The CW has started sending out revised pilots for its new fall shows…and by “revised,” I mean that, in some cases, different actors have been plugged into some of the roles. In the case of “Aliens in America,” the role of the show’s patriarch, Gary Tolchuck, was recast, removing Patrick Breen, who most recently played A.D.A. Otto Beedle on “Boston Legal,” and instead inserting Scott Patterson, a.k.a. Luke from “Gilmore Girls.”
I can’t help but what wonder what caused the switch, given what a great job Breen did in the pilot while playing Justin Tolchuk’s clueless dad. My first thought was, “Okay, maybe they promised Patterson that he’d always have a home at The CW, and when they decided to yank the ‘Girls,’ they decided Breen was expendable.” But the more I think of it, the more I wonder if the network tested the pilot with their core demographic and were told that the kids thought that Justin’s mom – played by Amy Pietz (Annie on “Caroline in the City”) – was way too hot to have ever married a goofy-looking dork like Breen. (Nothing personal, Patrick.) Frankly, from the get-go, I was concerned about the fact that, for as much as I dug Patterson’s work on “Gilmore Girls,” he’s got a completely different comedic style from Breen’s, and, in short, I just couldn’t envision how Patterson would fit. Fortunately, however, he does a nice job. It doesn’t say much for his versatility, mind you, since he plays the role in such a way that it feels as though he’s just adapting his Luke persona slightly to match the material, but at least he’s funny.
The CW has provided a second episode of “Aliens in America” for Bullz-Eye’s viewing as well, and it continues to look like the series will be a perfect match for its lead-in, “Everybody Hates Chris.” The premise of the series, in case you missed one of the countless plugs for Bullz-Eye’s Fall TV Preview, is that Justin Tolchuk is less than popular at his school, so his parents decide to host a foreign exchange student to give him a built-in best friend, only to find that the student is a Muslim Pakistani named Raja Musharaff, who doesn’t exactly fit easily into the population of Medora, Wisconsin. In the second episode, entitled “No Man Is An Island,” Justin and Raja’s class is discussing “Robinson Crusoe,” and Raja makes the cultural error (well, it’s an error amongst American teenagers in 2007, anyway) of announcing in front of everyone that Justin is his best friend, and that if he could only take one thing with him onto a desert island, that thing would be Justin.
Yikes.
It’s nice to see that the second episode doesn’t latch onto the whole “Muslim people are terrorists” aspect that was touched upon in the pilot (though I’m sure it isn’t gone for good), instead focusing simply on general cultural differences. It’s also clear that producer Richard Day is going to utilize the comedic touches he learned on “Arrested Development,” such as quick cutaways to flashback gags.
Lookin’ good so far, “Aliens.”
Here’s a teaser:
