ABC’S “Fresh Off the Boat,” in its short run, has given viewers the requisite holiday-themed episodes — Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. But early this week, the comedy, which chronicles a Chinese-American family’s journey in adapting to suburban Florida in the mid-1990s, went beyond the hallmarks with an episode that centers on the Chinese New Year.

    “The Year of the Rat,” written by Sheng Wang, finds the Huang family excited about traveling back to Washington, D.C., for a family celebration of the holiday in 1996. But in a twist of comedy fate, a date mix-up for their flight stymies the trip and they find themselves grounded at home looking for a substitute in Orlando. As one might expect, it wasn’t easy.

    As the first network sitcom to focus on an Asian-American family in more than 20 years, “Fresh Off the Boat” is able to explore the significance of the holiday and traditions (e.g. red envelopes containing money, cleaning one’s home or cutting one’s hair before the New Year) in a compatible way, Wang said.

    “It started out with so many elements,” Wang said. “We were going to try to introduce another Chinese family that they might have come across at a Costco. There was going to be a karaoke element.”

    Showrunner Nahnatchka Khan interjected: “There were so many permutations because we wanted to get it right. This is something that hasn’t been represented in a meaningful way on American TV and we wanted to make sure we really hit the marks on it. For us the trick was how do we get them to celebrate this holiday in this world that we created in Orlando. We didn’t want to lose this world that we exist in every week.”

    Wang is just hoping the episode brings some awareness.

    (SD-Agencies)