CBS’ new show Cupertino is a legal drama series set in the heart of Silicon Valley, California. The trailer shows a law firm that represents everyday people against tech giants and artificial intelligence. Residents immediately asked why it’s named Cupertino, as it bears little resemblance to the city’s actual population.Â
Of the six series regulars, Nik Dodani, of Indian heritage, is the only Asian American and plays a coder. Dodani is credited in eight episodes, compared with the other five series regulars who are in all 20 episodes. Underrepresentation is nothing new for Hollywood. However, in a city where 70% of the population is Asian, there is only one Asian American on the cast, raising an important question. What does it mean for a show to take the name of a city so deeply shaped by its Asian American community, only to leave them out?
Media representation is so important. It affirms identity and belonging and changes how you see yourself. Representation in media is lacking for Asian Americans, which stems from the lack of real-life representation. Last year, while volunteering at a public school, I had an interaction with a student that really cemented this for me.
I locked eyes with a little girl in her classroom, and her face lit up. She ran over to me and beamed as she asked, “Are you Vietnamese too?” While I’m not, her reaction made it clear she wasn’t used to seeing people who looked like her in positions of authority. This led me to the statistic that almost 80% of all teachers in the United States are white, despite students of color making up more than half the school populations.
Beyond the people we interact with daily, we get most of our information, perspectives, and cultural understanding from the media. Yet the media we are given is known for its poor, stereotypical portrayals, on the off chance we get any representation at all.
This doesn’t mean that every show needs to proportionately represent the demographics of the city it’s set in. Cupertino, however, is a special case. It is set in a city whose most defining characteristic is its predominantly Asian demographic. The show had the opportunity to create something meaningful for this community but instead decided to omit Asians, except for the one Indian coder. It’s a new low. Cupertino decided to be another show that meets a “quota” and plays into harmful stereotypical roles.
Representation is about knowing your stories, experiences, and lives matter. When a show like Cupertino overlooks the very community that makes Cupertino unique, it sends a message that Asian stories aren’t worth telling. It reinforces a pattern that tells people of color they don’t matter. Asian Americans deserve more than roles that are stereotypical and fill a quota. They deserve to be protagonists, love interests, and the people whose stories are worth an entire series. If a show calls itself Cupertino, it should at least recognize the people who make Cupertino what it is.