Asian-American
solidarity requires that I have an opinion about Ken Jeong's new
sitcom, "Dr. Ken." I wasn't looking forward to this, after hearing
reports about how bad the pilot episode is. I've liked Ken Jeong in
"Community" and his movie roles, but he strikes me as one of those
actors who works better in small doses as a wacky supporting character.
I wasn't looking forward to his often obnoxious weirdo persona being at
the center of a whole show, particularly such a by-the-book network
show.
As the commercials have relentlessly told
us over and over again, before Ken Jeong got into comedy, he was a
practicing medical doctor. So he should be well suited to playing a
doctor on television, right? Here, he's Dr. Ken Park, a brilliant
physician with a terrible bedside manner. He practices at an HMO
clinic with nurses Damona (Tisha Campbell Martin) and Clark (Jonathan
Slavin), and resident Dr. Julie Mintz (Kate Simses). In the evil sitcom
boss role is Dave Foley as the clinic's administrator, Pat. Ken
juggles his duties at work with being a husband to wife Allison (Suzy
Nakamura), a successful psychiatrist, and overprotective father to
teenage Molly (Krista Marie Yu) and middle-schooler Dave (Albert Tsai).
So
far I've seen four episodes. The pilot is as terrible as everyone has
said, but the other three episodes settle into something decent, if
pretty unoriginal. The workplace hijinks are straight out of any
middling 90s sitcom you could name, like "Just Shoot Me" or " Veronica's
Closet." Dave Foley is playing the sleazy version of Jimmy James from
"NewsRadio," which helps, but he doesn't get a lot of screen
time. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, Suzy Nakamura does an excellent
job as Dr. Ken's lovely spouse, who has her hands full curbing his
worst impulses. The kids are very familiar types, but get some good
moments. There's enough good talent in the supporting cast that both
sides of the show could develop into something solidly entertaining.
Unfortunately,
one of the major stumbling blocks is Ken Jeong himself. He's clearly
putting in a lot of effort, but he just doesn't have the charisma or the
comedic chops to keep my interest as a leading man. He's toned his
usual obnoxious shtick way, way down here, but I wouldn't call him
likable. Frankly, I haven't made up my mind what to think of him. I
think the trouble is that Dr. Ken Park is still an awfully inconsistent
character, sometimes a jerk, sometimes an angry little man, sometimes
just thoughtless and obtuse, sometimes awfully reminiscent of
"Community's" deranged Senor Chang, but sometimes entirely unlike him.
There are occasional instances of mild shock humor that he pulls off
well, but at the same time they don't seem to fit the softer tone of the
show. Jeong could get better, I'm sure, but it's going to take some
time. I can't help thinking that the show would probably be much more
fun as a simpler medical workplace comedy with Jeong and Foley
co-starring.
We're still at a point that
having an Asian-American lead actor in such a high profile part is
something worth noting. "Dr. Ken" is taking the "Mindy Project" route,
acknowledging that the Parks are Asian-Americans, but treating the race
of the characters as a minor aspect of their lives. They could be any
ethnicity, and nothing would really change. There's absolutely nothing
wrong with this, though from the second episode where Ken's parents drop
in for a visit, the show probably could tackle racial issues head-on if
it wanted to. I just don't see it ever wanting to. This is altogether
a much safer and more formulaic sitcom than "Fresh Off the Boat," and
though I'm a little surprised that it's been picked up for a full season
order already, I've got a good idea of why it's been successful. It's
familiar, palatable, and pleasantly brainless.
I
don't think I'll be watching much more of this one, and I don't feel
guilty about it. It's nice that "Dr. Ken" is finding some success, and
giving the Asian-American presence on prime time network television
another boost, but it wouldn't have been much of a loss if it had been
cancelled early.
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