Actually, its ending is right on time – in sync, even, with the departure of 'Modern Family.' That ABC major sitcom hit influenced the network's comedy lineup for most of its existence – much to the chagrin, it must be said, of the loyal audiences for critically under-appreciated red state-appealing comedies such as 'The Middle' and 'Last Man Standing.' (Khan's next project with her 'FOTB' co-producer Jeff Chiang is NBC's 'Young Rock,' a comedy based on Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's formative years spent growing up in Hawaii.)Įnding in a place of dignity is always better for any show's legacy, and 'Fresh Off the Boat' meets that bar by ending now. With other cast members' contracts expiring and creator Nahnatchka Khan hopping over to Universal TV and Netflix, the writing was on the wall. Until the arrival of 'Roseanne' and the monstrous ratings resulting from that, the series fit in smoothly with 'The Middle' and 'Black-ish' the former ended in 2018, and the latter is still airing and produced two spinoffs.īesides, by the time ABC booted 'Fresh Off the Boat' to Fridays in the 2018-2019 season, Wu already set her sights on a film career, and its ascendance began following the enormous success of the 2018 theatrical blockbuster 'Crazy Rich Asians' in its wake she was not shy about her desire to leave the show. Rather, 'Fresh Off the Boat' – starring Constance Wu, Randall Park, and Hudson Yang –modestly held its own on ABC's Tuesday nights amidst a comedy lineup that kept shifting around it (mostly consisting of series that no longer exist) because of the cast's appeal, primarily Wu's breakout portrayal of family matriarch Jessica Huang. If that had been the case, it wouldn't have crossed the 100-episode mark in 2019, traditionally seen as the threshold for lucrative syndication deals. Judging by the ratings for its current season ' Fresh Off the Boat,' which airs its series finale on Friday night, the ABC comedy will end quietly relative to its debut in 2015's midseason line-up.įor the record – and this cannot be overstated – 'Fresh Off the Boat' is ending for reasons that defy the conventional, exclusionary Hollywood assumption that viewers didn't want to watch a series featuring an ensemble cast of color and centering the stories about a Taiwanese-American family.

Fresh of the boat 2019 cast