Please forgive our not getting this news to you sooner, but we saw “family drama” and moved along when word first got out. Oh dear. We once again shake our heads as we come across yet another showrunner who swears that a show IS NOT SCI-FI. We are trying to not be offended by the implication that being sci-fi is somehow, err, bad. Trying.

Check out the information as posted by Deadline:

The creators of polygamist series Big Love are developing another unconventional family drama for HBO. Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer are behind China Doll, a show in the works at the pay cable network about a mixed-race family and their humanoid robot. The project combines Scheffer’s passion for technology and Olsen’s interest in Chinese history and politics. “It is about China, Chinese Americans, robots, the effect of technology on our lives and the China moment in American consciousness,” said Olsen, referring to China’s current economic ascendance that is changing the dynamic in the U.S.-Chinese relationship. China Doll centers on a successful California construction subcontractor, his Asian American wife who is a university professor, and a robot as they straddle both sides of the Pacific with extended families on two continents. Despite the presence of a robot, “this is not a sci-fi show,” Scheffer said. “It is ambitious but is set in the present day.”

We can be offended, or we can find it hilarious. We are choosing “hilarious.” Sorry but really, the presence of a “humanoid robot” literally SCREAMS sci-fi, like it or not. It doesn’t have to be in space, or involve time travel, or really do anything other than have the robot, to earn the label. There are LEVELS of sci-fi, and this is one of them. If you didn’t want the label, go without the robot. Just sayin.

We’ll keep you posted.