Fresh Off The Boat – Interviews and New Episodes Tonight! #FreshOffTheBoat

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As part of the #McFarlandUSAEvent blog team, I got to do some pretty cool things thanks to Disney. All opinions, as always, are 100% my own!

Photo Credit: Silvia Mtz/Mama Latina Tips

Do you remember how I told you about my awesome upcoming trip to Los Angeles, California for the #McFarlandUSAEvent? I got back last night and had an amazing time! Over the next week weeks I will be giving you exclusive interview content and giving you reviews on the movies and shows we watched. First up is Fresh Off The Boat!

Friday evening after some fun stuff for the upcoming Big Hero 6 in-home release and some shopping, our group of 25 awesome bloggers headed to ABC Studios in Burbank for dinner, to watch two upcoming episodes of Fresh Off The Boat, as well as meet two of the absolutely ADORABLE kids from the show, and the executive producer and writer co-executive producer.

Me, Ian Chen (Evan Huang in FOTB), & Forrest Wheeler (Emery Huang in FOTB)

Photo Credit: Silvia Mtz/Mama Latina Tips

Before we went inside ABC Studios, we took a few group shots. While doing so, Forrest Wheeler (Emery Huang) and Ian Chen (Evan Huang) showed up. All of us women “Aww’ed” as we saw them because they were just too cute! And we fell in love with them even more when they were so kind to let us take individual photos with them. They were seriously the sweetest, well-mannered kids ever.

After photos, it was dinner time! And oh my goodness – the food was amazing! Beef brisket, steamed green beans with almonds, potato salad, baked beans, and cornbread. It was making me crave spring weather at home since this reminds me of a nice picnic.

And of course you can’t have dinner without dessert. And this was an amazing apple crisp. Yummy! My mouth is watering just thinking of this. I think I’m going to have to try recreating this soon – and, of course, I’ll share the recipe with all of you!

As we were eating our delicious dinner, we got to watch two upcoming episodes of Fresh Off The Boat – episode 3 “The Shunning” and episode 4 “Success Perm”

(Credit: ABC/Nicole Wilder) HUDSON YANG, LEAIRE GEORGE, FORREST WHEELER, ELOISE ESTEVEZ

FRESH OFF THE BOAT – “The Shunning” – When the cul-de-sac plans a block party to celebrate NASCAR, Louis urges the family to use the event to make new friends (and promote Cattleman’s Ranch Steakhouse). But Jessica has problems fitting in, especially after she befriends a beautiful trophy wife the roller blade moms don’t like. Meanwhile, Eddie schemes to win the respect of the neighborhood kids, in the time-period premiere of ABC’s new comedy series “Fresh Off the Boat,” TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 (8:00-8:30 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

I really enjoyed this episode for 2 reasons: 1. I’m a NASCAR fan and an even bigger Dale Earnhardt fan – since this show is based in 1995, it was super nice to see Dale’s car back on the track. 2. Anybody will be able to relate to this episode because at one point or another we have all felt like outsiders like Jessica’s neighbor that she befriends. This episode has lots of comedy, of course, and I enjoyed this a lot. Make sure to catch this episode today, Tuesday, February 10th at 8pm EST.

(Credit: ABC/Gilles Mingasson) CONSTANCE WU, RANDALL PARK

FRESH OFF THE BOAT – “Success Perm” – Family rivalry spirals out of control when Jessica’s sister, Connie, and her far more affluent husband come to visit. The Huangs try to convince everyone they’re doing great financially, when nothing could be further from the truth. Meanwhile, Eddie is excited to be reunited with his cousin Justin, who introduced him to hip hop, until he learns the kid has moved on to grunge, on “Fresh Off the Boat,” TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 (8:30-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Another great episode that had the whole room laughing. And I definitely think many of us can relate to this episode because there’s usually that one friend or family member we have trouble trying to get to like us like Jessica’s mother. Watch “Success Perm” tonight, Tuesday, February 10th at 8:30pm EST after watching “The Shunning.”

After previewing the next two episodes, we got to chat with Nahnatchka Khan (executive producer) and Kourtney Kang (writer and co-executive producer).

Photo Credit: Silvia Mtz/Mama Latina Tips

On how the idea of Fresh Off The Boat came about:

Nahnatchka Khan: Melvin Mar, who is one of the other executive producers, sent me a memoir that Eddie Huang wrote. I read it and thought it was fantastic. There was a section of it that focused on his family moving to Orlando in 1995 so his dad could own and operate a steak house and I just thought, what a great setting that would be for a TV show.

Photo Credit: Silvia Mtz/Mama Latina Tips

Kourtney Kang on how the show is for everyone:

It’s such a relatable show. I think that’s one of the great things that Nahnatchka did in developing the show is that there’s so many entry points and it’s all based in something so real that everybody feels like they don’t fit in at some point for some reason. If this were a writer’s room right now, I’m sure we could go around and everyone could tell like 5 stories about something that happened to them and you could use any of those stories in this. I think that’s what people latch onto, hopefully.

Nahnatchka on visiting Eddie’s real-life parents:

When the pilot got picked up to Series, we – me, and Melvin – the other executives and Constance Wu who plays Jessica and Randall Parker who plays Louis. We all went to Orlando to visit with Eddie’s family. And Louis, the real Louis, took us on a tour and we drove past and he’s like ‘Here’s Cattleman’s Ranch,’ and it was Hooter’s. It got bought and now it’s a Hooters.

Photo Credit: Silvia Mtz/Mama Latina Tips

Kourtney on working with the kids:

That was a new thing, working with the kids. I don’t know if you guys have heard this term called “pumpkining.” It’s based on, obviously, Cinderella, but it’s a term when you’re shooting that the kids “pumpkin” at a certain time. So it’s like 5:00 or 6:00 and they’re done and on the call sheet it’s like ‘Forrest is pumpkining at 6 so you have to be done with Forrest’ and it’s like what? Well, we’re not ready. We need to have Forrest say all these things. And Ian’s “pumpkin” is a half hour earlier ’cause he’s younger. We were running around a little bit trying to make that work with the kids but it was really fun. … It was great because also kids give you stuff that you don’t even really, you know, you have the line on the page and they say it and then they just sort of say it in a different way that you never thought or intended and it just makes it feel real and brings it all to life. It was really cool.

Do Nahnatchka and Kourtney get to work with Eddie Huang a lot?

Nahnatchka: Because it’s not like a bio pic or documentary, it’s a fictionalized version of his book and it’s the inspiration for what’s not he TV family, the Huangs. All the stories that are coming up are collective stories from all of us and wanting to feel very inclusive and being like, I can relate to that on any sort of level.

Are you wondering how many episodes they’ve done?

Nahnatchka: The pilot plus 12 – so we have 13 in all. We just wrapped before Christmas.

Photo Credit: Silvia Mtz/Mama Latina Tips

After interviewing Nahnatchka and Kourtney, we got to interview the super cute and sweet boys, Forrest Wheeler (10 years old) and Ian Chen (8 years old). OMG – I just love them! They had all of us laughing like crazy!

On what was the most exciting part about being on TV:

Forrest: I think it’s just seeing yourself on TV and really can’t believing that it’s you. Because when I watch it, I think ‘Is that really me or is that just some other person that they edited in?’

Ian Chen: Playing after we do the work.

Photo Credit: Silvia Mtz/Mama Latina Tips

Forrest’s favorite part of acting:

I like meeting all of the new people and learning different things, like learning how the camera works and how the art department works.

Photo Credit: Silvia Mtz/Mama Latina Tips

What Ian’s friends think of him being on TV:

They think it’s really cool. One of my friends actually gave me an Oreo. Like, two Oreos. And he says, “I love your shows.”

It was really interesting hearing about how Fresh Off The Boat came to be and learning more about Forrest and Ian. Make sure to catch Fresh Off The Boat tonight, Tuesday, February 10th 8-9pm EST! The episodes are funny and you will not want to miss them!

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Courtney P.

I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!

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