Dr. Ken is an American multi-camera sitcom created, written, and co-executive produced by its lead actor, Ken Jeong, who based the concept on his experience as a doctor prior to becoming a stand-up comedian. The ABC Studios/Sony Pictures Television co-production was picked up to series on May 7, 2015, and debuted on ABC on October 2, 2015. On October 20, 2015, ABC ordered a full season of 22 episodes for the first season. On May 12, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 23, 2016.
The series chronicles the life of a wisecracking Korean-American physician who works at a badly-run HMO. He has a therapist wife, a brilliant but socially clueless son, and a popular and self-centered daughter.
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Ken Jeong as Dr. Kendrick "Ken" Park. Ken is a constantly-joking, narcissistic, sometimes-thoughtless general practitioner employed at Welltopia Medical Group. He loves his family and coworkers but is often oblivious to their feelings. He has a younger sister, Dr. Wendi (Margaret Cho), of whom he is jealous.
Suzy Nakamura as Dr. Allison Park (née Kuramata). Allison is Ken's intelligent wife and mother to Molly and Dave. She is a trained therapist/psychiatrist and often gives Ken advice about his life. Her children have a tendency to treat her with more respect than Ken. Allison usually tolerates Ken's antics, using them as an opportunity to push him to become a better man, although she occasionally becomes fed up with him.
Tisha Campbell-Martin as Damona Watkins. Damona is the sassy and loud-mouthed office manager of Welltopia where Dr. Ken works. While she is technically under the jurisdiction of Dr. Park, she is seen as his equal in the office. She develops a sexual relationship with Pat, although she hates herself for it. It is revealed that she controls the schedules and vacation days for the office.
Jonathan Slavin as Clark Leslie Beavers. Clark is a registered nurse who works with Ken and is usually his most devoted fan in the office. He is openly gay and prone to speaking in a loud volume when nervous or scared. He is a bit of a drama queen and can overreact to many situations. He is good friends with Damona and Dr. Julie Dobbs.
Albert Tsai as Dave Park. Dave is Ken's ten-year-old son who is considered "odd" among his peers and family. Though intelligent, he has a number of strange quirks, such as biting people when he feels cornered and conserving water to a drastic measure for the drought. When he is sad, he will eat food without utensils in bed. It is implied numerous times that he is not popular in school. Ken and Allison often attempt to bribe him with pizza.
Krista Marie Yu as Molly Park. Molly is Ken's sixteen-year-old daughter and a typical American teenager, obsessed with hanging out with friends, texting, and boys, though she is also very studious. She has several love interests throughout the series and has a habit of disobeying her parents. While she often tries to deceive her parents and brother, she does show some affection toward her family.
Kate Simses as Dr. Julie Dobbs (season 1). Julie is Ken's protege and a trained doctor, although she is unsure of herself. She speaks in a nervous, high-pitched voice and is referred to as "fragile" by both herself and coworkers. She has a tendency to keep on talking when she's nervous, divulging Ken's secrets. She is an extremely thorough worker, to the point of spending three hours with a patient. On the season 2 premiere, it was revealed that she left the hospital to do a medical internship elsewhere.
Dave Foley as Pat Hein. Ken's boss and the manager of Welltopia, Pat is an insensitive and slightly racist man who often is the butt of the joke. Although he considers himself a benevolent dictator among his coworkers, he's shown to be duped on several occasions since Ken, Damona and Clark are well aware that Pat frequently has ulterior motives. After separating from his wife, he lives on a boat parked outside her house. He fancies himself as a ladies' man, although he only succeeds in sleeping with Damona.
Dana Lee as D.K. Park, Ken's stern, traditional father (season 2, recurring season 1). In the season 2 premiere, he starts to live in the Park household, saying his wife In-Sook (Ken's mother) left to visit family in Korea for a year. D.K. later confesses he and In-Sook are divorced.
Marques Ray as Juan-Julio, the parking garage attendant at Welltopia
Alexis Rhee as In-Sook Park, Ken's mother and D.K.'s ex-wife
Stephen Guarino as Connor, Clark's partner and later fiancée
Jerry Minor as Eric, Damona's boyfriend after she moves on from Pat
Justin Chon as Jae, Molly's boyfriend in Season 2
Zooey Jeong as Emily, Dave's former girlfriend in Season 2
Margaret Cho as Dr. Wendi Park, Ken's sister, a talk show host.
Dr. Oz as himself
Joel McHale as Ross
Danny Pudi as Topher
Jim Rash as Devon Drake
Ian Chen as Henry
Randall Park as Gary Chon
George Wyner as Dicky Wexler
Jeff Ross as Doug
Gillian Jacobs as Erin
Yvette Nicole Brown as Amy
Dr. Ken has received very negative reviews from television critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 7% approval rating, based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 2.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "Somebody please get Dr. Ken a doctor; seeking any signs of life. Or humor." On Metacritic, the series has a score of 26 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."
Indiewire TV Critic Ben Travers and TV Editor Liz Shannon Miller, both negatively ranked the trailer released for Dr. Ken. Marc Berman of TV Media Insights gave the new series very low odds of survival. During the 2015 Television Critics Association press tour, Ken Jeong defended against a comparison drawn between his series and the ill-fated All American Girl starring Margaret Cho, claiming that he would have more creative control as both a writer and producer of Dr. Ken.
