Megan Lee says Nick Cannon's show everyone forgot about isn't based on K-Pop + other news

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

Nickelodeon’s ‘Make It Pop’ Receives Mixed Reactions Ahead of Premiere

Nickelodeon has announced that it will premiere its musical comedy Make It Pop, which stars K-pop star Megan Lee, on April 6 at 7 p.m. The channel will also air a special preview of the sitcom on Thursday, March 26.

Co-created by Nick Cannon and Thomas W. Lynch, Make It Pop follows the story of three teen girls who meet as roommates at an international boarding school and later form the K-pop inspired band XO-IQ [hmmmm.] Megan Lee will be portraying Sun Hi, a social media maven and aspiring pop star.

The show has been receiving a mixed response from K-pop fans, as there have been some confusion on whether the show is actually about K-pop or just capitalizing on K-pop trends, such as crayon-colored streaked hair and flamboyant costumes.

“A lot of people have misunderstood that this show is about or based on K-pop but actually it’s not,” Lee said in an interview with BTS Celebs. “We say that the show is K-pop inspired because some of the styles of hair, clothes and make up that we apply to the show by looking at girl groups like f(x), Girls Generation, 2ne1, 4minute, etc.”

Despite Lee’s clarification, Hallyu enthusiasts are still concerned about the representation of K-pop on Nickelodeon. In 2012, Nick Cannon produced a TV film starring the Wonder Girls before “Gangnam Style” went viral, and the film tanked. Thus, fans have expressed their doubts about the show succeeding.

Make It Pop has also been criticized for the lack of Asian male leads. During an industry panel, a journalist asked one of show’s producers if an Asian male character will be included in the cast. In response, the producer joked, “Nope! Never! Asian guys in my show, not gonna happen!”

“The producer [then] began to answer the question seriously and said he was hoping to get Psy to play the father of the main Korean girl,” the journalist wrote in a scathing op-ed piece on AsAm News. “Only white guys are in the show as the love interest for Asian girls.”

However, the series’ creators and production company, DHX Media, are confident that the musical comedy will be a success.
“Tom and Nick have created a standout and up-to-the-minute series with a beating musical heart and unbridled energy, style and humour,” Steven DeNure, President of DHX Media, said in a press release. “High-school shenanigans have never before been this spirited and comical. Make It Pop has all the ingredients to be a success.”

You can watch the trailer for Make It Pop below:

"What do an aspiring pop diva, a fashionista and a book worm have in common? Music! After being randomly selected to room together at Mackendrick Prep [lol what,] Sun Hi, Jodi and Corki must learn to live together in harmony... literally. Can they achieve pop stardom in a school where academics come first and the arts come last? How will these rising stars balance music, grades, relationship and crushes? There's only one way to find out! Get ready for fun, drama, and musical comedy with a K-pop twist and an EDM beat!"

- Link to the MV for the show's first song since I can't get the video to embed.


Source: KoreAm, Nickelodeon youtube, Nickelodeon, BTS Celebs, AsAm News, NickALive

smh at that producer's answers. Nothing jumped out at me as being particularly K-pop inspired except their "MaKe it Pop" branding (+ maybe that white kid is supposed to be Chad Future;) it pretty much just looks like a Nickelodeon version of Glee/High School Musical with Asian leads. Also I forgot how awful the acting on kids' shows is. The MV called this a "one-month event" so I guess it's sort of like a miniseries? Thoughts, Omona?

Comments

[yuzuruhanyu.livejournal.com]

ugh

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

indeed

[psharp10.livejournal.com]

tbh

[xxmannequin.livejournal.com]

that song in the teaser reminded me of orange caramel.

didn't read, only the white guys part. of course.

[rmarques.livejournal.com]

There's an MV out for one of the songs already.

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

Ah, didn't know it was on youtube yet. That's the one I linked to in the post because I couldn't get it to embed from the other source. Thanks!

[rmarques.livejournal.com]

Ah, I missed your link, too. >_< Shows how much attention I pay sometimes. >_>

[yuzuruhanyu.livejournal.com]

cancel this pls

[undeniablysarah.livejournal.com]

mte

[dreamerbri.livejournal.com]

ia

[leopolitan.livejournal.com]

cringe

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

The trailer for it is like if Lisa frank took on giant dump. Man, Nickelodeon is so weird now... There was a time you would see teens on the shows now everyone looks like pre schoolers.

[stoppedclock321.livejournal.com]

Same show where there aren't even any Asian guys on it...

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what the hell is that about? I'm pretty sure they could have gotten a good looking teenage Asian guy to be s love interest? Pretty sure this is suppose to be in California.

[hyungmoney.livejournal.com]

I peeped some of the shows on Nickelodeon a few days ago and it's gotten so horrible

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

Idk why Nickelodeon and Disney seem hell-bent on making sure live-action children's/family show & quality are mutually exclusive concepts on their networks.

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

Nickelodeon is such crap now with their live action shows. The stuff they have on now is so weird and not like weird good like All That and the adventure of Pete and Pete weird, but like that weird guy that smells like onions that talks to his hand weird.

I don't know what happen to Disney or Nickelodeon, they use to have good stuff, but not so much anymore. All went downhill the moment Disney got rid of the Weekenders and pepper Ann.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

not like weird good like All That and the adventure of Pete and Pete weird, but like that weird guy that smells like onions that talks to his hand weird.

LOL what a mental image.

I was never a huge Nickeoldeon fan, but yeah, I remember them having some decent live-action programming in the 90s - I always wanted to watch the Adventures of Pete & Pete but have never gotten around to it!

Disney never had good live-action scripted television IMO. They've always had obnoxious, lazy, mugging-for-the-manufactured-laughs writing that constantly crosses over into crass territory (even reading the premises for shows like Liv and Maddie just make you depressed, and don't get me started on Jessie). Wizards of Waverly Place was the only live-action show from the past...idk, decade that (at least for the few episodes I watched it) stayed in the 'enjoyable cheesy' zone...even if it was never super funny or smart. Some of their animated series have been fun, though, like you said: Pepper Ann, Kim Possible, some of the Disney Afternoon lineup from the 90s. And I've heard positive things about Gravity Falls.

Honestly, aren't Disney and Nickelodeon's ratings declining as well (even for established shows like Spongebob)? Or is that just wishful thinking on my part? lol

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

I watched Icarly, it wasn't too bad and I do admit there were episodes that made me laugh, Pete and Pete was a weird show that I was kind of surprise to see on Nick and now thinking about it, I feel like it would have worked better on Adult Swim.

The stuff that Disney is crapping out now. Lord Jessie is a terrible show. Like really bad and so is Liv and Maddie, laziest writing. Disney did could by having a show like Gravity Falls on because its not just some weird funny show, but its a whole mystery that the fans are trying to solve because each episodes just leave different type of clues. I only started watching it so I'm lost about what the mystery was, I was able to just go to tumblr for answers on that one.

Spongebob is still doing really well, still one of Nick highest rated shows. Though the new live action crap like the Thundermen(rip off on the incredible, they took an awesome movie and completely weaken it) and the Haunting Hathaway...its as stupid as it sounds and dark if you think about the fact that its about a woman and her two young girls who move into a house being Haunted by a father and his two sons and all I can think about is....how did they all die?

I mostly stick to watching Cartoon Network, even though a lot of the good shows they had on 20 years ago(lord do I feel old typing that) is gone, (I miss when Cartoon Network would play shows from the early 90s, 80s, 70s and even some 60 shows, I miss Wacky Racers, Atom Ant and Tom Cat, their network Boomarang doesn't even show old old cartoons anymore unless its the damn Flintstones. ) I do like watching The Adventures of Gumball, Adventure Time, Steven Universe (One of CN best shows, I mean were are you going to find a cartoon that has a interracial relationship, several people of color and the fact that the creator of the show said that the The Gems, the main heros of the show, are non-binary. Its well written, there was an episode that made me cry, got me thinking about my mom and stuff. Its just a good show...Lord I did not means to write all this lol.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

the Haunting Hathaway...its as stupid as it sounds and dark if you think about the fact that its about a woman and her two young girls who move into a house being Haunted by a father and his two sons

What a waste of an actually interesting premise! That's such a potentially rich setup, which could lead to real poignancy, quirkiness, and perhaps a dose of genuine spookiness, but it sounds like they don't capitalize on that at all. :-/

I miss when Cartoon Network would play shows from the early 90s, 80s, 70s and even some 60 shows,

YASSS. And I hate that whenever they do air older properties, it's always inferior recently produced episodes instead of the classic ones like with the Scooby-Doo franchise.

Adventure Time is my favorite cartoon on right now. Thank you for recommending Steven Universe! (I was debating whether to get into that)

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

can you imagine they actually get PSY to play Sun Gi's father?? lmao

[10135.livejournal.com]

This show is for kids not adults of course y'all are cringing lol. Smh at the fact that they only want to cast white males.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

And with Nick Cannon at the helm, you'd think he'd have an interest in diversifying. But no.

Idk why Hollywood is so reluctant to cast Asian American males as love interests to Asian American females. It's really creepy when you start to think about it.

[agoongprincess.livejournal.com]

i didn't watch it but the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix has Ki Hong Lee as her love interest and a few articles were written on how important it is to have asians portrayed as love interests since they're usually portrayed as asexual nerds or w/e if they get portrayed at all.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

how important it is to have asians portrayed as love interests since they're usually portrayed as asexual nerds or w/e if they get portrayed at all.

It's really astonishing how little progress we've made from the days of Long Duk Dong, considering the massive amount of Asian immigration we've had since then. Still, I feel like there has been a mentality change in the past 5-7 years where such blatant stereotypes are no longer permissible (although movies like The Interview caution me not to be too optimistic), with characters like Glen from the Walking Dead being treated as sexual beings and with equal complexity to his white counterparts; and while Ken Jeong tracks in some stereotypes - he's often pitiful and somewhat asexual (that could be down more to ageism than racism, but it is somewhat troubling that the black female and Asian male characters are the ones who are desexualized) - his angry, sarcastic humor undermines much of the goofy, pushover image many "comic" Asian figures had in the past. Also, Asian characters aren't perpetual foreigners anymore, which is hugely positive thing.

I didn't know about Ki Hong Lee being featured on that show, that's awesome! I'll have to check it out (I haven't seen the Maze Runner yet either)

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

As a 26 year female that still watches cartoons and such I would still like something that doesn't make my eyes roll out of my head.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

I hope this flops. It deserves to flop.

[jayene25.livejournal.com]

I mean, it looks like a typical pre-teen show. No better, no worse.

[caramelorchoco.livejournal.com]

“Only white guys are in the show as the love interest for Asian girls.”

ummm is this guy joking or is he being really creepy and racist at the same time?

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

That quote was taken from the guy who wrote the response article about how the producers said there weren't any Asian male leads in the show. He asked the producers if there were going to be any Asian male love interests for the (mostly) Asian female lead cast members; the producers basically gave a really condescending, "joking" non-answer and the dude was like ok cool so there's only going to be white male love interests then, I see.

[caramelorchoco.livejournal.com]

yep i got that, i was referring more to the producers.

ugh what is with the reluctance in hiring asian males tbh. really weird and creepy. like only white guys can be the object of desire for asian female characters. wut.

[agoongprincess.livejournal.com]

gross. i don't care for the cheesiness/overall bad quality bcuz since it's targeted at kids it's going to be too cheesy for our taste now. looking back hannah montana/lizzy mcguire were pretty silly (there was a lot of quality diverse programming though).

i want it to flop bcuz they cast no asian american/asian guys in lead roles and ew that's gross as hell

[magicpineapple.livejournal.com]

Embarrassing tbh

[charlieu.livejournal.com]

I had a few friends pursuing the entertainment business in Hollywood and they legit did not want any asian males on the show. One of the producers spoke out against this and a lot of people, including my friend, shared his rant. The only asian male they wanted was Psy to play the main character's dad. No joke. They were REALLY pushing for Psy to be on the show and shut down any tlaks to have an asian male that wasn't supposed to be a joke.. The producer, being an asian male himself, was utterly disgusted and unhappy about it.

I tried looking for it, but I think its been deleted. I'm pretty sure the producer got in trouble for it, if that's the case.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the producer got in trouble for it, if that's the case.

The producer who raised a fuss about all the racist bullshit?

Wow. So not only Lynch but also Nick Cannon were specifically against having Asian-American males portrayed as sexually desirable, as love interests? That's disgusting. As I said in a previous comment, I hope this show crashes and burns.

Do you know the name of the Asian (descended) producer?

[charlieu.livejournal.com]

I don't, which is why I'm not certain if his original post was deleted or not. He was really passionate about it though and you can tell from what he said that he really didn't like the lack of asian males in the show and their attitude featuring one. I don't think he would have deleted it on his own.

[veryimportantu.livejournal.com]

wow she left korea and sued kim tae woos company for ....this?

[aigyu.livejournal.com]

ikr

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

I thought anything would be preferable to the Kpop industry. Now, I'm not so sure.

[she-devil666.livejournal.com]

ugh i forgot how crappy teen shows are. thanks

[jannytruant.livejournal.com]