If at first you don't succeed. . . ?

Margaret Cho couldn’t hack it as an ABC sitcom star. Now she’ll try shaking her booty.

Sixteen years after the ill fated All American Girl went off the air, Cho will return to the same network that dumped her, this time as a contestant for Dancing with the Stars.

Probably not the career arc the comedian pictured when she became the first Asian American to headline a prime time sitcom in 1994. When ABC canceled the show after one season, Cho accused the network of forcing her to lose weight and hiring a consultant to make her look “more Asian.”

(Playwright David Henry Hwang was reportedly hired to save the show. At a Mu panel discussion on yellow face casting, Hwang denied it, though I couldn’t tell if he was joking.)

If Cho is still bitter about the experience, she’s not letting on.

“Show business has changed a lot too, so it's a different kind of thing," Cho told Access Hollywood. "So, I'm really excited [about Dancing with the Stars]. I think it's great, I love the show, it's a totally different thing though. I was a really young person then and now, you know, now I'm more experienced and now I'm doing something different -- I'm dancing, which is new also for me.”

I’m not sure what Cho meant by show business changing. Has it? Sixteen years removed from All American Girl, the number of Asian American-headlined shows, drama or comedy, remains zero, with the exception of Maggie Q in Nikita on the CW. (It would be nice for a change to see a lead Asian actor not kick the crap of people.)

Meanwhile, we’ve had the endless Tyler Perry shows on TBS, a hodge podge of gay people on NBC’s Will & Grace, and George Lopez on. . . you guessed it, ABC.

On the bright side, Cho’s casting in Dancing with the Stars proves that network executives are at least comfortable with Asian Americans in ensemble or supporting roles. Witness Glee, Lost, and Hawaii Five-O.

Now if only an Asian American can make the first cut in The Bachelorette.

Frankly, I was hoping Cho would still be a little bitter about All American Girl. She certainly mined her miserable experience for comedic gold in subsequent clubs around the country. Somehow, there’s something sad about Cho making nice with ABC. I suppose bygones should be bygones but it feels like she’s selling out, at least a teeny bit.

Asian Americans can’t headline shows, but at least they’re finally good enough to wear shiny costumes and learn the tango.

Yay us.

by Thomas Lee
photo via Asian Pacific Arts at UCLA Asia Institute