Why 'Kim's Convenience' was canceled

‘Kim’s Convenience' was a successful CBC television sitcom centring around the life of a Korean-Canadian family running a convenience store in Toronto, Canada. The show ran from 11 October 2016 till its cancellation on 13 April 2021.

(Image: CBC)

‘Kim’s Convenience’ initially started out as a theater play. It was the brainchild of Ins Choi in 2011. After ‘Kim’s Convenience’ managed to win several awards and consistently sold-out seats, it drew the attention of CBC. The channel approached Ins Choi with a deal to present the play on the small screen.

‘Kim’s Convenience’ went on to become a hit CBC series. Its first season even earned a 100% approval rating on the highly critical review site ‘Rotten Tomatoes’!

‘Kim’s Convenience’ was the first show on CBC to show an all-Asian lead casting on North American television. Not only was diversity shown in its casting, NPR claims, but ‘Kim’s Convenience’ also provided an in-depth insight into Asianness in its characters, detailing the cultural social struggles that the characters face in their everyday lives. This was rare for TV at that time.

It came as a huge surprise when producers announced in June 2021 that ‘Kim’s Convenience’ was cancelled after its fifth season. The cancellation of the show sparked outrage, especially amongst its lead cast members who had much to say about the news.

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Most vocal about the matter was Simu Liu, who spoke out in a Facebook post. He lamented about “the way [his] character was portrayed” and felt that there were many “missed opportunities to show Asian characters with real depth and the ability to grow and evolve.”

Simu Liu’s comments were followed by those of ‘Kim’s Convenience’ co-star Jean Yoon. She supported Simu Liu’s claims that the new scripts for season 5 of ‘Kim’s Convenience’ had “overtly racist” storylines and that they were “culturally inaccurate” - a far cry from the praise that ‘Kim’s Convenience’ had initially received for its cultural diversity and racial representation.

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Simu Liu and Jean Yoon further claim that, behind the scenes, the majority-white producers of ‘Kim’s Convenience’ dismissed concerns from its Asian cast members about the cultural inaccuracies in the new scripts. The cast offered to share their personal experiences as actual and real East Asian people and serve as a creative inspiration for the show, but, according to Liu and  Yoon, they were not heard.

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The Globe and Mail reported that Ins Choi refused to return on the set for ‘Kim’s Convenience’ after season 5. This caused Ivan Fecan, a big Canadian media executive producer, to pull the plug on the show. In Fecan’s words: “... without Ins, there is no show.”

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Simu Liu and Jean Yoon pointed out that it was ironic that for a show based on a Korean family, there were no other Korean writers on and off set other than original ‘Kim’s Convenience’ creator Ins Choi. This was viewed as a huge problem as Simu Liu felt that he “[did] not think [Ins Choi] 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.”

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With the suggested problems behind ‘Kim’s Convenience’, publicly denounced by Simu Liu and Jean Yoon, CBC took to Twitter on the official ‘Kim’s Convenience’ account and denied the accusation that the show did not have enough Asian representation behind the scenes.

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In its tweet of June 7, 2021, CBC quoted Anita Kapila, who is of Southeast Asian descent, in explaining that there were several minority contributors for ‘Kim’s Convenience’. Kapila provided a list of names in her post, mentioning various contributors who were women and/or people of colour.

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However, netizens fired back immediately, saying that the tweet was a form of gaslighting because it dismissed the concerns raised by Simu Liu and Jean Yoon about the deteriorating quality of East Asian representation in ‘Kim’s Convenience.' Moreover, the list of names did not explicitly note whether the people involved were Korean.

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Twitter users pointed out that Anita Kapila’s response further emphasised CBC’s lack of racial sensitivity. It had gotten a person of Southeast Asian descent to speak for all minorities with regard to the issue, which suggested that any minority can speak for all the others. In fact, they claimed, the response further emphasised Simu Liu and Jean Yoon’s point that efforts to make ‘Kim’s Convenience’ more authentic to the Korean experience had been ignored.

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Other than the issue of unfair representation in 'Kim’s Convenience,' Simu Liu dropped a huge bomb in his Facebook post by pointing out that contributors of ‘Kim’s Convenience’ had consistently been underpaid - regardless of how "successful the show actually became."

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Simu Liu explained that, despite the "sky-high ratings" after the first season of ‘Kim’s Convenience’, cast members received a meagre pay rise which they were "locked [into]" by contract for another two years.

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Simu Liu compared 'Kim's Convenience' to another hit show by CBC, 'Schitt's Creek,' which had lower ratings but whose cast was paid better than that of 'Kim's Convenience'.

Simu Liu recounted that cast members were grossly underpaid for their work, and that the show's producers benefited. He wrote: “... 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.”

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Simu Liu added that ‘Kim’s Convenience’ cast members had the huge burden of promoting the shows on their own, becoming "de facto mouthpieces for the show" while showrunners took a back seat and were "reclusive."

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Simu Liu’s post also mentioned infighting amongst the staff, while to the outside world, cast members displayed a seemingly united front. Simu Liu said that the conflict caused him "nomination snubs, decreasing screen time, and losing out on opportunities that were given to other cast members."

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Dateline reports that, less than a month after the show's cancellation, Nicole Power, who played Shannon Ross, will be leading in a ‘Kim’s Convenience’ spin-off series titled ‘Strays’. The show will premiere on CBC this September.

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Since ‘Strays’ is the product of Kevin White, an executive producer of ‘Kim’s Convenience' who is white himself, and will center on the only white lead character of 'Kim's Convenience,' (Shannon Ross), critics consider it a racially charged decision of CBC to green-light the new show whilst cancelling the still-popular ‘Kim’s Convenience.' According to The Globe and Mail, many find the decision to be in poor taste.

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From The Globe and Mail, CBC’s decision to cancel ‘Kim’s Convenience’ has distressed many creators of colour. Nathalie Younglai, the founder of BIPOC TV & Film, had this to say in response to the decision: “[this] is the cumulative effect of what this industry does, in terms of not acknowledging our voices, not giving us a chance.”

(Image: CBC)