Aliens in America

Aliens in America
Created by	David Guarascio Moses Port
Starring	Dan Byrd Adhir Kalyan Amy Pietz Lindsey Shaw Scott Patterson
Opening theme	(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding by PJ Olsson & Salman Ahmad
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9
Production
Executive producers	David Guarascio Moses Port Tim Doyle
Production locations	Vancouver, BC
Camera setup	Single-camera setup
Running time	22 minutes (excluding commercials)
Original release
Network	The CW
Release	October 1, 2007 – present

Aliens in America is an American situation comedy created by David Guarascio and Moses Port. Guarascio and Port also serve as executive producers of the show alongside Tim Doyle. Luke Greenfield directed the pilot. The show is about a Wisconsin teenager and the foreign exchange student his mother arranges to host, believing the visitor will help her socially awkward son become more popular. The student turns out to be a Muslim teenager from Pakistan.

Produced by CBS-Paramount and Warner Bros., the series was officially greenlit and given a thirteen-episode order on May 15, 2007. It premiered on October 1 2007, and airs on Monday nights at 8:30/7:30c on The CW, following Everybody Hates Chris. The show was originally to be produced by NBC Universal Television (now Universal Media Studios). It is filmed around the Vancouver, British Columbia area. The high school featured in the show is actually H.J. Cambie Secondary School in Richmond, British Columbia, with the interiors of later first-season episodes shot inside a studio. Aliens in America will now show re-runs on Sundays at 7:30pm, taking over Online Nation's old time slot.

Despite the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, Aliens In America is still in production, 17 of 22 episodes have been completed.

Plot

High schooler Justin Tolchuk (Dan Byrd)is a sensitive, lanky 16-year-old just trying to fit in (with his mother's help) at his high school in Medora, Wisconsin. 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) who is very laid back, and his newly popular younger sister Claire (Lindsey Shaw), who is sweetly unaware of how pretty she is. When Franny signs up for the school's foreign exchange program, she pictures an athletic, brilliant Nordic teen who will bestow instant coolness on her outsider son, but she gets Raja Musharaff (Adhir Kalyan), a 16-year-old Pakistani. Although their culture is different, Justin and Raja form an unlikely friendship that might allow them to get past the social nightmare of high school. It's going to be a very interesting year for Justin, Raja, the family, and the entire community of Medora as some rather ugly elements start to surface.

Cast

Actor	Role	Notes
Dan Byrd	Justin Tolchuk	A gawky 16-year-old high school junior usually tormented by the other kids
Adhir Kalyan	Raja Musharaff	The Pakistani young man who comes to live with the Tolchuks for a year
Amy Pietz	Franny Tolchuk	Justin's mom, a neat woman but strict and codependent
Scott Patterson	Gary Tolchuk	Justin's dad, easily impressed
Lindsey Shaw	Claire Tolchuk	Justin's very popular 14-year-old sister

Patrick Breen was originally cast as Gary Tolchuk but the role was re-cast in July 2007.

Episodes

Season 1: 2007-2008

#	Title	Original airdate	Code
1	"Pilot"	October 1, 2007	101
Justin Tolchuck has nearly everything any teenager could want: caring parents, a popular sister, and his own style. However, the one thing that Justin does lack is a social life. His mother, Franny, tries to fix this problem by hosting a foreign student who can perhaps make Justin popular. However, the Tolchucks are in for a very big surprise when the foreigner turns out to be not at all what they had expected.
2	"No Man is An Island"	October 8, 2007	103
Raja explains to his class how close he and Justin are, prompting rumors about the two being a couple to spread throughout the school. Thus, Justin turns to Claire for help, who advises him to completely ignore Raja. This later causes Justin to be more alone than ever because Raja instead befriends the geekiest kid in school. Meanwhile, Gary decides to get involved when Claire decides to call it quits with Jeffrey.
3	"Rocket Club"	October 15, 2007	102
When Franny loses her sense of boundaries and requests that Gary remove the locks from all the doors, Justin and his friends find time for themselves by creating the Rocket Club, which is their secret excuse to hang out and do whatever they want. Raja, however, does not fit in well with the group because he does not like the fact that all they do is nothing.
4	"The Metamorphosis"	October 22, 2007	106
All of the guys suddenly become angry at Raja when he encourages the hottest girl in school to dress more decently. Meanwhile, Claire suddenly becomes the head of the A-List crowd and Franny decides to focus her attention to Gary's wardrobe once Justin tells her it's time for him to get his own clothes.
5	"Help Wanted"	October 29, 2007	105
Gary is ashamed to tell the family he's been fired from his job, so he tries to get everyone to cut costs. Not wanting to be a burden on the family, Raja gets a job at a convenience store, much to Gary's delight. Justin and his pals Craig and Dooley are thrilled when they go to visit Raja at work and discover that the convenience store parking lot is the cool kids' hang-out. Everything is fine until Raja upsets the natural balance by refusing to sell liquor to kids with fake I.D. cards.
6	"Homecoming"	November 5, 2007	104
Justin is looking forward to serving on the Homecoming Junior Float committee, where his idea for the previous years float was a big hit. However, when Raja innocently questions Justin's new idea for a float and the committee chooses Raja's idea over Justin's, a feud begins between the two friends. Meanwhile, Franny secretly tries on Claire's new, sexy Homecoming dress, which Gary finds irresistible. When he learns that the revealing dress belongs to Claire, however, he forbids her to wear it out of the house.
7	"Purple Heart"	November 12, 2007	109
Much to the family's surprise, Raja begins smoking due to midterms stress. Meanwhile, Claire is heartbroken when Jeffrey breaks up with her and when Justin tries to cheer her up she embarrasses him in front of the kids at school. However, Claire soon finds herself trying to regain Justin's affections.
8	"Me, Musky Myself"	November 19, 2007	108
Claire forces Justin to become the school's mascot Musky, the Fish; but just the thought of performing makes Justin physically ill. So Raja takes over the job and the crowd goes wild for his gravity-defying moves. When Raja's enthusiasm leads to a confrontation with a spectator, Justin realizes he must face his fears and make Franny proud. Meanwhile, when a still-unemployed Gary realizes he is not needed at home, he accidentally stumbles into a relationship with surrogate family who loves having him around.
9	"Junior Prank"	November 26, 2007	107
Justin and Raja are excited when they are asked to participate in the annual Junior Prank. The plan is to flood the teachers' lounge, but Raja finds the idea too destructive and convinces Justin to sabotage the prank. When they accidentally flood the football field instead, they incur the wrath of the entire school. Meanwhile, Gary tries to make up for losing his job by getting all the money possible out of his alpacas, and recruits Claire to care for them. Finally, Franny tries to earn more money by selling most of the family's possessions.
10	"Church"	December 10, 2007	110
As Christmas approaches, Raja mentions that the Tolchuck's trip to the local mega-store every Sunday seems to be their substitute for church. Franny is horrified that Raja thinks the family is spiritually bankrupt and insists that they resume attending church, despite Gary's lack of enthusiasm. When Claire requests birth control pills for Christmas, Franny insists that she join the church's chastity group and take the role of Mary in the Christmas play. This plan backfires when Claire and the boy who plays Joseph are strongly attracted to one another. Meanwhile, when Justin discovers that some of his prayers are being answered, he begins praying to have sex with a girl in his class. Unfortunately, his friend Dooley is praying for the same thing, causing a rift between the two boys.

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Rating information is from Your Entertainment Now and The Futon Critic The weekly rating information is from ABC Medianet

#	Episode	Rating	Share	Rating/Share (18-49)	Viewers (millions)	Rank (timeslot)	Rank (night)	Rank (week)
1	"Pilot"	1.6	2	0.8/2	2.33	5		98/102
2	"No Man is An Island"	1.3	2	0.8/2	2.11	5		93/97
3	"Rocket Club"	1.5	2	0.9/2	2.23	5		93/97
4	"The Metamorphosis"	1.6	2	0.9/2	2.35	5		92/97
5	"Help Wanted"	1.4	2	0.8/2	2.11	5		95/100
6	"Homecoming"	1.2	2	0.7/2	1.78	5		97/101
7	"Purple Heart"	1.3	2	0.8/2	1.99	5		97/101
8	"Me, Musky Myself"	1.1	2	0.5/1	1.37	5		90/95
9	"Junior Prank"	1.3	2	0.7/1	1.89	5	18

External links

• Official site
• Aliens in America at IMDb