With so little that’s truly fresh finding its way to network prime-time anymore, you hate to see a scripted series that’s actually ambitious and relevant getting pushed to the back burner.
But that’s what happens this weekend with “Aliens in America,” the CW comedy that used to air in Monday’s 8 p.m. hour, but has now -- to make room for more of those oh-so-profound “reality” programs -- been shunted to the CW’s little-watched Sunday lineup (8:30 on CW/11).
New episodes arrive this weekend and continue through spring, so you can still watch “Aliens” take a swing at great things. Sometimes it whiffs, and sometimes its technique is a little immature, I admit. But what other series dares to plop a Muslim Pakistani teenager into the white-bread midwest of suburban Wisconsin, where two confounded cultures get to learn to get along with each other?
While so many of the reality shows with which The CW now lavishes us (Monday’s “Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious”?) are superficial and mean-spirited, “Aliens” shows folks opening their hearts -- and yes, their minds -- where they don’t have to and maybe don’t want to. Exchange student Raja (Adhir Kalyan) brings a broader world to high school host Justin (Dan Byrd) and family (especially mom Amy Pietz). And Raja learns to understand where Americans are coming from, while still upholding his own firm cultural/religious beliefs.
“Aliens” employs a heightened comic reality that some viewers have found too simplistic, the Americans being ignorant boobs, the Pakistani boy offering precocious wisdom, and most of it being delivered through juvenile antics. But that’s not always true. And it’s certainly not the point. As in its equally warm kid-centered lead-in, “Everybody Hates Chris” (now airing Sundays at 8), people are people, no matter who or what (or where) they are. Instead of fearing the unfamiliar, or jumping to cliched conclusions, these characters celebrate curiosity, compassion and the commonality of us all.
And in this TV era where people are increasingly judged on their looks, celebrity or game-playing ruthlessness, a little slice-of-life centered on the soul is a gift that shouldn’t be overlooked.
[CW photo above: Adhir Kalyan as Raja, Scott Patterson as Gary, Dan Byrd as Justin in "Aliens in America."]