The United States of Al (Thursdays at 8:30pm on CBS)
More than a week before it even premiered, a 90-second teaser for The United States of Al created a social media uproar. The series was slammed, particularly on Twitter, for casting a non-Afghan actor as an Afghan character and for being offensive (honestly, I'm not exactly sure how and neither, seemingly, were the commenters, since I can't find any reasons for it other than "racism", so I won't comment on that). The ire is misplaced, because as far as I can tell this isn't so much racially or religiously offensive; it is, however, offensively stupid, which is about what you can expect from the pilot of a new Chuck Lorre sitcom.
Lorre owns CBS's comedy blocks. Of their six sitcoms currently on the air, he's a producer of five of them (only The Neighborhood isn't part of his empire) and creator of four. And almost all of them, including those no longer airing, had rough beginnings, with some blossoming into feel-good shows about friendship (Mom, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men) and others turning into pleasant, relatively one-note distractions (Young Sheldon, Mike & Molly). It's hard to tell if The United States of Al will fall into the former category, the latter category, or become something else altogether (will it join Disjointed as the only Lorre-created show to last only one season?), especially since his show's pilots never truly indicate what the show will eventually become. But here's hoping The United States of Al can at least escape its old-fashioned "fish out of water" trappings and give its characters actual characterization.
The pilot actually gets off to a rather pleasant start, with an unexpectedly emotional moment. Riley (Parker Young, most recently of Bravo's Imposters) is an ex-Marine waiting to greet his interpreter at the airport. Awalmir (Adhir Kalyan, Rules of Engagement), or "Al" as he's known to Riley and Riley's family in America, saved Riley's life in Afghanistan, and Riley is returning the favor by allowing Al to live with him in Ohio. Al disembarks, and the two men share a tender, un-self-conscious moment hugging and crying in the airport terminal. The scene ends with a joke about the Air Force being full of crybabies, and it's a surprisingly sweet beginning to the show. Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there.
As Al is introduced to American customs, like paying a set price for groceries and not haggling over the price of avocados, and meets Riley's family, the comedy becomes more forced and more expected. LOL watch this guy talk a cashier down from $8 to $5 for a rotisserie chicken! LOL listen to this guy talk about how his younger sister is actually an old maid in Afghanistan! LOL can you believe this guy's a Muslim so he's never seen boobs before?! The United States of Al is lazy and utterly laughless for the next twenty minutes.
This is frustrating not only because of that touching first scene but because the show does seem to want to go further in its depiction of the trauma of war and of the bonds between soldiers and those with whom they serve. But the scenes where these ideas come to the forefront, such as one where Al is pulled over for driving too slow and gets off, despite not having a driver's license, because the cop is also an ex-Marine, are out of place amongst the "foreigner in America" jokes. These moments should humanize the characters, fill in the gaps of their identities, but instead they just highlight how empty they are. We know nothing of Al other than his bond with Riley. He's a character that represents much-needed diversity on TV, in particular on the Old Whitey network that CBS typically is, but there is no real attempt in the pilot to make him a fully-realized person; he's just a vehicle for dated comedy.
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