All American Girl - The Complete Series

Theatrical Release

September 14, 1994

DVD Release

September 14, 1994

Studio

Shout Factory

Rated

NR (Not Rated)

Directors

Arlene Sanford, Andrew D. Weyman, Terry Hughes

Actors

Amy Hill, Judy Gold, Sam Seder, Clyde Kusatsu, Maddie Corman, Ashley Johnson, J.B. Quon, Jodi Long, B.D. Wong

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Formats

• Box set
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• NTSC

Additional Information

A dimly remembered 1994 series that lasted a scant 19 episodes may not seem like a good candidate for DVD release, but All-American Girl deserves a second look. For Margaret Cho fans, this was the series that helped the diva of the disenfranchised find her comedic voice. For sitcom buffs, this series' tumultuous history is a textbook cautionary tale. And for actual fans of the show, it will be fun to be reunited with the wisecracking, TV-addicted Grandma (Amy Hill), the series' breakout character. All-American Girl was created as a showcase for stand-up comedian Cho, and was the first primetime series to feature a Korean family. But network interference took its toll on Cho's health (she recalls in one of the episode commentaries that she was compelled to crash-diet after being informed by execs that "I was too fat to play myself") and the show's creative direction, dulling Cho's cutting edge.

Set in San Francisco, All-American Girl is a culture clash/generation gap comedy. Cho's free-spirited Valley Girlish Margaret works at a department store and lives with her tradition-bound bookseller parents (Clyde Kusatsu, Jodi Long); her Grandma; brother Stuart (B.D. Wong), a successful doctor; and her younger, assimilated brother, Eric (J.B. Quon). Margaret's relationship with her imperious mother is particularly adversarial. The show seemed to be finding its footing when it was canceled, and some episodes offer a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been had the show's creators been left alone. "Pulp Sitcom" is a clever homage to Pulp Fiction, complete with a guest-star appearance by Quentin Tarantino as a purveyor of bootleg videos. "The Apartment" spoofs MTV's The Real World as Margaret shares an apartment with her two co-workers, one of whom (comedian Judy Gold) has a penchant for walking around nude. The show took a fleeting Seinfeld-ian turn with "Take My Family, Please," in which Margaret performs a stand-up routine about her family, who are in the audience and are not amused. In solo episode commentaries and in an on-camera conversation with Amy Hill, Cho thoughtfully reflects on where All-American Girl succeeded and why it ultimately failed. But her through-the-Hollywood-looking-glass experience inspired her breakout performance piece, the highly recommended I'm the One That I Want, in which she chronicles the series' demise much more candidly and graphically. This is the unexpurgated Margaret we know and love. --Donald Liebenson - Amazon.com

All-American Girl - The Complete Series

All-American Girl, the groundbreaking comedy series inspired by the life of stand-up star Margaret Cho, brought an Asian-American family to a television series for the first time. Originally broadcast in 1994-1995, the show featured Cho as one very Westernized Margaret Kim, a San Francisco hipster delightfully at odds with her traditional-but-screwy Korean family, and allowed viewers a comic glimpse of the culture clashes that constantly ensued.

Cast (in alphabetical order):

Margaret Cho ..... Margaret Kim
Maddie Corman ..... Ruthie
Judy Gold ..... Gloria
Amy Hill ..... Grandma
Ashley Johnson ..... Casey Emmerson
Clyde Kusatsu ..... Benny Kim
Jodi Long ..... Katherine Kim
J.B. Quon ..... Eric
Sam Seder..... Phil
B.D. Wong ..... Stuart

Disc 1
Mom, Dad, This Is Kyle
Commentary with Margaret Cho
Submission: Impossible
Who's The Boss?
Yung At Heart

Disc 2
Redesigning Women
Booktopus Submission: Impossible
Take My Family, Please
Commentary with Margaret Cho and Amy Hill
Exile On Market Street

Disc 3
Ratting On Ruthie
Educating Margaret
Loveless In San Francisco
Malpractice Makes Perfect
The Apartment
Commentary with Margaret Cho and Amy Hill

Disc 4
Notes From The Underground
Venus de Margaret
A Night At The Oprah
Pulp Sitcom
Commentary with Margaret Cho
Young Americans

Special Features:

Commentaries by Margaret Cho and Amy Hill on selected episodes

All-American Girl: A Look Back With Margaret Cho And Amy Hill featuring new interviews - Description