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So it's pretty much Not Without My Daughter: The Series

domino harvey wrote:In this week's "What the fuck were the TV execs thinking" news

Not saying I expect it to be any good, but the fact that a "cryptologic linquist in the Arabic language" (whatever that is) is behind it does give me a sliver of hope that there will be something redeeming about this show- you generally don't specialize in something like that unless you have some passion for the culture.

Apparently Eikmeyer has stated the show is designed to “give Arabs and Muslims a voice on American TV”

And that voice is: We kidnap American girls and make them live in our oppressive society because they're distantly related to us

Not saying I expect it to be any good, but the fact that a "cryptologic linquist in the Arabic language" (whatever that is) is behind it does give me a sliver of hope that there will be something redeeming about this show- you generally don't specialize in something like that unless you have some passion for the culture.

Plenty of damage has been done to the cultural representation of cultures by people passionate about cultures.

This sounds like it could be totally fine (if on a fine line-see what I...) if the kidnapping angle was dropped. I mean, doesn't "girl's parents die, and she has to go live in Saudi Arabia with her conservative grandfather and relatives, where they learn about each other's cultures" have enough drama?

domino harvey wrote:Common sense prevailed

I had a bad feeling hearing about that pilot from the getgo so I'm not crying that it's canned.

Yeah, wouldn't want to perpetuate the stereotype that Saudi Arabia oppresses women

mfunk9786 wrote:Yeah, wouldn't want to perpetuate the stereotype that Saudi Arabia oppresses women

Didn't you mock the show and its potentially offensive premise earlier in this thread?

I think that the show's premise (kidnapping) was absurdly offensive, but I still think it's silly for anti-defamation groups to imply that somehow oppression of women in Saudi Arabia is some sort of myth being perpetuated by Hollywood.

mfunk9786 wrote:I think that the show's premise (kidnapping) was absurdly offensive, but I still think it's silly for anti-defamation groups to imply that somehow oppression of women in Saudi Arabia is some sort of myth being perpetuated by Hollywood.

Where was it implied that Saudi treatment of women was a hollywood myth?

Sorry, I had clicked the link in the article to the hashtag on Twitter, where an advocacy group had made that allegation. I don't think I realized how much digging I'd done away from the original link to come to that conclusion!