By Shirley N Lew
AsAmNews New York Correspondent
FabLife, ABC-TV’s new lifestyle daytime show premiered this week with two Asian co-hosts. Yes, two.
The Asian representation I’m talking about here is Joe Zee, fashion stylist and Chrissy Teigen, foodie extraordinaire.
This is the first time I can recall seeing two Asians in regular featured roles in an English language talk show on broadcast television, and possibly cable.
Zee and Teigen are part of a multi-cultural team of hosts lead by Tyra Banks who all bring a fun, silly, and colorful spin to daytime television in front of a live audience.
At the start of the show, Zee spoke about his partner and I suddenly pictured my older Chinese relatives
passing out and falling to the ground with a thud. Yes, we have gay Asians.
Zee is a Hong Kong-born Canadian fashion stylist, journalist and business man. On the debut show, he gave a 46-year-old woman a “geek to chic” makeover. He started by washing her hair in the bathroom of the restaurant where she works as a waitress. You can nominate yourself or someone else for a makeover.
Teigen took to the road with a pepper eating showdown and accepted a man’s challenge. He lost when he began to shed tears from the pepper’s fiery heat while Teigen’s eyes remained dry.
“I never met a pepper I couldn’t handle, ” said the Norwegian and Thai model. Tiegen made her debut on The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2010 issue and is married to music artist John Legend.
The show’s diverse mix of hosts will certainly appeal to a large audience. Banks, the beauty and business expert and Lauren Makk, the interior designer are of African American descent. FabLife’s do-it-yourself expert and very pregnant Leah Ashley is White. With the addition of two Asians, FabLlife is perhaps the most diverse show on broadcast daytime television. Since they are not discussing any social issues or politics, I forecast a pretty peaceful and playful group of hosts.
Overall, I felt Zee and Teigen contributed a fair amount and their segments were entertaining. The chemistry of the five hosts was playful and upbeat. There was no tension and they got along and seemed genuinely happy giving advice to viewers on how to make life happier and simpler, which seems to FabLife’s mission.
Check your local listings for exact times. I hope the show will have a long FabLife.
