Mr. Wong is an American adult animated web series which debuted in 2000[1] and lasted 14 episodes (an unaired 15th episode was made available for the DVD release[citation needed]). It centers around the misadventures of Wong, an elderly Chinese American butler, and the wealthy socialite WASP he works for (and endures racial abuse from), Miss Pam.[2] He previously worked as a butler for Bing Crosby and often mourns him. It developed a cult following whilst being hosted on the website Icebox.com. The cartoon also drew fierce criticism from the Asian American community, who viewed it as racist.[3][4]
| Mr. Wong | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Black comedy |
| Created by | Pam Brady and Kyle McCulloch |
| Voices of | Pam Brady Kyle McCulloch |
| Theme music composer | Fuzzbee Morse, Davy Jones |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 3–4 minutes (episodes are two parts) |
| Production companies | Icebox, Mondo Mini Shows, National Lampoon |
| Original release | |
| Release | 2000 – 2001 |
Mr Wong's creators, Pam Brady and Kyle McCulloch, also write for the television series South Park.[5] The DVD was released under the "National Lampoon Presents" banner.[6]
The music for Mr. Wong was composed and performed by Fuzzbee Morse.
The theme song was sung by former Monkees lead singer Davy Jones.
List of episodes
edit| No. in series |
Title | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Urine Trouble, Pt. 1" | [1] |
| 2 | "Urine Trouble, Pt. 2" | [2] |
| 3 | "Yellow Fever, Pt. 1" | [3] |
| 4 | "Yellow Fever, Pt. 2" | [4] |
| 5 | "Meet the Creep, Pt. 1" | [5] |
| 6 | "Meet the Creep, Pt. 2" | [6] |
| 7 | "Music Video" | [7] |
| 8 | "Treasure Cat, Pt. 1" | [8] |
| 9 | "Treasure Cat, Pt. 2" | [9] |
| 10 | "Treasure Cat, Pt. 3" | [10] |
| 11 | "Gary Peterson's Wonder Wand, Pt. 1" | [11] |
| 12 | "Gary Peterson's Wonder Wand, Pt. 2" | [12] |
| 13 | "Gary Peterson's Wonder Wand, Pt. 3" | [13] |
| 14 | "Stand Up For Wong!" | [14] |
| 15 | "Granny Grabber" |
Film
editIn September 2000 a direct to video film adaptation of Mr. Wong called "Crap Attack" was in negotiation between IceBox Incorporated and Artisan Entertainment, however, when the film was publicly announced by Artisan president Bill Block the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans initiated a letter-writing campaign that successfully convinced Artisan to drop the project. The Coalition later took out an advertisement in Daily Variety criticizing the cartoon and thanking Artisan for abandoning the movie project.[7][8][9][10]
Reception
editThe series had a negative reaction from critics in the mainstream media and Asian American groups, yet maintained a limited cult following.[3][11][4][12][13][14] Scott Bass of Streaming Media described the comedy of Mr. Wong as "so edgy" that he could not "imagine seeing it on TV."[15]
References
edit- ^ "Empty Cribs; An American in Israel; Net Tunes". CNN. August 10, 2000. Archived from the original on January 25, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- ^ Robischon, Noah (2000-06-23). "Drawing Power". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
- ^ a b Liu, Marian (2000-07-31). "Funny or Racist? 'Mr. Wong' Draws Mixed Reaction". The Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b Liu, Marian (2011-06-24). "Asian Americans Divided Over Web's 'Mr. Wong' / Cartoon series offends some -- others laugh". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
- ^ "National Lampoon's "Mr. Wong"". UCLA. 2002-04-09. Archived from the original on 2008-06-25. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Asia Pacific Arts: National Lampoon's "Mr. Wong"". Archived from the original on 2005-02-14.
- ^ "ARTICLE - The Death of "Mr. Wong" (written by Doris Lin)". usasians-articles.tripod.com.
- ^ "Asian-American groups object to "Mr. Wong"". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
- ^ "Artisan Ends Talk To Turn "Mr. Wong" Into Film". Variety. 12 October 2000.
- ^ "IceBox's Mr. Wong Direct-To-Video Plans Melt". AWN.
- ^ Gross, Larry P.; Katz, John Stuart; Ruby, Jay (2003). Image Ethcs in the Digital Age - Larry P. Gross, John Stuart Katz, Jay Ruby - Google Books. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816638253. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
- ^ "Steve Stanford of Icebox.com on Internet cartoons". CNN. 2000-09-10. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
- ^ "Mr. Wong, Miss Swan: Asian Stereotypes Attacked". E!. Archived from the original on 2012-07-29. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
- ^ Lu-Lien Tan, Cheryl (July 8, 2000). "'Wong' cartoon draws ire of Asian Americans". Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
- ^ Bass, Scott (August 30, 2000). "Q&A With Steve Stanford of Icebox". Streaming Media. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.