A self-proclaimed "alien," named Justin (Dan Byrd from "Clubhouse"), feels like an outsider in his town of Midora, Wisconsin. No matter how much he tries to reform his looks or his style, he's still thought of as the school's reigning loser. His mother, Franny (Amy Pietz from "Caroline in the City"), doesn't help him much. Even though she has a daughter, Claire (Lindsay Shaw from "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"), she coddles him so much that his every humiliation is the center of her attention. Her solution to the situation--suggested by the guidance counselor, Mr. Matthews (Christopher B. Duncan from "Veronica Mars")--was to invite an attractive teenage boy to stay at their home as an exchange student. Justin's mere presence near this cool kid magnet would dethrone him from his geekdom. Unfortunately, Mr. Matthews had an agenda of his own. What comes through the airport gate is not a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Swedish delight, but a koffi-wearing, brown skin Pakistani named Raja (newbie Adhir Kalyan). Upon seeing him we hear a screaming distortion of Indian music, which must be a signal for when all the race jokes will begin.
I'm easy, so my favorite was of course the random off screen shout of "Hey Abu, where's my slushy?" when poor Raja goes to American school for the first time by himself, because Justin's too afraid to be judged. Raja's experience, of course, is way more racist than that. A classmate actually has the ignorant balls to share with the class--upon encouragement from the "sympathetic" teacher--that she feels angry because Raja's people bombed their country. And when he tries to correct her, the teacher cuts him off with: "In our country, we raise our hands when we want to speak." She says this after explaining that he believes in Musliminism. No, that's not a typo. Franny, of course, is outraged that she was bamboozled into housing what she believes to be a possible terrorist posing as a student.
The reason for this show is not just to illustrate the ignorance of today's youth or Middle America--no matter how much truth there may be in that theory--or the rampant fear, which has plagued us since 9/11, that clouds our judgement. It's purpose is actually perfectly summed up in a short scene when Raja awkwardly asks Justin to brush his teeth with him so that he may show him that they in fact do it the same way even though they are from different countries. He's trying to bridge the gap and eradicate racial profiling.
And if that's too heavy for you, maybe you'll take comfort in the fact that there will be more racist jokes, Raja will be introduced to American girls, like Claire, who he already likes, Gilmore Girls' Scott Patterson's portrayal of the tight-wad, slave-driving, half-assed, entrepenuerial dad is above-par, and that Raja's parents are dead so there's a chance that after his year in America, he'll be staying for another season.
The question is...will anybody be watching? I don't know. It goes up against "Big Bang Theory" on CBS, "Chuck" on NBC, and "Prison Break" on Fox. That's some tough competition.
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