''Aliens in America'' is an American

teen sitcom A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people. In general, these type of programs focus primarily on characters between 11 and 19 years of age and routinely feature characters inv ...

created by David Guarascio and Moses Port that aired on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

for one season from October 1, 2007, to May 18, 2008. Guarascio and Port also served as executive producers of the show alongside Tim Doyle.

Luke Greenfield Luke Greenfield (born February 5, 1972) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the 2004 film '' The Girl Next Door''. Greenfield directed the pilot episode of the television series ''Aliens in ...

directed the pilot.''Aliens in America'' at th
Futon Critic
last accessed June 4, 2007. The show is about an American teenager in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

whose family takes in a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

foreign exchange student from

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Plot

High school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

er Justin Tolchuck ( Dan Byrd) is a sensitive, lanky 16-year-old just trying to fit in at his high school in Medora,

. He lives with his well-meaning mom Franny ( Amy Pietz) who just wants him to be "cool" and fit in, entrepreneur dad Gary (

Scott Patterson Scott Gordon Patterson (born September 11, 1958) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his role as Luke Danes in ''Gilmore Girls'' and as Special Agent Peter Strahm in the ''Saw'' films. He also starred as Michael Buchanan in the ...

) who is very laid back, and his newly popular younger sister Claire ( Lindsey Shaw), who tries to raise her popularity in school. When the school guidance counselor, Mr. Matthews ( Christopher B. Duncan) convinces the family to take in an

international student International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

, they accept him with the expectation that he will be a good-looking European or Latin American student that will make Justin popular. Although initially dismayed when Raja Musharraf (

Adhir Kalyan Adhir Kalyan (born 4 August 1983) is a South African actor noted for his role as Timmy in the CBS sitcom ''Rules of Engagement'' and as Awalmir Karimi/'Al' in '' United States of Al''. Early life Kalyan was born in Durban, South Africa, to an ...

), a 16-year-old

boy from

turns up instead, they soon warm up to him and although their cultures are different, Justin and Raja form an unlikely friendship that might allow them to get past the social nightmare of high school. Justin especially feels compelled to stick by Raja when he starts to notice the blatant racist and

xenophobic Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

attitudes of his classmates and community.

Cast

Main cast

* Dan Byrd as Justin Tolchuck *

as Raja Musharaff * Amy Pietz as Franny Tolchuck *

as Gary Tolchuck * Lindsey Shaw as Claire Tolchuck

Recurring cast

* Christopher B. Duncan as Mr. Matthews * Adam Rose as Dooley * Chad Krowchuk as Brad * Nolan Gerard Funk as Todd Palladino * Avan Jogia as Sam

Production and broadcast history

Produced by

CBS Paramount Network Television CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...

, the series was officially green-lit and given a thirteen-episode order on May 15, 2007. It premiered on October 1, 2007, and aired on Monday nights at 8:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Central on

, following ''

Everybody Hates Chris ''Everybody Hates Chris'' is an American television semi-autobiographical sitcom that is inspired by the memories of the teenage years of comedian Chris Rock. The show is set from 1982 to 1987, although Rock himself was actually a teenager from ...

''. The show was originally to be produced by NBC Universal Television (now

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

). It is filmed around the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, Canada area. The high school featured in the show is actually H. J. Cambie Secondary School in

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a coastal city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. It occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough), between the two estuarine distributaries of the Fraser River. Encompassing the adja ...

, Canada with the interiors of later first-season episodes shot inside a studio. Beginning on February 10, 2008, ''Aliens in America'' moved to Sunday nights (along with the rest of the Monday night comedies) and aired at 8:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Central. On May 9, 2008, ''TV Guide'' announced the cancellation of the series. After the show's cancellation, reruns once aired on Universal HD. Patrick Breen was originally cast as Gary Tolchuck but the role was re-cast in July 2007.

Episodes

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Rating information is from ''Your Entertainment Now'' and ''The Futon Critic''. The weekly rating information is from ''ABC Medianet''.ABC Medianet
''Aliens in America'' averaged 1.57 million viewers in its sole season.

International distribution

References

External links

* {{The CW programming 2000s American high school television series 2000s American single-camera sitcoms 2000s American teen sitcoms 2007 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings The CW original programming English-language television shows Television series about families Television series about teenagers Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television shows set in Wisconsin