Fresh Off the Boat writer Eric Ziobrowski on that JNCO jeans celebration

Every week, the cast and crew of ABC’s Taiwanese American family comedy, Fresh Off the Boat, is taking EW behind the scenes. For each episode, one member is recapping, sharing thoughts on what went down, and walking us through the ins-and-outs of the show. This week, writer Eric Ziobrowski brings us into the season three episode, “The Best of Orlando.”

Hello, I’m Eric Ziobrowski, a writer on Fresh Off The Boat. In this week’s episode, Louis is named Orlando’s “Small Businessman of the Year” and the entire Huang family (not to mention several friends and co-workers) attends an awards ceremony to support him. And just like each of the 35 awards shows that were televised last year (!), we wanted to make sure to include all the benchmarks that make those broadcasts worth watching: The beautiful ballroom, the fancy clothes, the unique trophies, and most importantly… someone totally blowing their acceptance speech.

At its core, this episode is about saying thank you to the people who might not always get the attention but play a huge role in helping those who do achieve their success. In regards to our show, this certainly applies to our amazing crew. Whenever I take someone to visit set, one of the first things they always say is how they can’t believe how many people it takes to shoot an episode of TV. And it’s true! From the sets and locations, to the clothes, makeup and props… an incredible team of people work their tails off behind the scenes to get all the little details exactly right. Simply put, they’re the ones who make what we as writers put down on paper look so great on screen.

Speaking of looking great, the other half of this episode celebrates JNCO jeans, which took over the mid-90s fashion scene in all their wide-legged glory. One morning while filming, Forrest Wheeler (who plays Emery) approached me while wearing this specialty denim and asked if I’d like a small bottle of orange juice. Which isn’t unusual, because Forrest is as thoughtful as he is talented. After I said yes, he reached into his cavernous pockets and handed me no fewer than 15 bottles of OJ. Needless to say, we spent a good while after that wondering why in the world anyone stopped wearing such functional pants.

Fresh Off the Boat airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.