Kim's Convenience

[Drunk Monk]

S5e6: A pot cookie Ep. Coulda been funnier. Coulda been more authentic. It’s a harmless show. It’s Canadian.

[Drunk Monk]

e7 - Sort of a filler ep - didn't really go anywhere, although the Parasite nod was cute. The show is in a comfortable groove, just coasting along in neutral with its same brand of comedy. I think there's only 9 eps this season.

[Greg]

Simu just posted the show will not be back for a sixth season.

[Drunk Monk]

I was just coming here to post that:

having a sad

[Greg]

Disappointment moves at the speed of light.

[Drunk Monk]

Watching Simu live on IG. He's laying it out as best as he can. It's very raw and earnest.

[Drunk Monk]

e8 - a decent ep with a touch of soul. maybe i'm projecting because now, these are the last ones. it's sad that they have waited so long to heal the rifts. they've been heading that way from the beginning, but they were taking their time to get there. they thought they had at least one more season... but no.

[Drunk Monk]

e9 - the return of pastor nina & jimmy. a decent ep from all angles, only not much shannon. two more to go.

[Drunk Monk]

s5e10 - oh man, what a great plot twist with janet - something they could've really developed with another season. now i'm having another sad about the demise of this show.

[Drunk Monk]

Okay, hold the phone. So the character to survive Kim's Convenience and get their own spinoff is the only white one of the cast credited in the opening credits?

Kim’s Convenience, now in its third season, airs on CBC Tuesdays at 8 p.m. (CBC photo)

Kim’s Convenience’ stars Nicole Power and Andrew Phung getting their own CBC shows

• Mar. 27, 2021 1:30 a.m.
  
  
• TORONTO — Two stars of the soon-to-be-finished series [i]Kim’s Convenience[/i] are each getting their own show, one of which is a spinoff created by the showrunner of the CBC hit comedy.
  

The public broadcaster says Nicole Power and Andrew Phung will star in new, half-hour original comedies set to launch during the upcoming 2021-22 broadcast season.
Power, who hails from in Middle Cove, N.L., will star as her [i]Kim’s[/i]” character Shannon Ross in the spinoff [i]Strays[/i].
[i]Kim’s Convenience[/i] co-creator Kevin White also created Ross’s new series, which will follow the enthusiastic car-rental agency manager Shannon as she embarks on a new career in Hamilton.
Calgary-raised Phung, who played Kimchee on [i]Kim’s[/i], will star in [i]Run the Burbs[/i] as a stay-at-home dad with an entrepreneur wife and two kids.
Phung also created the series with his best friend and collaborator, filmmaker Scott Townend.
[i]Kim’s Convenience[/i] stars Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jean Yoon, Simu Liu and Andrea Bang as a Korean-Canadian family who run a corner store in Toronto.
Ross’s character works with Jung, played by Liu, and Kimchee who is Jung’s best friend.
Producers announced earlier this month the show, which has earned a global following on Netflix, will end for good on April 13 with the final episode of the current fifth season.
That’s a full season shorter than what was planned in early 2020, when the comedy was renewed for two additional seasons at the CBC.
The producers said the decision came after White and fellow co-creator Ins Choi confirmed at the end of production on season 5 that they were moving on to pursue other projects.
“Given their departure from the series, we have come to the difficult conclusion that we cannot deliver another season of the same heart and quality that has made the show so special,” the producers said in a statement.
A publicist says [i]Stray[/i]s is the project White was moving on to.
The CBC says [i]Strays[/i] is currently in production and has been in development since July 2018, while [i]Run the Burbs[/i] has been in development since last May.
[i]Kim’s Convenience[/i] debuted in 2016 and is based on the award-winning play by Choi.
When news broke it was ending, Lee and Liu took to social media to say they were “heartbroken.”
S[i]trays[/i] and [i]Run the Burbs[/i] join the previously announced original show [i]Sort Of[/i] as new additions to the comedy lineup in the upcoming broadcast season at the CBC, which has also seen several other series come to an end in recent months for various reasons: [i]Burden of Truth[/i], [i]Trickster[/i] and [i]Frankie Drake Mysteries[/i].
Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo created [i]Sort Of[/i], which also stars Baig “as a gender fluid millennial trying to live their most authentic life,” says a news release.
Thunderbird Entertainment produces [i]Strays[/i], which also includes cast members Frank Cox-O’Connell, Tina Jung, Nikki Duval, Kevin Vidal, Tony Nappo, Paula Boudreau and Emily Piggford.
The CBC says it will announce more details about [i]Run the Burbs[/i], which is produced by Pier 21 Films, later this spring.
“As our comedy slate continues to evolve, we are thrilled to continue working with Andrew and Nicole and offer audiences two new comedies to look forward to,” Sally Catto, general manager of entertainment, factual and sports at the CBC, said in a statement.
“Both of these series were planned to join [i]Kim’s Convenience[/i] on our comedy lineup this upcoming year, to reflect how many young Canadians are forging new lives outside of urban centres in Canada. We look forward to watching Andrew and Nicole as they explore these new stories.”

[Drunk Monk]

E11: another solid Ep - some Jong Appa reconciliation finally but a little too little a little too late. 

I think there are two more eps now. I hope it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger. That would really suck.

[Drunk Monk]

E12. They are going out strong. Another great ep with two truly poignant moments. Good set ups for next season, which is not to be.

[Drunk Monk]

What a bittersweet ending. Given the way the series stopped, we couldn't have asked for better. I will miss it.

[Greg]

Simu Liu had some thoughts about the cancellation of the show which he posted on his FB page.

Season 5 of Kim's Convenience comes out on Netflix today, and I'm feeling a host of emotions right now. It is, of course, our last season, thanks to a decision by our producers not to continue the show after the departure of two showrunners. There's been a lot of talk and speculation about what happened, and I want to do my best to give accurate information, so I'll itemize my thoughts below:

1. The show can't be "saved". It was not "cancelled" in a traditional manner, i.e. by a network after poor ratings. Our producers (who also own the Kim's Convenience IP) are the ones who chose not to continue. Neither CBC nor Netflix own the rights to Kim's Convenience, they merely license it. However, the producers of the show are indeed spinning off a new show from the Shannon character. It's been difficult for me. I love and am proud of Nicole, and I want the show to succeed for her... but I remain resentful of all of the circumstances that led to the one non-Asian character getting her own show. And not that they would ever ask, but I will adamantly refuse to reprise my role in any capacity.

2. I wanted to be a part of the sixth season. I've heard a lot of speculation surrounding myself - specifically, about how getting a Marvel role meant I was suddenly too "Hollywood" for Canadian TV. This could not be further from the truth. I love this show and everything it stood for. I saw firsthand how profoundly it impacted families and brought people together. It's truly SO RARE for a show today to have such an impact on people, and I wanted very badly to make the schedules work.

3. I WAS, however, growing increasingly frustrated with the way my character was being portrayed and, somewhat related, was also increasingly frustrated with the way I was being treated. I think this is a natural part of a collaborative undertaking like making a TV show; everyone is going to have different ideas on where each character ought to go, what stories ought to be told. But it was always my understanding that the lead actors were the stewards of character, and would grow to have more creative insight as the show went on. This was not the case on our show, which was doubly confusing because our producers were overwhelmingly white and we were a cast of Asian Canadians who had a plethora of lived experiences to draw from and offer to writers. But we were often told of the next seasons' plans mere days before we were set to start shooting... there was deliberately not a lot of leeway given to us. Imagine my disappointment year after year knowing that Jung was just stuck at Handy and in absolutely no hurry to improve himself in any way. More importantly, the characters never seemed to grow. I can appreciate that the show is still a hit and is enjoyed by many people... but I remain fixated on the missed opportunities to show Asian characters with real depth and the ability to grow and evolve.   

4. We didn't always get along with each other. This part really breaks me because I think we all individually were SO committed to the success of the show and SO aware of how fortunate we all were. We just all had different ideas on how to get there. Speaking for myself personally, I often felt like the odd man out or a problem child. This one is hard because I recognize that a lot of it reflected my own insecurities at the time, but it was buoyed by things that happened in real life; nomination snubs, decreasing screen time, and losing out on opportunities that were given to other cast members. This is a reality of show business, there is only so much to go around. LA became the new territory for me, and I pursued it with so much drive and vigor partially because I knew that I could not rely on Kim's to take my career where it needed to go, nor could the cast be the type of family that I had imagined. I had no mentor during this whole process and nobody from the producing team of the show ever even remotely reached out. So... I probably said and did things that were stupid and not helpful. That being said... I was always so careful in presenting a united front to the press. I think we've all individually done a lot of work over the years and there will always be be a mutual love and respect, as well as a recognition of the bond forged from this totally unique experience of being on a hit show that changed the world.

5) For how successful the show actually became, we were paid an absolute horsepoop rate. The whole process has really opened my eyes to the relationship between those with power and those without. In the beginning, we were no-name actors who had ZERO leverage. So of course we were going to take anything we could. After one season, after the show debuted to sky-high ratings, we received a little bump-up that also extended the duration of our contracts by two years. Compared to shows like Schitt's Creek, who had 'brand-name talent' with American agents, but whose ratings were not as high as ours, we were making NOTHING. Basically we were locked in for the foreseeable future at a super-low rate... an absolute DREAM if you are a producer. But we also never banded together and demanded more - probably because we were told to be grateful to even be there, and because we were so scared to rock the boat. Maybe also because we were too busy infighting to understand that we were deliberately being pitted against each other. Meanwhile, we had to become the de facto mouthpieces for the show (our showrunners were EPICALLY reclusive), working tirelessly to promote it while never truly feeling like we had a seat at its table.

6) Our writer's room lacked both East Asian and female representation, and also lacked a pipeline to introduce diverse talents. Aside from Ins, there were no other Korean voices in the room. And personally I do not think he did enough to be a champion for those voices (including ours). When he left (without so much as a goodbye note to the cast), he left no protege, no padawan learner, no Korean talent that could have replaced him. I tried so hard to be that person; I sent him spec scripts I was working on, early cuts of short films I had produced... I voiced my interest in shadowing a director or writer's room... my prior experience had taught me that if I just put myself out there enough, people would be naturally inclined to help. And boy was I wrong here. I wasn't the only one who tried. Many of us in the cast were trained screenwriters with thoughts and ideas that only grew more seasoned with time. But those doors were never opened to us in any meaningful way.

7) I’m adding this in late BUT I reallly need to mention that our actual day-to-day crew... were PHENOMENAL. You couldn’t ask for a better group of people or a better working environment. From our props to our grips and gaffers to sound and set dec, everyone contributed to a positive work environment.

In the end... I'm so incredibly saddened that we will never get to watch these characters grow. That we will never see Jung and Appa reuniting. That we will never watch the Kim's deal with Umma's MS, or Janet's journey of her own self-discovery. But I am still touched by the volume and the voracity of our fans (Kimbits...still hands-down the best fandom name EVER), and I still believe in what the show once stood for; a shining example of what can happen when the gates come down and minorities are given a chance to shine.

I'll answer some questions if you have them... otherwise, check us out on Netflix!

[Drunk Monk]

That's a tough read if you know the show. But I'm glad he lays a lot out there, especially his take on the Shannon spin-off. 

Janet needs her own show most of all. Her character was the only one that grew.