First of all, thank you to LinkTV for showing this series. Because AT&T U-Verse doesn’t carry LinkTV, I’m not switching from Dish satellite to U-Verse no matter how much they beg me and offer me free HBO to do so. But this is not about LinkTV right now. That’s for another column for me to write.
This one’s about Arab Labor. This is, by far, one of the best sitcoms I’ve ever seen. It’s right up there with Yes Minister, Fawlty Towers, and Seinfeld. I just ordered season one on DVD. I plan to watch it repeatedly and to find a way to use it in class.
Some people complain about having to read subtitles, but I say it’s worth the effort when something’s really really good. Arab Labor is in Hebrew and Arabic with only smatterings of Russian and English, but it’s really really good, so it’s worth reading. It takes elements from classic comedies and reworks them in original plots set in Israel. The center of the series is Amjad, an Arab journalist who’s very loyal to Israel, even though he often gets hassled for being a minority. Like Seinfeld, Arab Labor doesn’t have the characters learning big lessons or hugging each other at the end of the episodes. They carry on being who they are, flaws and all, but they all work at accommodating each other.
To a point. I mean, there’s the episode where Amjad turns over his meddling mother-in-law to the police as a suspected terrorist. Or when Amjad’s Jewish friend tries to hide the fact that he’s dating an Arab from his not-too-liberal parents. Then there’s where Amjad’s father sells the Chametz on eBay. OK, so you may have to Google up a few terms in order to get the jokes, but it’s worth it. After all, one theme in the comedy is the difficulty of coming to an understanding between cultures, so why not participate and do a little research. There’s one gag in the season finale that involves knowing the history of Zionism, but if you read up on Theodore Herzl before you watch it, you’ll hit the comedy jackpot when you hear that punchline.
Even if you’re not up on your history, you can still enjoy the sheer joy of the comic apocalypses that Amjad and his family find themselves in. Amjad’s father is my favorite character, a sort of Archie Bunker/Fred G. Sanford type of unstoppable patriarch who never lets ethics get in the way of a business deal. Amjad himself is an Arab Woody Allen, totally uncomfortable in his own skin. Amjad’s wife is his opposite: well-grounded and someone who can accept herself for who she is. She’s Amjad’s link to reality. Their daughter is not the usual precocious TV brat: she’s very well behaved, but takes after her foxy grandpa in subtly getting her way when her father goes nuts. Amjad’s Israeli friend is a schlemiel trying to do good that doesn’t care if he’s barking up the wrong tree, so long as there’s love in the branches. His on-again, off-again girlfriend is an Arab lawyer that manages to carry on a verbally violent relationship with him. Even when they’re at peace with each other, there’s never a relaxation in the tension in the relationship, which means the comedy won’t stop with that pair. If they got married, the series would not jump the shark.
Heck, the writing’s so good, they even took on another possible bad turn: the birth of a baby. In the finale, Amjad’s wife has a son. In most sitcoms, that’s the kiss of death. In Arab Labor, it’s a gateway for more comic possibilities.
Watch this show, people. It’s totally worth it.