Fall Preview: Aliens in America
Aliens in America has turned up on a bunch of critics best-of-fall lists – and has raised more than a few eyebrows with the premise. Will it be a cutting-edge comedy, or a hotbed of culturally offensive stereotypes? Here's our take.
The basics: Justin Tolchuck is a dork: He's an awkward teen in the sort of middle-American middle-of-nowhere where that TV executives love to set their sitcoms in. When his mom, Franny, realizes he'll never be popular, she decides to import a friend for him through the school's foreign-exchange program. They expect a tall, blond, athletic Scandinavian; they get Raja, a sweet Pakistani Muslim who will do nothing to help Justin fit in. Hilarity, plus a good bit of social commentary, ensues.
What we loved: Raja is a sweetheart, and South African actor Adhir Kalyan brings just the right touch of naïve optimism and boundless pluck to the character, without letting him lapse into caricature. And Amy Pietz is fearless as Franny, not afraid to let herself look like a awful human being in service of the story – and she's damn funny, too.
Plus, there's the concept – this is supposed to be a 21st-century heir to the mantel of All in the Family, a sitcom distillation of the sort of stuff you see on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, a televised version of the politically-aware snark you see in the Onion. If they can pull it off, it'll be a joy to behold.
What we're nervous about: "If they can pull it off" is the question. Sweet-natured satire is hard – it's far to easy to fall into either broad stereotypes or shrill preaching to the choir.
The pilot has its moments where you can see the concept fly – we loved the deadpan scene when Raja is introduced to his class, and the teacher encourages her class to "share their feelings" about having a (gasp!) Muslim in school with them. Of course, the class "feels" that Raja is single-handedly responsible for taking down the World Trade Center – a very Colbertian "truthiness" moment. But will they be able to sustain that over a whole season? Will the humor be a way to open the audience's eyes to the absurdities of the post-9-11 world, or will it fall into either mocking Raja for being different or chastising the Tolchucks and their neighbors for being provincial rubes?
The verdict: We're cautiously optimistic, but we're taking a wait-and-see approach. Its worth tuning in a few times just for Raja and Franny alone. Plus, it brings Scott Patterson back to the CW, which we applaud – but since he wasn't in the original pilot, we can't comment on how he fills out the role.
Will you be tuning in? Does the concept fly with you? Let us know in the comments!
Aliens in America premieres next Monday, 10/1 at 8:30/7:30c.
Comments
This show is extremely offensive to Muslim people. It makes fun of Muslims in every way possible and promotes stereotypes. Its tolerable to make fun of a race, but not to make fun of a religion. The show not only makes fun of South Asians (which is tolerable) but it makes fun of the Muslim way of life such as the fact that Muslims pray 5 times a day. It makes fun of the whole lifestyle. This show doesn't bring people together, it just puts more of a barricade between them.
Posted by: Roman Patwary | October 21, 2007 6:42 PM
I'm all about bringing the world together through laughter, but the general theme of this television program is borderline (if not well over the line) offensive. It only propagates certain stereotypes but is allowed to get away with it because these stereotypes are presented in a playful manner. And regardless of presentation, these generalizations still generate the same inherent detrimental sentiment that can be found by verbalizing a blatantly crude and offensive race- or religion-oriented joke. But hey, that's just my opinion.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 2, 2007 9:00 PM
This type of programme will bring America together. We need to learn that 10,000 Talaban, and others doese not represent over one billion muslims who love this God Blessed Country.
Thanks.
Posted by: Moe Akhtar | September 29, 2007 9:04 PM
Do you think that this show might be at all offensive to the Pakistani or Muslim people?
Posted by: Anonymous | September 29, 2007 12:33 AM
is this program supposed to be in the cw's target demographic of 18-34 or for children?
Do the CW execs have any idea what their viewers are interested in?
Posted by: Anonymous | September 25, 2007 10:48 AM