Aliens in America gives a middle-class Pakistani kid a kurta, a fakey accent and a higher Allah-per-sentence ratio than a Wahhabi cleric. So last night’s premiere was, of course, a big hit with the mainstream media:

… Aliens In America… is easily the best new comedy of the season. Sure, that’s not saying much… [Link]

The Aliens pilot has some of the funniest writing on TV this fall. [Link]

… Aliens in America… received legitimate (and strong) critical buzz…. the best lead-out program that Everybody Hates Chris has ever had, not to mention a surprisingly sweet and funny half hour in its own right. [Link]

The critically adored new CW series Aliens in America debuted with a 0.9 rating among the network’s target 18-34s, losing 10 percent from lead-in Everybody Hates Chris… [Link]

… not since Northern Exposure’s Joel Fleischman found himself stranded in Cicely, Alaska, has there been a fish as swimmingly out of water as Raja Musharaff on the new CW sitcom Aliens in America. Funny, charming and smart…

The show sent the mainstream media running for their atlases. Or, like, not:

Yes, the idea that Wisconsinites will freak out at the sight of a Middle Eastern teenager post-9/11 does kind of stick in one’s craw. [Link]

By tackling the issue of the Middle Eastern acceptance in the Midwest, “Aliens” is instantly the most relevant of the new fall shows. [Link]

… there will be those who will be turned off by the heroic portrayal of someone from the Middle East at the expense of Middle America… [Link]

Kalyan is a charmer as Raja, who seems like a real Middle Eastern kid, guileless and enthusiastic, rather than some broad comic stereotype. [Link]

A handful of critics complained about the stereotyping. But not about desis — about white Americans:

The premise raises hackles among some, including a reporter at the TV press tour in Beverly Hills last month who objected that the Americans in Aliens are presented as “bigoted and stupid.” [Link]

It’s telling that producers of the show, eager to avoid any controversy, screened the pilot of Aliens in America for some Muslim interest groups. Where was [Americans'] screening?… [Link]

The premise of the show is still Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner meets Bagger Vance:

… Justin’s dad, in a Homer Simpson swoon of porcophilia, is psyched to discover that he doesn’t have to share his bacon at breakfast. [Link]

Immediately, everyone in the Tolchucks’ overwhelmingly white world begins freaking out as if they’d never even seen anyone with a tan before. That makes for an irritating first episode … [Link]

An ignorant teacher asks a classroom full of Medora kids how they feel about Raja “being so different.” One girl replies, “I guess I feel angry because his people blew up the buildings in New York .” Her answer is applauded by the teacher. [Link]

A charming, funny show, Aliens succeeds by facing honestly the fears (however sometimes misguided) people have in the terrorism age… ” What about the terrorist question?” Justin’s mother frets. “They pose as students - Bill O’Reilly said so.” [Link]

Unfortunately, the show goes so far over the top in making this point, Aliens is likely to alienate many in America. It depicts us as a collection of idiots and bigots, who have to be shown the light by a wise Muslim youth from Pakistan. [Link]

The reviews miss or dismiss the ham-handed Apu-isms:

Aliens is, in fact, quite broad — a fair amount of the comedy comes from foreign-born Raja (Adhir Kalyan) and his stilted English . But it’s not offensively so. It’s more like this: ”I accept your challenge,” Raja says when his new host-friend Justin… declares a thumb war. So, small-broad. [Link]

Can this prickly, post-9/11 concept possibly be tactful without feeling like an after-school special? Yes, and it’s very appealing. Aliens in America pulls off its absurd, touchy situation by handling everything with a relaxed tone and excellent film work… What is fudge Pakistan ?” he complains. “All day long, I am called this and it’s very confusing to me, because fudge is very delicious , yet they keep on laughing…” [Link]

Raja Musharaff… in the middle of the Chippewa Falls Airport sets down his bags, raises his hands to heaven and cries, ” Thank you, Allah, for the Tolchucks!”… “I guess I feel angry because his people blew up the buildings in New York,” says one girl to approving noises. In the hall, someone yells, “ Apu, where’s my Slushie ?”… [Link]

The way the issue is handled is sweet and smart as well as funny. [Link]

… Raja is more or less called a terrorist after the teacher says, “For one year, we will be in the presence of a real-life Pakistani who practises Muslimism …” a big-hearted satire that rumbles with admirable moxie… Unlike the Little Mosquepilot, Aliens in Americadoesn’t feel forced or contrived. The reason: it’s so bracingly funny, tender and enjoyable, you just never think about its real world relevance or social messaging. [Link]

It’s a premise that in the wrong hands could be boorish and not at all amusing , so it is to the writers’ credit that Aliens is instead fresh, funny and charming in a tart, sardonic way… [Link]

Just as with Apugate, only bloggers get it:

Aliens in America sounds like a show that would be a show within a show on The Simpsons, making fun of what networks might put on… This show is sooooo racist. They make terrorist jokes, Apu jokes, religion jokes. The even tie Raja into 9/11. Yeah, that’s hilarious. Plus he’s doing the typical accent… Maybe they’re trying to make fun of the ignorant, but it’s still a whole show filled with stereotypes. [Link]

The set-up is kind of groan-inducing , but we’ll admit we laughed a few times during the pilot, and we appreciate its single camera, laughtrack-free presentation. Also, any show that can get laughs out of the image of a dead clown is on the right track. [Link]

Much of the humor still comes from the culture clash… and the show’s sweetness undercuts its more crass humor, some of which is pretty egregious for its time slot. [Link]

Strangely enough, the writers did the obligatory namaaz toward the community:

Port, who’s Jewish, and Guarascio, who was raised Catholic, were at the Islamic Center this night to introduce their new series to the faithful… The response from the Islamic Center crowd was overwhelmingly positive… [Link]

And they belatedly hired a Pakistani-American screenwriter:

Sameer Gardezi, 24, [was] recently hired to join the “Aliens” writing team… [Link]

… before long, the mother comes home to find the two boys getting along famously, playing soccer in the backyard (around some alpacas) and praying toward Mecca together. Alpacas and Muslim prayers in a family sitcom? Yes. Sameer Asad Gardezi and his writing partners have created something very different in “Aliens in America” - and something very, very funny. [Link]

The show even asked Junoon to collaborate on a cover of ‘Peace, Love and Understanding’:

… PJ Olsson… and Salman Ahmad… founder of Pakistan’s most popular band, Junoon, united to record a new version of the Nick Lowe song “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding.” The song will be featured as the main theme title song… [ Link]

And they cast a 24-year-old desi, Adhir Kalyan from South Africa:

“I feel a responsibility to the Muslim community to portray this character [Raja] in an accurate and a positive light… this is an opportunity to present, in a more accurate light, what that culture and civilization and history represent.” In prepping for the role, Kalyan says he spoke with several Muslim leaders whom he allowed to read the Aliens script. “The response, by and large,” said Kalyan, “was positive…” [Link]

[Kalyan's mother:] “He’s always been a straight-A student. Did it all on his own on an academic scholarship… Then again, sometimes I do have to say if you don’t make the right decision I will have to get on the plane and smack the sh** out of you…” Being flown first-class to New York for “up fronts” (new shows), he saw Spike Lee in business class: “I had to go into first class and leave Spike roughing it …” [Link]

… the role of Raja the Pakistani, is played by Adhir Kalyan a young South African of Indian descent who was born and raised in Durban. His mother Sandy Kalyan is a Member of Parliament in the South African National Assembly. Adhir moved to London in 2005 and has had an opportunity to act in a few BBC series and independent films…

… the first young Muslim to enter the high citadel of American teen stardom through a television show was Sajid Khan almost 40 years ago. Teaming up with Jay North (Dennis the Menace) in the movie and TV series Maya, a story about a rare elephant (in which Khan played a Hindu kid), Sajid made quite an impression… [Link]

The actor who plays Justin says he briefly knew what it’s like to be a minority:

[Dan] Byrd… briefly attended school in Glendale, Calif…. “There were lots of Persian and Armenian kids. It was the first situation where I was a minority.” [Link]

Which all raises the question: why does the show still suck so badly?

M ore TV critic Valentines:

The topically tinged Aliens in America could have been excruciating… Perhaps you’re one of the cursed who still hasn’t been able to shake Whoopi, the 2003 sitcom that never saw a Muslim it didn’t want to goose. So it’s a relief that the CW’s Aliens in America is decent, and quiet, and genuinely sweet…

… in a class discussion of “Robinson Crusoe,” Raja announces that if he could only bring one thing to a desert island, it would be Justin. Raja wants to move his classmates by the honesty and love of his statement, but of course the ruthless gay ribbing starts instantly… Raja’s comfort being naked in the locker room makes Justin and all the other boys cringe. [Link]

Justin momentarily freaks out when Raja calmly recites a Muslim prayer in the Tolchuck living room.

“This is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in our house. And we had a clown die in our living room,”… “Our personal experience is that some people have reached out to us from the Muslim community and have been really excited about this show,”… “They are excited to see a Muslim character in a comedy, in particular, which is something they haven’t seen before…” Get happy, Justin and Raja. You’re already on the chucklehead honor roll. [Link]

Smart single-camera comedy series… [Link]

… endearing, funny and not at all the wholesome learning experience its “Kumbaya” concept would suggest. Although you will feel surprisingly warm and fuzzy when it’s over… Any fears that Muslims would be played for cheap laughs are immediately quashed by the appearance of South African actor Adhir Kalyan, who plays Raja as a sweet, perceptive young man who is not at all the naive chump he might have been in a lesser show. No one in Medora, Wis., knows what to make of Raja, and the natives’ dim-bulb stereotyping (”Apu, where’s my Slushee?”) lets the show take on many touchy post-9/11 issues without thumping anyone over the head with a copy of State of Denial…

… their new baby has a lot more in common with Freaks and Geeks and Malcolm in the Middle. Like those two oddball comedies, Aliens in America spikes its intelligent, insightful humor with gross-out gags and politically incorrect satire. [Link]

If a TV network presents a daringly different and funny comedy, but very few people see it, was it ever televised at all? … its relative obscurity, on CW, makes the new Aliens in America that much more precious a gem… hilarious, smartly crafted [comedy] that [deserves] to be [a] Top 10 [hit]… [Link]

… the show has an odd sweetness to it… the jokes, while cringeworthy at times, aren’t mean-spirited. [Link]

Its premise… went over like a lead balloon with focus groups. A finished pilot episode languished on the shelf for a year. The show went through two networks, and two production studios, before landing at the fledgling CW… [Link]

Its single-camera format makes it earn each laugh, which it does repeatedly. A second episode, also supplied to reviewers, dials back the humor considerably but loses none of the warmth and heart that makes this show so irresistible. Byrd’s awkwardness and Kalyan’s earnestness play off each other beautifully. These two have breakout potential. [Link]

… the Tolchucks’ motives were anything but humanitarian. Dad was delighted at the payment of $500 a month he gets for taking the kid in, mom had some kind of sexual fantasy going… one of the half-dozing students refers to an American literary classic as “Robinson Crusoe by Willem Dafoe.”

Justin observes that his sister is not only bigger and more popular than him, but also “tanner,” high on the list of bankable assets… The show says not only that racism but also bullying, baiting, ignorance, homophobia and other social afflictions can be quite hilarious. Maybe up to a point — but it’s a point beyond which Aliens in America unfortunately seems willing to go. It’s no fun to laugh and then feel guilty about it. [Link]

… there’s something moderately gutsy about lampooning present-day bigotry toward Muslims within a sitcom. Yet that’s actually among the least-developed aspects … Aliens won’t need breakout numbers to hang on, but the producers would still be well advised to say their prayers — five times a day or otherwise. [Link]

Turbanhead gave the pilot a ‘mildly approving head shake.’

Related post: Stereotyping for fun and profit