The
Doctor Is In The House And He IS... #DrKen #PremiereWeek
#3WeekRoundUp
All pictures courtesy of ABC unless otherwise stated
On Dr.
Ken, Ken Jeong plays a doctor who, from what I can tell, is a general
practitioner. While he doesn't have his own practice, he works in a
private in- and outpatient treatment clinic somewhere in California I
believe it was, though I have to admit locale details were sparse.
He's quite rude to his patients who, in return, are rude to him and
don't often pay attention to his diagnosis. This is evidenced by the
first episode in which a man comes in and believes (read:
self-diagnoses) that he has a few hemorrhoids which would quickly
pass. He gets into a back and forth with Ken where the good doctor
tells him he actually should have a colonic and that there could be
something else wrong with him than booty bumps. As the man learns at
the end of the episode, he listens to Dr. Ken and goes to have the
flush-out, finding non-malignant polyps inside of him. Though he
complained enough to have Dr. Ken potentially fired, in the end the
doctor proved right and helped to save his life.
Dr.
Ken has a mix of coworkers who all seem a little off and help to add
to the comedy. You first have prime time sitcom vet Tisha
Campbell-Martin who viewers will remember from her stints on 90s hit
comedy Martin and early aughts gone-too-soon comedy My Wife and Kids.
Head nurse, she plays on the same comedic wavelength as Ken
sometimes, daring to go over-the-top with her outlandishness. Her
experience and the amount of funny she brings to the cast is nice to
see.
Next
is the secondary doctor in Ken's small posse of friends. Dr. Julie
(first names for everybody!) is the perky,
I-just-love-my-job-because-I'm-helping-so-many-people type. Again, no
specialty given, I suppose she, too, is a general practitioner. Her
voice is high and chirpy like a Tweety bird and though she is
dark-haired, she plays the role of the ditsy blonde. Though the
actress playing her has a fair amount of credits to her name, she
hasn't hit big on anything yet and can still be considered a fairly
new comer on the scene. Her character is fluff, the Phoebe from
friends of the group. As a side note, you know I had a mental lapse
and had to look up Lisa Kudrow's character name on Friends on
IMDb--Happy 25th Birthday IMDb--and guess what they didn't
have as her four big "most known for" roles.
Next,
we have Hector. Hector is played by another comedy veteran who has
been seen in bit roles and character roles ever since back when he
had a full head of hair. Check just about any NBC or ABC canceled
comedy in the last decade and he's been on it at some point, not to
say that he is bad luck or the reason these things get canned. Hector
is Dr. Ken's designated nurse working side-by-side with him. He
thinks of Dr. Ken as his work husband and a big deal is made of their
friendship on the second episode when he turns from Ken after not
receiving the proper recognition he believed he deserved for becoming
a registered nurse. If he wasn't good in his role, people wouldn't
keep hiring him.
While
the supporting cast at work is good, the one at home matches if not
surpasses it. Married to an Asian woman who is a psychologist or
therapist or psychiatrist (not really sure), they live in a near
palatial home. They have two children, a girl and a boy. The girl
gets her license the first episode causing the overly protective and
controlling Ken to freak out about her whereabouts. In the end, he
learns a lesson when his daughter doesn't attend a rave like he
thought she did. Her name being Molly, he gets arrested by an
undercover cop when his searching for his daughter is mistaken for
him trying to buy the drug. Laughs and hugs all around when he
realized that he had to let his daughter grow up to be a woman which
meant allowing her a little more freedom.
 |
| Daddy-daughter bonding |
His
wife, played by Suzy Nakamura who has been on the fringe of the
spotlight for years now and has surely been "that one Asian
woman from that thing" on more than a few occasions both brings
an understated comedy to the show (she does have to play the straight
man to her husband's foolery) and maintains a sense of warmth and
realism not seen since, dare I say it Clair Huxtable. She's not
neurotic, doesn't come off as a desperately oversensitive mom that
wants the approval of the cool label, though in the second episode
she is intimidated by Ken's parents when they visit. In a rather
humorous twist, the parents bond with her and the children when they
hear their son is late to dinner every night because of having to
attend a sensitivity course assigned after Hector files a patient
complaint for the whole RN diss. The parents wholly agree with their
daughter-in-law's assessment that Ken is overly angry much of the
time. They even add their own source of laughter after visiting, his
overuse of the qualifying phrase, "as a doctor."
The
third episode dealt with a small issue of helicopter
parenting/teaching your child to stand up for himself. Called names
at school, it is Allison (his wife's name) who tries to defend her
son. Their son seems to be a little slow or just all around goofy
similar to the character played by most young kids these days.
They're supposedly always out of touch with their own feelings and
life in general as the boy doesn't know how he feels about the new
nickname he is given. Dr. Ken deals with his own separation from the
crowd at work when he earns a better parking spot and weekends off as
a senior staff member who puts in excellent work. Both issues are
resolved when Ken fights for the rights of his colleagues and Allison
takes on a nickname from the bullying preteens herself, thereby
distracting them long enough to return to calling her son his proper
name.
What's
my grade? I give it a solid B leaning toward B+. It's not going to be
anything you haven't seen before if you've been watching TV for 20-30
years, or even 10 years. But it is a nice change of pace from the
influx of one-camera comedies with no laugh tracks that Bernie Mac
started way back in the day. It's filled with doctor-patient humor
that I'm sure plenty of people will identify with, albeit on the
wrong side sometimes (most of Ken's patients self-diagnose and stray
from his treatment regimen). The wife is allowed to be a woman with
an identity separate from her children and husband which is also
refreshing. This may sound racist but I hope they bring more of their
own ethnic experiences into the comedy as Fresh Off The Boat and
Blackish do. Ken can really open it up with the over-the-topness on
the racial subject matter, though I know how tiresome this can be for
any ethnicity. ABC has been desperately trying to bring back TGIF
when in the 90s they had Boy Meets World, Family Matters,
Step-by-Step and Full House. I can say I think this is another solid
step in the right direction.
Should
you be watching? Again, with comedies it is always up to you. With
the solid B score and ratings that are quite good for a Friday at
8:30, I would say that yes you should be watching. Tim Allen as his
lead-in, the two shows are just different enough humor-wise for you
to enjoy them both. If you have a family not embroiled in Friday
night lights of any sport or extracurricular activities and you
aren't using it as your Netflix and chill night with your significant
other or just to catch up on your DVR, then I say give this show two
to three episodes to impress you. It probably won't garner your
attention every week, but it should give you a few good chuckles.
What
do you think? Will Dr. Ken see you as his next patient--erm, viewer?
Have you seen the show? If so, which area do you think is funnier,
his work life or his home life? Let me know in the comments below
(hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).
If
you’re looking for Halloween scares check #AFuriousWind,
#DARKER,
#BrandNewHome
or
#ThePowerOfTen.
For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check
out #TheWriter.
The full first season is OUT NOW exclusively on Amazon. Join us on
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Until next time, “ha ha ha ha ha!
It's funny because he's fat."
P.S.
Mr. Chow. So we meet again. Better sign-off next time. You know the
deal.
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