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“Off the Map” Travels the Same Worn Path

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Shonda Rhimes could be the hardest-working woman in television right now. Besides spearheading the resurgence of Grey’s Anatomy and overseeing the spinoff Private Practice, her new medical drama Off the Map premieres this month. Plus, she has just had another pilot greenlit, this one about crisis PR management (which thanks to the Isaiah Washington/T.R. Knight kerfluffle, she should know something about.)

But back to Off the Map. I like the idea that if Rhimes must launch yet another medical drama, that at least the setting will be a remote South American jungle. As someone who’s watched E.R. and Grey’s Anatomy for several years, I don’t want to watch another show where attractive doctors throw around phrases like “v-fib” or “get the crash cart” while indie-pop swells in the background.  But you have my attention if the patients have to be saved from giant snakes or treated while trapped on ziplines.

It’s Grey’s Anatomy, Survivor-style. The hottie docs make time for romance in between devising ingenuous ways of saving people’s lives, since all they have is rudimentary equipment and an herb garden. But there is one thing that irritates me about this show, and actually, all of Rhimes’ shows:

If you’re going to produce a medical drama, shouldn’t there be Asian characters?

How come in 2011 its still unthinkable to have Asian doctors or nurses on a hospital staff? TV is supposed to reflect our reality, and you would think this would be the one place we’d be represented in droves.

I’m not just advocating for mindless tokenism. ABC’s reality mini-series Hopkins and last year’s Boston Med, billed as real-life Grey’s Anatomy no less, showcased several Asian-Americans and their experiences on the job. Whether they were featured members on the series, or working in the background, they proved there can be compelling stories told about Asian-Americans practicing medicine. Not to mention the sheer number of Asians in the field, compared to their meager representation on the small screen.

Shonda Rhimes is a famous champion of diversity on her shows, yet the talented Sandra Oh remains the sole Asian on all her series. That is 1 out of the 30 actors on her three current medical drama. That is a woeful and pathetic number.

In watching sneak previews of Off the Map, I get that Rhimes needs the “baby doctors” to stand out as outsiders, as innocents in a foreign country, and having pretty white doctors achieves that. And I like the actors she cast as the new recruits, especially Zach Gilford from Friday Night Lights. But if you’re going to have a diverse, interesting setting, is it too much to ask that the cast be the same? Look at that cast photo above. Right now, Off the Map seems like some background players from Grey‘s went on a tropical vacation to a place that eerily resembles the island from Lost. (Check out this preview and see for yourself.)

(There are two minority actors on the show, including the actor who played Bailey’s ex-boyfriend on Grey’s Anatomy, but based on the previews, they seem to be mostly locked into a friends-with-benefits storyline.)

As a person of color, I am gratified by all that Rhimes has achieved, and what her success in television represents. I just wish she would spread the wealth when it comes to casting her shows, especially since she chooses to create series about medical professionals, a profession heavily populated by Asian-Americans in real life. It took nearly ten years before E.R. cast as its sole Indian doctor, and the long-running series only had two Asian doctors overall.  I expect better from Shonda Rhimes.



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