A few months back the Asian American reality show produced by Tyrese lit the Internet on fire. The cast for the Ktown Reality Show has finally been revealed. This picture was posted on twitter and shows the 8 cast members. 4 guys and 4 girls that will be on the show. With our research, we found that people competing include Young Lee, Jennifer Field, Joe Cha, Scarlet Chan, Violet Kim, Peter Le, Steve Kim, and Jasmine Chang. The pilot episode was shot over the weekend at BCD, Bohemians, and BoBo’s in Koreatown. From what we hear, there was drinking and drama on the set. Here’s a few more pictures from the pilot episode:
update: Asian Jersey Shore Cast Reel now available
update: K-town Reality show recasted
update: K-Town Reality Show : episode 1
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 2
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 3
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 4
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 5
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 6
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 7
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 8
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 9
K-Town Reality Show : Episode 10
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Peter Le interview during casting call
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“there isn’t enough Asian fan base with a low enough mental capacity to watch this show”
Oh really?
I for one am looking forward to seeing this show. I think it will be intriguing and it’s great to see Asians who (for a goddamn change) DON’T fit the model minority stereotype.
I’m surprised at all the comments bitching about how this will make Koreans (and Asians in general) “look bad.” Would you guys rather watch a reality show about a bunch of nerdy Asians studying and aspiring to get into Harvard? From my experience, those guys can be bigger douchebags than the ones we will likely see on this reality show.
I think it’s great b/c it’ll show that yes, Asians are not all that different from everybody else. We are not some superrace of high achieving Ivy League educated nerds. We have our problems but we also like to have fun and we like to have our own lives.
i think it’s great that asians, koreans area getting their moment in the spotlight, but why does it have to be in such a negative light? Is it not enough that media portrays asians in stereotypical roles like dry cleaners, chinese food delivery, nerdy, air head, maid, and other minor stereotypical roles that discriminate asians? why add to the list something so trashy?
not asian just want to say that these are the dudes i see at my 24 hour fitness in LA all day. asian hulk SMASH. i think this is pretty much a sign that y’all have made it into full american cultural acceptance. you don’t see ripped pakistani dudes or guatemalan bimbos on tv you know?
On behalf of all Koreans, i would like to apologize for the travesty.
“Jersey Shore” asian style? hahaha….. Sorry, it just doesn’t fly!!! You literally will set the Asian race back another 10 years in the minds of the general public. *sigh* William Hung wasn’t enough of an embarrassment? I’d like to believe that our race can be more original and creative than that.
omg! nerds, douchebags, ping pong masters, respect, dis….I’m just concerned with what White people are gonna think about us cuz their approval means i’m normal.
This WILL make Asians “look bad”..for obvious reasons. I’d rather see other races make fools of themselves and embarrass themselves than my own race. Plus the stereotypical image of an asian being nerdy is a lot better than trashy and dumb. A shot of love was bad enough with tila tequila..god this is embarrassing.
Smart >>>>>>>>> dumb sh*t.
I waited a while to comment to this and I was actually surprised by the number of thoughtful, carefully considered responses to this contentious topic. Is this show a good thing or a bad thing? I think it is sadly both. It will probably be popular, raise the “average american’s” awareness of a large community that has been under-represented, promote dialogue, etc. But it will do it in the almost worst possible way.
I did a little internet research, and soon found this page, http://www.channelapa.com/2010/07/ktown-reality-show-cast-revealed.html and three of the four cast members briefly bio’ed were not representative of any group except a small, narcissistic, perhaps “base”, Los Angeles subculture. So this show is immediately reprehensible for taking the already sensational nature of this television genre and turning it up to eleven.
I’m sure it will legitimately infuriate people, but I am also sadly sure that that is exactly what the producers of this show want to have happen. This is gutter television. It relies on “buzz”, taking whatever worked the last time and making it even more outrageous.
A bad thing in the short term, but I doubt it will do any long term damage. Soon enough it will be superseded by another show that feels it has to trump the ridiculous characters and behavior in this one. Soon the whole genre will just be a half forgotten, early 21st century junk culture artifact.
Although this is trashy like Ed Hardy, it’s nice that Asians are being portrayed in a more realistic and non-stereotypical manner. White America may think we’re all “nerds” but we’re really just drunks.
Actually, Peter Le is not JUST a model, he’s a NUDE model. haha…peterfever.com
This should be an interesting cast :/
OMG! This is going to be the greatest show ever!
Asians are good at math, quiet, shy, short…Asian men are asexual. Do we really want to protect these “positive” stereotypes?
It’s time the world saw Asians, specifically Koreans, be who they are…proud and loud! Represent!
This show is going to be entertaining as hell!!! It will show Asian-Americans as normal as the most of Americans…FUNNY!!! Seriously, who the hell would want to see a reality show about Asian-American medical students, law students, and finance people?? Really. Love the Korean Snookie cast members!!! She will be my favorite!!
The running of this show will have me ashamed to be asian. Or maybe not. 8 trying-too-hard asians can’t possibly disgrace the whole asian race. There’s enough drunk, dumb, I do nails for life asians out there. I honestly think americans have lost their creativity when it comes to entertainment. These “asians” have succumbed to wanting their own 5 minutes (or maybe half a season if they’re lucky) of fame, in a negative way. You wanna be’s on this show, may your dignity rest in peace. A show like this doesn’t deserve to receive the least bit of praise, makes me chuckle cause I’m embarrassed for the cast.
OMG!
Nooooo!! I just got douche-chills looking at the people.
Honestly, for people defending this show, you guys are not fully thinking about the ramifications of what the audience is going to perceive about Asians. Yes, they will see Asians in a light that is going to be different from the nerdy, hard-working stereotype. Instead, they’re going to look into the other stereotype that make Asian women look like sluts (Geisha stereotype) and narcissists. Just think about how you perceive the cast of Jersey Shore and what that did for the “Guido” stereotype. Asians, particularly Koreans, are going to become the new guidos. Whether you’re proud of that or not is totally up to you.
Where’s the asian preppy type? Where’s the asian thug wanna be? Terrible character casting IMO.
On a serious note, the only doubt I have with this show is that either:
1. They are going to show them acting Korean and people not familiar with the Korean culture (both traditional and Americanized-culture) won’t understand wtf is going on or won’t find some aspects humorous.
or
2. The are going to show them vanilla-like and it’s going to be literally Jersey Shore with asians. No difference.
These ARE “stereotypical” asians. Asaians party harder then anyone I know. If you don’t think do I don’t no what asians you hanging out with. Asians a regular people with a different skin color.. DUH!!!!
If nothing else, judging by the comments thusfar, this show will highlight the maxim:..”Pardon me, but your prejudice is showing.!”These are fun loving young people who are looking for fun where most everybody goes..It also will confirm that alcohol is the common denominator:..NO matter their race, culture, when sufficiently inebriated they will succumb to the same alcohol-induced lowering of their inhibitions,which may be (the next day or monday) leaving them to ask themselves the age old question:..Did I really sleep with THAT.??or I did NOT REALLY do THAT, did I..?…….Self discovery is difficult to do from within an alcoholic haze…..!!..Time will tell….
What on earth will their Korean parents think? Finding fame by acting like this? It’s a shame that standards of our mixed up Korean culture are so low. As much as we all argued to have rights to be and act “American” with our parents, they were actually right-value of education, respect for elders, high class, pride.
Even though this show isn’t the best to start off with, I know that it’ll start putting Kor-Ams on the map. Stereotypes, both good and bad, are usually portrayed first in Hollywood before anything more “realistic” gets played on the air.
Young Lee can’t even properly speak English for God’s sake!!! He is a total FOB…all of them need to go get real jobs and stop trying to get their 10-min of fame. This is such an embarrassment!!!!
Must we follow all white trash antics!!! Now we have lend ourselves to be YELLOW TRASH!!! I don’t want to be on the so called “MAP” for this Sh*t!!!
It’s funny that this show exploits the same stereotypes that other Asians(chinese, japanese) have about koreans, but it’s coming from an AA producer.
Hold up, I was going to say something, but I just saw the posting from PrincessV. Wsup with the internalized racism? I’m 2nd-gen but I got nothin but love for my “FOB” brethren and sistren so how bout you quit hating on the rest of our peoples and keep your self-hatred quiet. I dunno about you but I got parents, cousins, aunties and uncles who just got to The States and anyone I’ve met who had a problem with their “proper English” suddenly found themselves dealing with me at my most verbally articulate, and not infrequently me at my most physically destructive. Sick of all these Asian Americans hating on our own peoples, those are your fams too, what are you, American white, pure as the driven snow?
Yo let’s not get this twisted. The show is a farce, potentially both empowering and denigrating. Peter Le isn’t even Korean, he’s Vietnamese. Granted it’s a bunch of idiots on TV, but for real, any “honest” exposure at this point is better than being relegated to the media shadows (particularly for Asian Men, who are not given the pseudo-‘privilege’ of cameratime, even if only to commodify their exotic sexuality as has been the case for Asian Women). I say honest because chopchop Charlie Chan is a caricature, a white person’s grossly distorted interpretation of who we are. That’s what made it disingenuous.
Has anyone here ever been to K-Town L.A.? It’s full of these monsters. Chips on their shoulder (for being born into privilege) hellbent on their life goal of releasing their testosterone and slut appeal. I’ve seen all the youtube clips and blog postings–including from fairly prominent Asian American studies ‘scholars’–that diss and dismiss “Asian gangs” as being imaginary, the product of suburban privilege and obsession with “African American” culture. I swear none of these Asian American pundits have ever seen the poor urban Asian Pacific Islander communities from LA County all the way up to San Francisco and Sacramento, let alone spent time interfacing with them and learning about the realities they face, or the way that Black, Yellow, and Brown communities of color combine to create the cultural landscape of urban culture from music and dance to fashion and art. Of course, the fools in K-Town are something else–they’re literally Jersey Shore. Except they drive BMWs, drink soju, fear their parents, and look a little more like we do.
As imbalanced as our portrayals are in the media, I’m glad we’re finally getting some face time. I’m not a huge fan of the slim sector that’s been selected to represent us, but at least it speaks to a truth about our communities and it isn’t just some white man’s concoction. This was the same tired, sanctimonious rhetoric that everyone had for Justin Lin’s, “Better Luck Tomorrow” until people stopped being stupid and recognized the power of putting our faces on screen, even when the image isn’t tidy. Plus at least the Asian “men” (ugh, sort of) in the cast are included as prominent figures in the show. The advent of reality TV has seen plenty of Asian women (it all started with Janet from The Real World… ongoing crush), where’ve any of the Asian men been at?
It’s going to be an ugly, painful trainwreck to watch but at least we’re breaking out of old conventions.
People need to realize the fact that Asian Americans do not always need to be proper, quiet, studious, intelligent. Why can’t our race be HUMAN and have people of all extremes and be normal members of society. For years and years we’ve been hidden by the media because they don’t believe we have any appeal in the mainstream. But after reading these comments, it seems like we want to be hidden/sheltered. It’s a sad fact that entertainment these days (especially reality T.V.) is aimed at drunk, loud, raunchy people, but who says Asians are not be a part of that population. Do you live in your own sheltered world or what… or are all of you in denial of the truth?
No one is saying that this will be the only time Asian Americans will be on T.V. so don’t treat it like it’s a deciding factor on who we are as a race. We’ve already proven ourselves to be the smart, quiet, submissive ones… we no longer need to back that up. I for one want to be judged openly and like everyone else, not be automatically assumed to be quiet and submissive.
Quidos have always been known to be Jersey Shore-esque, Asian Americans are known for the opposite, so this will only add to the possibilities of who we are. Why can’t our men be sexy? Why can’t our women be loud? What century do you live in where everyone needs to be covered up and women have to be submissive and quiet?
It’s really discouraging to know that you all are fighting this so much because in turn, you are censoring people in our race to portray themselves as they want. Who gives you the right to censor them. According to the tv and movies, you don’t even exist. The cast on the show, producers, crew, etc want to make a product to further give exposure to Asian Americans… good or bad it doesn’t matter. Get it in your head that we have no recognition currently, all we are to the public are kungfu, doctors who are always side characters… tokens. Asian men especially are all skinny, nerdy, weak people.
These men are sexualized… which isn’t a bad thing. Who knows this might bring light to Asian men to non-asians. So just be quiet and watch. Because if you don’t, who knows when we’ll get another chance to be on television as main characters. By this project failing, we only prove that Asians don’t belong on TV because no one wants to watch us… If no one wants to watch us sexy, who will want to watch us sheltered.
Look at things from a different angle rather than old fashion asian Pride Pride Pride. Get over it.
I am sorry but the men are hot so I AM WATCHING THIS
K-town shore doesn’t fly.
This is simply a major step in getting Asian Americans accepted into the mainsteam. Those worried about the “bad light” appear to not understand that we have extremes of both good an bad in our ethnic culture here in the states.
To limit our portrayel of only the smart and hardworking Asian American is in a sense, a disservice to us, as it simply can’t encompass all that we might be. It’s dishonest to to not want to portray that we here, like those in every culture, do enjoy having fun, being loud, strong, macho, sexual, etc.
It’s not necessarely a bad image, but it’s more of a realistic and honest image of 18-26 year olds. We do have emotions/attitudes in common with any other American ethnic group. We’re not always chained to the library or buddhist temples.
I’ll enjoy the show.
Not sure how the show will play out but I must admit the men in these photos are cute… reminds me of the guys I used to see around campus at school.
Everybody has made some good points from both sides. There are always pros/cons to everything but in this case, I believe the show will be bring more good than bad. Currently, there is a huge imbalance of how Asians (particularly males) are viewed by today’s society and the resulting stereotypes. A lot of it is due to the following factors: Hollywood & media misrepresentation of Asians, misunderstanding of Asian cultures by the majority of the population, upbringing methodologies of first generation, etc.
The truth of the matter is, there are indeed nerdy goody-goody Asians that are really book smart, wears glasses and very shy….so on and so forth but there are also folks like that in any other culture. Unfortunately, that is the side society tends to mainly focus on and link us to. Besides Martial Arts, Asians are typically attributed to being good at Math & Science, going to good schools and being controlled by our parents. Realistically, there are plenty of “normal” kids amongst the Asian populations and some are major party goers, athletes, blue collar…pretty much the complete opposite of what is expected of a typical Asian in the eyes of the society.
I’ll use myself as an example. My parents forced me to play violin and piano when I was young and really tried hard to mold me into the typical straightforward Korean male they envisioned me to be. Because of them, I am 100% bilingual (Korean & English) and proud of my heritage and culture in every way. I also love going to karaoke bars and experiencing my culture here in the states via Korean movies, music, food, etc. I even visit Korea nearly on an annual basis. At the same time, I consider myself an American….Korean-American. Anyways, I come from a very typical traditional Korean family and although many of my friends went to Ivy League schools and became doctors and engineers, I decided to join the Marines. Since leaving home, I’ve pretty much lived an independent and sort of crazy life for the past 13 years and experienced many untypical “Asian ways”. I ended up dating girls from “all” backgrounds (black, Hispanic, white, etc.) and eventually settled for a Korean girl (just happened to be) by eloping with her, without my parent’s consent. Besides my “smart” friends, I have plenty of fellow Asian brothers and sisters that are like me or in other words, a “American kid” with no boundaries or barriers. Granted, it does seem like the typical Asian family instills higher standards and expectations…yeah it’s true…it is what it is, but people just need to realize it ain’t like that across the board.
I think it’s just a matter of time (it might take 15-20 years) but things will continue to improve for us Asian-Americans. This “K-town” show does have a lot of holes and issues but I think it is something that is necessary to help throw the current imbalance off towards a more positive or different direction for us. What better way then present that on the TV screen where most people in America are used to seeing Asians only in martial arts movies or playing the violin. If the pilot show ever gets bought by a network and actually shows it on TV, I’ll watch it and will probably enjoy it. More than likely the overall media interest won’t be there but again, it’s something to start with as far as changing the current stereotype of Asian-Americans.
Peter Le is a Gay porn star with a rich sugar daddy
加油！peter lee！你的中国“粉丝”支持你！你是最棒的！
I’m looking forward to this show.
Finally a documentary about Korean Americans who aren’t brain washed by the church or aspiring to be douche bags getting into Ivy League schools.
Looking forward to this. Finally, asian men being portrayed as something other then karate/kungfu fighters,
Fobs who can’t speak English or nerds (How High, etc). Think about any movie other then “better luck tomorrow” where asian men weren’t portrayed in this sterotypical light in Hollywood.
I for one think this show is a good thing. I’m tired of all this BS of Asians being super smart geniuses, gay fashionistas, or hardcore gangsters. And I’m glad they chose the people they chose (ie, “American”), especially the Asian guys (ie, not super scrawny, non-desirable, asexual beings). Good for them. I hope this destroys the whole model minority myth and places us into the realm of “normal.” Hope this show rocks, entertains, and kills the Asian stereotype…
Korean chicks with tatoos and bleach-blond hair might be what K-town looks like (I dont really know) but it is absolutely not what Seoul looks like (which I do know). I tend to believe this show is just Jersey Shore with Asians. Its just using a proven trashy formula and marketing it to a different demographic. Throw in a few sexy members of each gender and let them start fighting over each other…works every time. Any idea that this show is some kind of artistic or social groundbreaking for Asians is ridiculous. I would hope that the average Asian-American is smarter than the average “Guido” and would know how obviously insipid this program really is. There won’t be much Korean culture highlighted or celebrated here, just a lot of “Melrose Place” Hollywoodisms wearing Asian masks. It’s all about using proven formulas to lure in specific targeted demographics.
From reading some of the comments, my God, you Asians really need to stop worrying about what others think of you. Who gives a damn? Enjoy being who you are and stop worrying about what white, black, brown, yellow, purple, green Americans will think of Asians. No wonder the nerdy, uptight, geek stereotype arose from you Asians. Loosen up!!!
i love u peter li,wishe you can win,i am ur honest fans.i am from china
I can not wait for this show to premiere!
CSmoley…I appreciate when you said that asian people should “appreciate who [they] are” but I find everything else you said to be jampacked with assumptions and stereotypes. You’re immediately assuming that all “you asians” are nerdy and uptight when you feel the need to tell us to “loosen up,” while perpetuating the stereotype yourself.
An asian in America can’t just one day..stop being asian. it’s something you are and it’s pretty physically noticeable. and when your group has been portrayed negatively for so long…how do you not care? When Asian Americans have contributed so much to America socially, economically, and politically (and yet people don’t know this…i wonder why..), I think that we should at least have something as simple as more diversity in media representation . Media representation is how most people understand the world and I don’t even care if there are some negative portrayals as long as there are many diverse representations. I think it’s very easy for someone to view minorities as high-strung about these issues and not about the history of activism and struggle. People get tired of waiting decades for shit to happen.
so when does this show air?????
Oh my goodness, this is beyond criminal. I cannot believe this is good for the Asian American community. The portrayal of Koreans as hard-drinking, engaging in highly risky behavior, promiscuous is pretty damaging to our community. Now high-achieving white people are going to hate us! I hold the vision that all Asians will be seen as credit-worthy, well-spoken, well-educated, high-earning, and averse to criminal behavior, that’s what makes me be proud to be Asian – Age 27, Texas
Whoohoo, fire up the fish fryer and cook some shrip fried rice with pork rolls! Lmao, seriously this is as good as any other show. Yes, I’m asian.
You are the best peter le！
I think it may have died on the vine.
@daniel kim : I want White people to actually hate us… enough of passing for the good nerdy, obedient, submissive people or whatnot. It’s gonna be funny as hell if it ever gets released ahah.
Perhaps there is less parental psreruse now on pushing Asian Americans into math, science, and medicine. I see this as a step forward, where Asian Americans are now maybe pursuing their own interests, instead of those of their parents. Who knows?