, wardrobe and hair; and her long-suffering parents, Seung Hoon and Young Hie Cho, who are given the rare opportunity to speak for themselves after years of being known only through their daughter's merciless impersonations.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[philtll]

Ew. Cho has long been one of the most overrated people in the business. She wishes she were (to address three names below) Silverman, Kathy Griffin, or Roseanne, in terms of stage work, magnetism, and of course bringing the funny. Cho's Capital-A Attitude~~! would be fine to watch, if her stuff was funny.

[Eric8869]

you must be a straight man. YAWN

[scottarino]

Thanks for the early warning on Cho's return to TV. I AM glad that Cho will finally let America see who she really is, instead of the unfunny comic personality she has been unfairly saddled with for like the past 20 years. So she appears naked with g-string body paint, no doubt, and buttressed with a quirky entourage. Sounds original. I'm sure this real talent will be discovered and appreciated at long last with this foral into reality television. Is it 2002?

[AdamWykle]

my homegirl, Aug 21st couldn't come any sooner, i can't wait

[NoSillyName]

She is very funny!

[LeaveArtieAlone]

So true!!!

[Zen66]

Margret Cho, Sarah Silverman, Kathy Griffin, Rosanne Barr - all ground breaking. Each of these women have made me cringe and laugh. They are not cutesy Barbie dolls telling 'my husband thinks I'm such a bad driver' jokes. Like the great male comics who taught us the F-bomb was our friend whether we liked it or not, these ladies are showing that they don't have to be sweetness wrapped in a lacy dumb blonde joke. They are professional comics who make fun of our very human nature, and who find humor in a good queef joke. Which reminds me, I should add Stephanie Miller to that list.
Its about time female comics grew up.

[rwe]

Cho and Rosanne Barr are the epitome victim arrogance ... Not funny, ... When the only ones who thought you were funny (the Asians and non-asians did not) would not make a census form , you might look for a waitress job

[YellowDogInRedCounty]

It just goes to show that what some of us find funny others do not. Any comedian who appeals to EVERYONE would have to edit out so much that it would be bland.

[marymansour]

I think Bill Cosby was the closest to fit the description of pleasing everyone.

[Topfeeder]

3'10" assistant! Didn't Chelsea Handler already do that bit?

[BlueandGreen]

Oh goody ... LOVE Margaret; she is so delightfully nasty!

[OuterBoroughPrincess]

I am so excited!! But, the real question is . . . how will this impact her HuffPo blogging schedule?

[marymansour]

Margaret is back.....hot diggety. Cho is one brilliant and biting comedian crashing through barriers a mile a minute. You go girl and WELCOME back. Can't wait to see your first appearance.

[LeftVetPatriot]

Break a nail, Babe!

[StanTheManic]

...and the viewing public apparently thought your show sucked, staying away in droves.

The show was quickly canceled after suffering from poor ratings, and the effect of major content changes over the course of its single season.[10]

^ Margaret Cho's Asian-American sitcom. - By Sam Anderson - Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/id/2136087/

[Eric8869]

It was a bad idea from the start. She was a cool young woman with gay friends from the city and they tried to portray her as a young girl next door embarassing her very traditional family with jokes.

It should have beena about a wild young woman living in the city with her friends (gay striaght punk whatever) and her traditional parents having to deal with it.

It was trying to be a family sitcom like FULL HOUSE when that is NOT what makes Margaret Cho funny. Her old Asian Mother trying to deal with her gay friends would have been funny.

It was not the casts fault - they were all very well cast. (especiallyt he grandma) - It was just another "death by commitee" in Hollywood. they are so stupid.

Can you imagine if they had made Roseanne Barr a traditional mother from television and not based it on her standup? It would have failed. Same thing.

[phlashba]

Maragaret Cho is a GODDESS! Good Luck Margaret!

[tkondaks]

It wasn't that Hollywood thought you were "too Asian", Margaret; it was that they didn't think you were too funny.
No one cares what color you are, what your ethnicity is, or how much you mimic your mother by replacing r's with l's. If you don't make us laugh, you're gone.
THAT was your problem in '94-95.

[Eric8869]

It was the show that wasn't funny - not her.

[LiberalBuzz]

Actually looking further into it, this looks like a copy of My Life On The D-List. Quirkier entourage, but D-List nonetheless.

[JScott]

Yeah but so what. Hope she does some belly dancing. Actually she lives in Glendale, and her house has carpet on the ceiling (from MTV Cribs). She's gotta blog too google it folks but I dunno if there's a bbs attached to it. I'll watch it.

Wonder if she'll team up sometime with Sandra Tsing Loh (Woman On Fire) google it.

[heretical eggs]

I can see from the article's description of the upcoming show that it could resemble Kathy Griffin's D-List series. However, these are two very original women. I have always had a very high degree of respect for Margaret Cho and her comedy.

She is hilarious and has become an icon of humor and integrity to many people. I doubt that she would rip off Kathy Griffin or allow network money to cheapen her into such a course of action. I'll watch her. I'm sure Kathy will watch her.

If it turns out to be a blatantly unoriginal redux of My Life on the D-List, then I will stand corrected. Also, Ms. Cho will more than likely lose no small amount of fans. Though I don't expect this to be the case.