Nahnatchka Khan on ‘Fresh Off the Boat,’ Chinese New Year and Michael Chang

Once mostly anonymous, the producers who oversee top television series have sometimes become as well known as the actors who star in them. On occasion, The New York Times will pose questions from readers (and some of our own) to notable show runners and post their responses.

This week, Nahnatchka Khan discusses her ABC sitcom, “Fresh Off the Boat.” When the series debuted on ABC last February, it was TV’s first Asian-American family comedy since Margaret Cho’s “All-American Girl” in 1994 and 1995. Now, as Hollywood contends with its embarrassingly monochromatic slate of Oscar acting nominees, “Fresh Off the Boat” is part of a growing list of sitcoms with ethnic minorities in leading roles. This also includes ABC’s “black-ish” and “Dr. Ken,” NBC’s “Superstore” and “Telenovela,” and Netflix’s “Master of None.”

“It feels like TV is leading the way,” Ms. Khan said. “The floodgates opened up, and people are seeing themselves represented more on television.“ On Tuesday “Fresh Off the Boat” — based on Eddie Huang’s memoir about growing up Taiwanese-American in Florida during the ’90s — will become the first American TV series to do an episode focused on the Chinese New Year holiday. In honor of the occasion, Ms. Khan recently fielded questions about the show’s cast, its hip-hop theme song and her previous work on the cult-favorite sitcom “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23.” These are edited excerpts from the conversation.