Premiering Tonight: "Aliens in America"
Life’s tough for Justin Tolchuck. Yeah, he finally got his braces off and his mother insists that if she were a teenager she’d love him, but he’s the omega geek of the high school in Medora, Wisconsin, and his younger sister Claire has blown right past him to the heights of popularity. Mom’s so desperate for a way to make Justin (Dan Byrd) more popular that she lets the school guidance counselor talk her into taking in an international exchange student. There’s a strapping Scandanavian on the cover of the brochure, but when the Tolchucks show up at Chippewa Falls Airport to pick up their blonde boy wonder, they discover that their actual exchange student is Raja (Adhir Kaylan), a Pakistani.
They call them situation comedies for a reason. But “Aliens in America” verges on Norman Lear levels of situation, with plenty of opportunity for social commentary along the way. The good news is, it’s not preachy. In fact, it’s more effective to lampoon the ignorance many Americans have about the rest of the world while making some pretty funny jokes. (Raja’s social studies teacher introduces him as someone who “practices Muslimism” and introduces him to the class by asking how many of his classmates are angry at him because his people “blew up those buildings in New York.” After one day at school, Raja is also no longer a fan of that infamous exchange-student brochure: “Very misleading.”)
Mrs. Tolchuck tries to jettison Raja immediately, more concerned that he’s going to convert her son to, uh, Muslimism, than the fact that her daughter has just declared her interest in acquiring birth-control pills. Of course, good feelings win out in the end, when Raja and Justin bond over their shared high school horror stories and become fast friends.
Fortunately, Aliens in America isn’t a heavy-handed message coated in a little sitcom sugar. It’s a legitimately funny single-camera show, with a quirky family (Justin’s dad farms Alpacas in their suburban backyard) and a lot of laughs. The show’s sense of humor, — populated with Scrubs-style nonsequiturs, oddball characters, and a geeky but likeable pair of lead actor — will have to carry the day. Being on the CW makes the chances of Aliens in America becoming a smash hit about as remote as the chances Justin has of going to the prom with the prettiest girl in the school. But paired with fellow underdog sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, this show has a chance for mild success. And on The CW, that might just be enough.
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