Posted on 09/11/2007 5:38:13 PM PDT by WVNan
Muslim Sitcom to Debut
Muslims Hope New Show Breaks Cultural Barriers [Excerpts]
Raja Musharaff is a Pakistani Muslim exchange student coming to America this fall.
He's not coming to join a terrorist cell, open a kabob shop or become a taxi driver. On the contrary, as one of the lead roles on "Aliens in America," which premiers Oct. 1 on the CW Network, Raja is more than an amicable 16-year-old; he also emerges as a moral compass to his wayward host family in Wisconsin.
"We wanted to bring a character who had a sense of his own faith, and who had a strong relationship with God, into this family that really doesn't have one," said David Guarascio, one of the producers, describing the character Raja. "Maybe this family has lost its way a little bit and the character who has a spiritual sense of himself can help them find their way."
To many Muslim Americans who say film and television depictions of Muslims are almost uniformly negative, the idea that a mainstream television network is introducing an empathetic follower of Islam -- as well as exploring Americans' own prejudices towards their faith -- is welcome news.
"The fact that Raja's the moral conscience of the show, that's probably a first on American television for any sort of Muslim character," said Edina Lekovic, a spokeswoman with the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, who was hired as a consultant for the show.
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Source URL: http://www.thebereancall.org/node/5973
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.beliefnet.com ...
I think they have borrowed from the old Magic Negro plot.
Since the word "raja" is Hindi (Indian) for "prince", highly unlikely... More unlikely bravo-sierra from some Hollyweirdo who is clueless about whatever he's running his mouth about...
the infowarrior
New network, used to be the WB. That's right Time/Warner/CNN/AOL
Kiss my grits. I said I won’t post any more. Shall I give blood too?
Thank you Admin for fixing the post, WVNan is forgiven for posting a new story that hasn't been covered yet. :)
Publius6961, you're being a bit harsh - the Admin would not have fixed it if he/she didn't want to.
Dan Aykroyd was in one in the late 90s called "Soul Man". I vaguely remember it being not nearly as bad as I supposed it would, but I can't remember any details. I only know the title through the miracle of IMDB.
There was that old kids show “Davey and Goliath” produced by the Lutherans. Not sure if one would classify it as a sitcom though.
Can you say Cancellation City?
Kids are big consumers of sitcoms and they are influenced by the messages that are written into the scripts. I have seen this with my own children, who are now adults. I saw them pick up many of the beliefs and attitudes of sitcoms and other entertainment. Then when I told them that they had been influenced by tv, they would deny it.
Propaganda works. That’s why Goebbels used it. Propaganda works on the emotions and it takes a strong and mature person not to be influenced.
“Kids are big consumers of sitcoms and they are influenced by the messages that are written into the scripts. I have seen this with my own children, who are now adults. I saw them pick up many of the beliefs and attitudes of sitcoms and other entertainment. Then when I told them that they had been influenced by tv, they would deny it.
“Propaganda works. Thats why Goebbels used it. Propaganda works on the emotions and it takes a strong and mature person not to be influenced.”
VERY CORRECT and worth repeating often to the American people.
Hey - those were really good. I thought more people would play along, but I really got a chuckle out of your TV shows.
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