Page 1 of The Sitcom Star
Chapter 1
Maddie Ng sure has been busy.She’s the star ofChu’s Restaurant, which was recently renewed for a third season, and she also co-created the series and serves as showrunner.
“As soon as filming wrapped up on the second season,” she tells me, “I flew to New York for a guest appearance on another show.I like being busy, though I’ve developed a bit of a tremor,” she jokes, holding up her arms.“You see what I mean?”
Between all her projects, Maddie Ng still found time to talk to me at a café in the Distillery District, and she looks as poised as she does onscreen.
—Rosalind O,YYZist
“So,”Noahsaid,“whathave you all been watching lately?”
“Between diapers and feedings and trying to catch a few hours of sleep,” Sydney said, “I don’t have time to watch much of anything.Certainly nothing that requires concentration.But I’ve managed a few episodes ofChu’s Restaurant.”
“Yeah?I like that one.”
Adrian Ma sipped his beer and looked around the patio at his friends.Back in the day, a night of drinks at a bar with Noah, Devon, and Sydney—friends from university—would have been a common occurrence, but it was rare for them all to be hanging out like this now.Devon and Sydney were married and had a baby girl, and this was the first time Adrian had seen them out together in ages.Sydney was texting the babysitter every twenty minutes.
In addition to the ways his friends’ personal lives had changed, there was the way the world had changed.This bar hadn’t been chosen for its beer selection but for its surprisingly unbusy patio, and it was perfect patio weather tonight.
“Have you seen it, Adrian?”Noah asked.
“Yeah.”He’d watched it all.The Season 2 finale had been a few weeks ago.“Actually, I went to school with Maddie Ng.”
“Seriously?”Sydney said.“You went to school with the star ofChu’s Restaurant?”
“Sure did.”Adrian smiled when his friend’s eyes widened.“But I haven’t seen her in twenty years.We went to the same elementary school, but she attended a different high school than me, for their arts program.”
He hadn’t known what she’d been up to—he hadn’t been able to find her on Facebook—until he’d seen a huge ad forChu’s Restaurantat Eglinton Station, right before it premiered.He’d stopped in his tracks, and a man in a suit had knocked into him and sworn.
Of course, he’d had to watch it.BecauseMaddie Ng.
“Did you, like, know she’d be famous?”Sydney asked.
Adrian leaned back in his chair.“I can’t say I’m surprised.She was always…intense.When she knew what she wanted, she made sure she was the very best at it.”
Unlike him.He’d coasted during school.He could get decent enough marks without trying too hard, so that was what he did.Occasionally, his parents would get annoyed with him for not doing better, but they’d never been truly angry.
In university, he hadn’t been able to coast quite as much.He’d needed to learn to actually study, but he hadn’t worried about it a lot, even if he was below average in his class.He just needed to graduate, get a half-decent job.His attitude had irked his last serious girlfriend.He was definitely a “work to live” kind of guy, and Maddie, he imagined, wasn’t like that.
He’d been a little in awe of thirteen-year-old Maddie’s intensity.
“It’s not like she’s super famous,” Noah said.“She’s Canadian famous, not Hollywood famous.”
Obviously, that wasn’t an insult, but Adrian felt slightly offended on Maddie’s behalf.
“But it’s on Netflix now,” Sydney said.“Apparently, it’s popular in the US, and someone came up with a name for fans of the show.Chuties.”She rolled her eyes.“Isn’t that silly?”
Devon nodded his agreement as he put his arm around his wife’s shoulders.Sydney probably did ninety percent of the talking in their marriage, but Devon seemed to like it that way.They’d been together since their first week of university.
Adrian on the other hand?Well, he’d had relationships, but it had been three years since his last one had ended.
“Maybe she’ll be like Simu Liu,” Sydney said.“The next Marvel superhero.”
“If that’s what she wants, I assume she’ll be able to get it.”But Adrian had a feeling that wasn’t Maddie’s goal, though it wasn’t like he knew the person she was today.Maybe because he was a bit tipsy, he admitted, “I had a crush on her.”
He remembered the skits they’d had to do for French class, something she’d taken way more seriously than anyone else in their class.They’d been partners once, and she’d shot down his ideas, but then he’d come up with something she’d liked, and she’d looked at him like he wasamazing.He still remembered how that felt…and he still found her pretty attractive when he saw her onscreen.
“Aww,” Noah said, clasping his hands together.“How cute.”
