- This article is about the situation comedy; for the book, see All American Girl (book).
All American Girl was a 1994 ABC sitcom starring Margaret Cho and Ashley Johnson. It was the first U.S. show centered around a person of Asian descent, Margaret Cho.
The film was based loosely around the stand-up comedy of its star, Cho. However, its format was continually being changed by producers and the network in an attempt to boost ratings, and the result was a poorly written mish-mash show that was quickly cancelled. Cho has gone on to comment on the tortures of making the show. She has explained that she was asked to lose a large amount of weight in order to play a character based on herself. She was then told she was not acting Asian enough; an "Asian Consultant" was hired to teach her to be "more Asian." When this angle was not successful, all Asian members of the cast (sans Cho) were dropped and replaced with a group of multi-cultural "friends" for the main character to interact with. Then Cho was told she was being "too Asian" for this new format.
Cho's desperation to make the show a success lead to decisions that affected her health negatively. Her rapid weight loss in order to complete the pilot episode caused her kidneys to collapse. When the show was cancelled she spiralled into a drug and alchohol addiction which have been the focus of much material in her live stage shows.
