Aliens in America- in public

Aliens in America

and an excerpt from Washington Post article

A Woman in the White House -- For 24 Hours
By Lisa de Moraes
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Beverly Hill, CA

"But we have to admit we were shocked when critics lit into "Aliens in America" on Friday.

The series -- at least the pilot -- is a wonderful little "Freaks and Geeks"-ish comedy about a high school nerd who is so bullied by the "popular kids" that his well-meaning mother decides to get him a friend in the form of an exchange student.

Only the exchange student turns out to be a personable Pakistani Muslim, who also is treated like a freak by the other students and at least one teacher, and Mom decides to send him back. Until, that is, she learns that both his parents died about a year earlier. She then embraces him and they all live happily, if put upon, ever after -- or, hopefully, for five seasons.

It made some critics here sick. Which just goes to show you can never tell what's on a TV critic's mind:

"I'd like to ask what is it that you interpret in the American psyche, or appetite for entertainment, that will 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?" one critic asked.

Executive Producer David Guarascio began to prattle about "a mother who cares deeply about her son . . . realizes the error of her own prejudice . . . not an indictment of the American psyche . . . helpful for some people to sort of potentially think about their own prejudices . . . "

Scott Patterson -- that's right, the "Gilmore Girls" Luke, who in one of the saddest bits of recasting in the history of TV, replaced wonderful character actor Patrick Breen as the kid's father on "Aliens in America" because, it was explained to critics, Patterson had a "holding deal," so they had to pay him whether he was put on another show or not and, presto, he winds up playing a role for which he's given no indication in any performance to date he's well suited -- jumped in, swinging.

"I just want to say something," he said.

"I just want to say something" is never good. It usually is followed by something pretty nasty.

"I don't think this show is polarizing at all and there's no evidence of that so far in your comments." Ooh snap! -- okay, maybe not so much.

"Are there any producers from the Midwest?" someone from the mob of critics shot back. We can't actually swear there was foaming at the mouth involved, but when we say the room was electric, you know what we mean.

At this point, the producers made a big mistake:

"I'm from central Pennsylvania and I keep saying that's the Midwest," said Moses Port, thinking a little levity was called for. It was not.

"I grew up in Glendale, which is kind of the Midwest version of Southern California," said Tim Doyle. Even worse.

"Is there a mentality out here in Los Angeles that people in the Midwest are more naive? . . . The idea that there's nobody from Asia that lives in Wisconsin or at least in this small town is not the reality," a critic snapped.

"No, that is the reality, because I'm from Wisconsin" interjected Lindsey Shaw, who plays the mom.

"I wanted to play this role so desperately because I felt this was my tribe. I grew up with this. . . . I really wanted to express that small-mindedness."

Doyle, finally sensing the danger, rushed to do damage control:

"You may be drawing too much of a conclusion about the series from the pilot," he billed and cooed.

"You know, the story in the pilot is this young man's arrival in this town, so it's very natural that the fish-out-of-water aspect and people's reactions to it are going to be played up for the comedy initially. But that's not going to be the series in the long term," he continued.

"The immigration debate in this country is getting not only fierce, but kind of ugly. Are you afraid your show is going to plunge into the middle of that, not to its profit?" one critic asked rhetorically/ominously.

"He's just an exchange student -- he's not coming to take your jobs," Doyle said, finally getting tough.

"You are dealing with people . . . from a part of the world that aren't always very tolerant, you know -- the Danish cartoon thing and everything. Do you have a technical adviser to keep you from getting Salman Rushdied?" another critic said.

We'll pause here so you can reread that question.

"When we sort of talk about small-mindedness, there is a billion people in the world who practice Islam and they are really not out to get anybody," Guarascio said.

"That being said, we did have an adviser on the pilot. We happen to have a writer on our staff who is a Muslim and of Pakistani descent." But Guarascio insisted the "Muslim community" so far has reacted to the show very positively. They are very excited to see a Muslim character in a comedy, he said, and "hope to use a little humor to create a dialogue." "

talk about fiery debate...wonder if this will be a media debate only or a larger public one.

Aliens in America

A new show that will air on Oct.1 on the CW network. The person who plays a Pakistani Muslim boy is Adhir Kalyan. Kalyan is of Indian origin and raised in Durban, South Africa. He started acting in South Africa then in London pursued his acting career and now he's stateside. I have been noticing previews for this show for some time now and i have been really curious and almost excited to see what they do with the character that he plays.

From the show's preview we learn that the Pakistani, Muslim boy is an exchange student in Wisconsin living with a middle-class American family. The boy, played by Dan Byrd, in that family is his age and feels like an outcast in his hometown. The show has a coming-of-age "see we all have our insecurities" or weird-is-normal vibe.

From the preview he dresses in kurta payjama, has an accent (that definitely sounds put on- it's that generic accent that supposedly every South Asian cab driver or 7-11 owner has), and loudly invokes his God's name when he's stressed out. He's presented as a caricature. I wonder if they'll show him in GAP jeans and polo style shirts and an acquired sliding-scale American accent by the end of the first season.

Some part of me wants to poke many holes in this show before even watching it, but i do think it is an important American show. it addresses a societal debate that's been happening the world over- can we accept people for who they are?

Just the other day as i sat at a traffic light i noticed a couple of cars around me- one had the little fish symbol on it, and another had a "Jesus saves" sticker on it. I thought about how i never see a car with a Star of David emblazoned on it, or a sticker that talks about the path to Mecca, nor do i ever see a bobble-headed Buddha in a window, or a Laxmi decal in someone's rear window. This only occurred to me because in Mumbai the rickshaw driver or truck drivers have their vehicles covered in religious paraphernalia that they believe protects them on the road. Also that day, my husband and i had just gone to the temple for a car puja for our new car. the priest gave us a picture of God to put in our car and I was aware of displaying it discreetly, because who knows what kind of places we one day might drive through. That may just be me, but it is disconcerting to think that i would be less wary of being attacked if i put a Jesus saves sticker on our car. hmm.