The show that was formative for me as a teenager: Weeds
It’s difficult, because my access to TV was so weird as a teenager, being home-schooled and just not having access to a TV for a while. But when I think back to high school, a show that was a paradigm shift for me was Weeds. It was the first show that I had to track down in bits and pieces via LimeWire and the internet. It was not a show I had access to. We did not have premium cable. I didn’t even know there was a difference between premium cable and regular cable. Weeds was a show I watched where I was like, “Oh my God, this is what TV could be.”
It was certainly not something I was seeing on network TV or cable at the time. It was the first time I remember watching a show that felt like it was pushing boundaries. This is my 16-year-old brain, you have to understand. I'm sure watching Weeds now and seeing where it went — it went sort of off the rails — would be different. But this small story with Mary-Louise Parker at the center of it was like catnip for me when I was in high school.
The show I consider to be ahead of its time: Pushing Daisies
I’m a big Brian Fuller fan, and it was just a little bit too early for this show. Honestly, I think if it came out now it would be such a huge success, because I think we have more desire for stylized visuals. The visual language of this show was so ahead of its time. Pushing Daisies was doing something that I don't think any other show on ABC or any network was doing at that moment: It was whimsical but sharp, and it was still a case-of-the-week procedural at the end of the day, but it was doing something more than just detective-solving. It definitely influenced me heavily.
The show I consider to be must-watch weekly viewing: The Traitors
For me right now, as I have moved into writing television and television being my life and my work, my "must-see weekly viewing” is The Traitors. It's not highbrow at all, but I've reached this point where I'm thinking about television all day, and specifically the kind of television I want to make: prestige, award-winning, incisive work. But at the end of the day, I actually need to see The Traitors.
The show I wish I could rewatch for the very first time: The Leftovers
It's a show that reinvented itself in such interesting ways every single season. Each season blew me away, and I don't think I’d ever seen television like this before, nor since. It's a bit of a negotiation to convince people to watch it, because it’s very dark. But I remember watching it for the first time and how it affected me, and I would love to experience that again for the first time.
The show I can watch over and over again: Gilmore Girls
I just find it incredibly watchable. This and The Good Wife are probably the two shows I have watched all the way through the most times. I will say specifically, with regard to Gilmore Girls — Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino really made me want to write TV. I took so much inspiration from them. I’m a very dialogue-heavy writer, and I’m very interested in intelligent people speaking to each other in vague and esoteric references — just making really smart jokes that aren't always going to be for everybody. There are so many jokes in this show where it's clear they're not worried about every single person in the audience understanding them, and that is something I really admire and respect.
The show I would have loved to work on: Veep
I know we hit an overload at a certain point in the aughts, but mockumentary is such a fun style of show. And just the way this show is shot; I know it's not technically a full mockumentary, but it just seemed so fun, and it seemed like such a great ensemble. It's mean. It's got bite. But it's also so funny.
The show that first let me see myself onscreen: All-American Girl
I've spoken about this before, but All-American Girl with Margaret Cho was just a huge paradigm shift for me as a kid. It came on at a time when I was in a community where I don't know if I had met another Asian person at that point in my life. So, to feel so isolated at that moment, and then to see that show, it was like a lifeline for me as a little boy. The show was short-lived, but I cherished it while it was on, and I think it was so ahead of its time. It really did change my life.
The shows that inspire me to continue writing: Fleabag, Russian Doll
There are a couple but, again, I am a person who loves really smart people talking, and Fleabag is definitely a show that is sort of the standard of that for me. I think Phoebe Waller-Bridge's work is just so brilliant. That's definitely up there. And I remember Russian Doll being something that really affected me; I love genre-mixing, and I love the way they handle supernatural elements in a very grounded way. These shows, when I watch them, I get that feeling of, “Oh, I’ve got to get to work.”
The show that helped me come out: Star Trek
I don't know if there was a specific show that helped me come out, but the first thing that comes to mind is Star Trek.
It was my dad’s and my favorite show to watch together. And my dad was probably the biggest, scariest factor in me staying closeted for so long, because he was so deeply conservative; he was the one I was most afraid would react poorly. And then we'd sit down and watch Star Trek, which is this show about a sort of idyllic, utopian future, and the messaging of that show was about embracing the unknown and things that are bigger than you, and acceptance. I would sit and watch Star Trek with my dad, and I saw him sort of align with that ideology for the first time. And I don't know if he even realized it, but it was a show that brought me comfort, and it helped me watch my dad and his conception of the world grow in real time. If there was any show that sort of helped me come out, it was that.
Loot is now streaming on Apple TV+.
