Last summer I raved about Arab Labor, a very funny Israeli sitcom shown at the Jewish Film Festival. Now the Link TV satellite network will broadcast the show the way it was meant to be seen–at home in weekly installments. The series starts this Saturday night at 7:00.
Amjad, an Arab reporter working for a Jewish newspaper, struggles with indignities, tries to fit in (buying a “Jewish” car so he won’t be stopped at checkpoints, and creating a Muslim analogue to Passover). Things aren’t helped by his scheming father, his love-sick Jewish photographer friend, or the wife who’s always one step ahead of him (actually, the wife helps him quite a bit). With wit and loveable characters, the show explores what does it mean to be an Israeli citizen and an Arab. Amjad isn’t particularly political or religious–just an average Joe trying to get on in the country of his birth, where he’s treated as an alien. The characters don’t conform to ethnic stereotypes, but they’re always expecting others to do so.
You’ll find Link TV is available on DirecTV as channel 375 and on the Dish Network as channel 9410. If you have cable or an antenna, you’re out of luck.
I haven’t yet decided if this disqualifies Arab Labor from making this year’s Top Ten Festival Films.
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