“Aliens in America” Beats “Cavemen” by Miles

The new TV season has opened, with much less fanfare than a generation ago, but there are two new programs that encapsulate what is bad about TV and what is good about it. Both are sitcoms, and both rely on the fish-out-of-water premise. Where ABC’s “Cavemen” is an unmitigated disaster, CW’s “Aliens in America” is solid enough to make one believe that there are still people out there who can make the medium work as an artform.

To take out the garbage first, the Kensington Review had high hopes for “Cavemen.” The Geico cavemen who have made car insurance advertising fun to watch in 30-second installments could have made the issue of race and assimilation in America in 2007 amusing and worthwhile. Instead, it failed on almost every level. These cavemen will be extinct by Christmas.

Far better is “Aliens in America,” which is on the CW network, a result of the UPN and WB merger. The CW has already given the country “Everybody Hates Chris,” a project by Chris Rock that is everything his stand-up act is without the swearing. Someone at the network has a brain because that leads into “Aliens.”

The premise of “Aliens” is a mother in Wisconsin decides to help her geeky high school son achieve greater popularity by hosting an exchange student. Instead of a blond northern European, they get Raja, a Pakistani Muslim. Written in a way clearly modeled on “Malcolm in the Middle” and “The Wonder Years,” there are overtones of “The Simpsons” in the satiric treatment of middle America (“Terrorists in Medora, Wisconsin?” mocks the father. “Are you saying we aren’t important enough to blow up? Where’s your civic pride?” retorts mom).

The cast is quite promising as well. Amy Pietz as Franny Tolchuk, the mom, has a Wisconsin accent as sharp as any of the state’s cheddar and a restrained psychotic drive to make her boy popular. Dan Byrd as Justin Tolchuk, the son, has a goofy likeability that comes across on TV; he isn’t stretching his thespian talents, but so what? South African actor Adhir Kalyan, who plays Raja, may steal the show in future episodes. In the first episode, he reveals that he is an orphan, and his restrained grief showed on the small screen in a way it rarely can. The rest of the cast has yet to be developed much, but there is something here that, combined with “Everybody Hates Chris,” could make Monday night for the CW network.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home