Family sitcoms have long been the bread and butter of traditional network TV. Shows like Full House, Arrested Development and Modern Family have long been some of the most popular fare on the small screen. The formula is basic, but nearly always works: a nuclear(ish) family consisting of two parents and a set of children living in the suburbs go about their lives and get up to all sorts of hijinks. But, with a few notable exceptions like Fresh off the Boat and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, these shows have almost always focused on white families.
That is, until Run the Burbs.
Run the Burbs follows the Pham family—a mixed Vietnamese/Indian family living in a fictional Canadian suburb, growing up and getting up to their fair share of antics. The third season, out on January 9, will see the Phams experience growing pains as the two kids get older, as father Andrew explores a new career and as mother Camille looks for new opportunities.
We talked to co-creator and star Andrew Phung (who you might also recognize as Kimchee from Kim’s Convenience) all about the new season of Run the Burbs, their annual Tết episode and what’s passed on in an Asian household.
Just to start, what is Run the Burbs?
Run the Burbs is a comedy about a Vietnamese Indian family living their best life in the suburbs.
Why did you want to create a show set in the burbs?
Stories about the suburbs ignore families of colour. But if you go to any suburb, it’s filled with families and people of colour living their life. And, for a lot of families, it’s one of the only places you can go and be able to have that life for your family. Like, in the Greater Toronto Area, you go to some suburbs and we literally run the burbs. We’ve been showing this suburban family on TV for so long, the camera was pointed at the one house, that was typically the white family. All we’re doing is pivoting the camera over to your neighbours that have always been there.
“All we’re doing is pivoting the camera over to your neighbours that have always been there.”
Andrew Phung
How did the idea for the show come about?
I grew up in the suburbs. And I’d ask my dad, “Why are we living in the suburbs?” He’d always say: because we love it here. Our family’s here, our accountant’s here, our doctor’s here, all those things. So, it was easy because it’s something I’ve lived and experienced. And now, seeing families continue to move out to the burbs, it just felt like a really a really timely story to tell.
I also wanted to tell the story from the perspective of a child of immigrants. We often see the immigrant story. But like, what happens when the children of those immigrants have kids? I always say we raise our kids with one foot in Canada, and then one foot in our parent’s country, but only told via our mom and dad. So it was a fun point of view and perspective to bring the television.
I know that Rock Ridge, the suburb that you’ve created for the show is kind of based on your childhood. What details did you give this fictional town?
I wanted an older suburb, we wanted one that had a bit of a community vibe to it. So we have this center island and a cul-de-sac, which we really wanted. And we wanted the feeling that it was very alive, not like a cookie cutter suburb with all brand new homes.
There’s also some details in the background that give the place life. Little things like having a neighbour that leaves their Christmas lights on all year. Or that one neighbour with way too many cars. It was so much fun being able to come up with an idea and having the art department make that come true.
“I also wanted to tell the story from the perspective of a child of immigrants. We often see the immigrant story. But like, what happens when the children of those immigrants have kids?”
Andrew Phung
Was there any particular reason you wanted to create an imaginary suburb instead of setting it in a real place, or even where you grew up?
Yeah, I think it was because we want to relate it to as many people as possible. My hope is that you could watch the show in any kind of North American suburb and feel like oh, that’s my suburb.
Actually, one of the comments I remember getting right away [re: relating to the characters in the show] was ‘oh, this is an Asian family, why are they having hot dogs on the barbeque?’ And I was like, whoa man, do you not think Asians eat hot dogs? Like, I remember family barbecues filled with hamburgers and hot dogs. Even our Lunar New Year celebration or Tết celebration, there’s always one person that brought KFC. KFC is a staple of any Asian holiday.
So we just wanted to make things really relatable and to show audiences that we’re living a similar life to the life you’re living. I don’t wake up every morning like, I’m so Asian, I’m going out-Asian myself today. No, I wake up and I’m like, where are my parents? Will I shower today? I need to get my kids to school.
Yeah, for sure. On that, you have this very traditional show—a family sitcom—but it’s super untraditional in a lot of ways. The gender roles with the parents are flipped, there’s a super diverse cast. Can you tell me a little bit about why you wanted to create this traditional framework and then break it down?
It wasn’t necessarily like it wasn’t like the objective. In regards to the gender roles, they came from developing the characters and seeing where the comedy was. For my character, I really picked up traits from my Vietnamese mom. She’s a worrier. And so I’ve gained that as a father, like I’m always worried about things. So we’re always just trying to look at things and ask how we can have fun with the situation. And it’s come out so naturally.
In regards to my wife, Camille, played by Rakhee Morzaria, she is an absolute badass. That idea came from Asian women who have typically been targeted more often in a number of ways in the last few years. So we wanted her to be a conduit that sticks up to all that bullshit that’s happening. There is a cold open in season two where someone makes a really racist comment towards her. And for us, we wanted to see a situation where the Asian woman gets to speak up. And that kind of exploded the scene.
“That idea [for Rakhee’s character] came from Asian women who have typically been targeted more often in a number of ways in the last few years. So we wanted her to be a conduit that sticks up to all that bullshit that’s happening.”
Andrew Phung
I love that. I’ve also read that you worked really hard to make sure that the writers’ room and the behind the scenes was as diverse as what we see on screen. Why was it so important for you to have that diversity behind the camera, as well as in front of the camera?
There’s been a lot of conversations around what representation is. And for me, it was listening to all those conversations and listening to all those points of views and figuring out how to apply them. I came out of something that was very public with Kim’s Convenience, and there’s a lot of things that were discussed. Now I get to do this my way, I’ve internalized all those things that were shared and that were experienced and that were felt, which pushes me to be better. It’s a push to be more inclusive.
I had an actress write to me and she was like ‘I’m on set for another show right now and and I know your show is starting soon, and there’s some crew members talking about how excited they are to go back to your show.’ It meant so much to me.’ We’re just trying to be really supportive, really inclusive but also like, we have so much fun.
Our writers room sometimes spirals. We did an episode in season two where we basically just trash talked each other’s curries. You know, every culture has a curry they’re ride or die about. So we did an episode where my mom walks in and sees a curry chicken and a chicken curry and says, they both look and smell disgusting—mine’s better (laughs). It was so much fun writing that because you’re taking this thing that connects us all. Like, I remember teachers watching me saying they used to break up fights at school over kids fighting over which curry is the best. It’s just creating this inclusive space so that you can tell the stories that would haven’t been able to have been told, right?
I love that the show has an annual Tết episode. Tell me about why you wanted to include that celebration and kind of what went into it.
Because we’re the only show that can do it. Every show can have a Christmas episode. But not every show can have a Lunar New Year episode, specifically Tết episode, which is the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. The ability to do that was an opportunity. We wanted to look at our Asianness as an opportunity to tell stories. We invite you into our home to show you how we celebrate. And, kook, at the end of the day, every Lunar New Year celebration is filled with family drama, like every Lunar New Year celebration has some beef that’s happening. And so you know, when you dig down, you look at the beauty of the celebration, the holiday, and you look at the stories that are being told with it—it’s amazing.
And I love that it’s become the hallmark of our show. For us to be able to do it every year continually and to be able to like to find new points of view on it… it’s such a special time of year, so to be able to do it means it means everything.
We’re also like looking at Indian traditions. We did a Rakshabandhan episode in season three that we’re really excited about. To be able to look at traditions within this family and how they celebrate because there’s a specificity to this family that we’re not seeing on television. It’s an opportunity to tell these stories and to celebrate these holidays.
“The ability to do [an annual Tết episode] was an opportunity. We wanted to look at our Asianness as an opportunity to tell stories. We invite you into our home to show you how we celebrate.”
Andrew Phung
I do get asked a lot of like, when you do a Christmas episode? I’m like, I don’t know if we will because we have the opportunity to do these other episodes. And looking towards other holidays and traditions in different cultures and I’m always like, oh, like I’ve never seen a dayboo—like a Filipino celebration of coming of age for a young woman on TV. I would love to see that.
My last question, is there an episode or storyline in this season that you’re super excited about?
In episode two, we look for a new family doctor. But in the meantime, we have dầu xanh, which is Eagle brand green oil (laughs). Anytime I was hurt, my mom would say, get the green oil. I was so excited to finally give dầu xanh its love. It becomes a thing throughout the season. Like, Andrew walks into a room and he’s like, in pain and then he goes over to a cabinet and puts on the dầu xanh. It’s just part of the world now. Or there’s a joke I love where I’m opening the dầu xanh and my son comes and he’s like, ‘Oh, I thought Grandma and Grandpa are here,’ because he smelt the dầu xanh. It’s stuff like that that I’m really excited about. That specificity that I really want in the show.
As I grow older as a father, those are little things I carry with me as an Asian person. Like, I don’t cook the food as good, but I carry that dầu xanh.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Run the Burbs season 3 premieres on CBC on January 9.
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