Wednesday, May 18, 2011

The "Brian Yang" Phenomenon / How the Internet Has Changed Media

For the first time this year, I watched an episode of new "Hawaii 5-0" TV show this past Monday.  Of course, it was also the SEASON FINALE of the show so that meant I had not watched the show this entire season!

There is some good reasons why I hadn't watched the show previously.  One reason was that I played in a basketball league on Monday nights for about three months.  By the time I got home most nights, the show was already over and I wasn't particularly inclined to watch the show via On-Demand.  The second reason is that I generally don't watch network TV (CBS, NBC, ABC) must these days.  I tend to watch cable networks like Food Network, Game Show Network, CNN, ESPN, Syfy or the History Channel.

However, I had a good reason to watch the season finale of Hawaii 5-0 this week.  There was actor I knew (sort of) that was playing a character on the show.  The actor's name was Brian Yang and he was playing a crime lab tech named Charlie Fong.  This would be Brian's second appearance in the show.  The prior had come about two episodes prior to the season finale.

I don't claim to be Brian's friend at all but I knew of him through his involvement in some basketball leagues that I had been involved in as well.  I had actually met Brian once about a year ago and I had added him to my Facebook friend list and tracked his comings and goings (he has many things going on).

Prior to watching the season finale, I plugged Brian's name into Google and found several articles (Hawaii 5-0 fan sites and others) that talked about Brian's character AND about Brian himself.  Apparently, Brian's appearance in the prior episode had sparked a little buzz on the Internet on who this "new guy" was.   People were impressed with his chemistry with co-star Grace Park.  Also, some ladies apparently thought Brian was a cute, good looking and/or hot guy!  I'm sure he appreciates this......hahahaha

In all seriousness though,  this got me thinking that the Internet these days can make anyone become a minor celebrity.  Think about the YouTube stars (KevJumba, NigaHiga, etc) or even a Brian Yang.  In looking at IMDB, Brian has a pretty long acting resume but it's been with small productions and he's hardly a household name.  But by just appearing on Hawaii 5-0 and with the ability for people to easily search for information online, Brian's name is becoming a bit of a known quantity.   With the ease of communication these days, people like me (and others) who like Brian can easily support Brian via social media, email and other means to let CBS know that we want Brian's character back for the 2nd season of Hawaii 5-0.

I compare Brian's current situation to 10 to 12 years ago when I was trying to search for some information on an actress.  I'm a fan of the original "Friday the 13th" movie franchise (yes, I am weird!) and was watching "Friday the 13th:  Jason Takes Manhattan" either in the movie theater or at home (don't quite remember).

At some point during the movie, there was an young and cute Asian actress that appeared.  I don't think she was on screen long as Jason killed her off pretty quick.  However, the actress stuck with me and I tried to find information on her.  Well, keeping in mind that "Jason Takes Manhattan" was released in 1989 and probably popped up on TV somewhere between 1990 to 1992, trying to find information on actresses was pretty limited.  In fact, I don't think I even got her name from the closing credits as I had forgotten the character's name.

Well, after the Internet and Google became mainstream, I remembered to try and look up the Asian actress that appeared in "Jason Takes Manhattan".  In a major surprise, it was Kelly Hu (Martial Law, The Scorpion King)!   I'm sure Kelly wishes that movie wasn't on her resume but can't change anything about it now!  In fact, Kelly Hu is the reason I am writing this post.  Kelly was a guest star on Hawaii 5-0 though her character was killed off in the season finale so I guess she won't be back next season.

I don't know what Brian's future holds but with Hawaii 5-0 being renewed for another season, maybe we will see more of his character in the future.   Who knows, maybe Brian's work in Hawaii 5-0 will lead to bigger and better things as well and one can thank the Internet for building his fan base.