New show: 'Aliens in America'
Posted: Friday, July 20, 2007 4:04 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
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TV
The CW has only four new shows, but I'd say three of them are ones I might actually watch ("Gossip Girl" being the exception, but it's essentially "O.C. East," so many will love it). The only half-hour comedy among the bunch is "Aliens in America." You'll swear you've seen this plot before, and you probably have. Geeky kid with no friends meets exchange student with big heart and different perspective. Exchange student is shunned for his differences, so geek and exchange student find common ground and become friends. The big twist here, I guess, is that the exchange student is Muslim.
You'll get a bit of a "Freaks and Geeks"/"Wonder Years" vibe from "Aliens," though it has a way to go to imitate the pure heart of those classics. Dan Byrd plays nerdy Justin Tolchuck, the Wisconsin kid who eventually warms to Raja Musharaff (played by South African Adhir Kalyan). Justin also has a freshmen sister who's as popular as he isn't, a protective and perhaps prejudiced mom who wants to send Raja home when she finds out he's Muslim, and a recast dad (now played by Scott Patterson, a.k.a. Luke from "Gilmore Girls").
Although exchange student Raja is shown as nothing but courtly and kind in the pilot, he's rejected by almost all the Americans who come in contact with him sheerly because he's Muslim. In a funny-but-ouch scene, a student confesses in class that he makes her angry because she blames him for the Sept. 11 attacks. When he tries to correct her, the teacher scolds him for not raising his hand and invites other students who are also angry at him to raise theirs. It's so squirmworthy a scene that one critic was prompted to ask how audiences are expected to "embrace a show in which Americans are depicted as bigoted and stupid, to be shown the way by a young man from the Middle East?"
Producer David Gurascio doesn't see it that way, of course. He thinks the show is "not an
indictment of the American psyche" but could lead viewers to possibly reexamine their own prejudices.
TIDBITS:
--Actor Adhir (pronounced "Adthir") Kalyan is not himself Muslim, but says "I have a responsibility to the Muslim community to represent this character in a positive way and as accurately as I can."
--Justin's father raises alpacas for extra money, and a scene in which Raja and Justin are seen playing backyard soccer around the animals is set to The White Stripes' "We Are Going To Be Friends." In the movie "Napoleon Dynamite," Napoleon's family also has an alpaca ("Tina, you fat lard, come get some dinner!" ) and that same song plays over the movie's wonderful, food-filled opening credits. Executive producer Moses Port denies any connection, saying "It just seemed funny to have Gary raising alpacas."
--One writer asked Kalyan if he experienced culture shock, coming to the U.S. from South Africa. His reply: "In truth, the only thing I found difficult to deal with coming to the States is the size of the portions of food. Really -- I mean, really, do we need portions that are that big? I mean, Africa doesn't need Bono. Africa doesn't need Geldof. Africa needs a Denny's grand-slam breakfast."
--The panel was held a day after Emmy nominations came out, so another critic asked Scott Patterson about "Gilmore Girls" being consistently snubbed by Emmy nominations. "I thought the quality of the work that was being done was exemplary, and I thought a lot of people in that cast should have been recognized on a regular basis, and nobody was," he said. "It was a little bit disheartening at first."
GAEL'S GRADE: Despite the cliches showing all Midwesterners as terrified of Muslims, there are some funny bits in the "Aliens" pilot, and leads Byrd and Kalyan are sweet in a Kevin Arnold-sort of way. They should admit the "Napoleon Dynamite" homage, though. I'd give this one a shot. B to B-plus.
