''Aliens in America'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

created by David Guarascio and Moses Port that aired on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

for one season from October 1, 2007, to May 18, 2008. Guarascio and Port also served as executive producers of the show alongside

Tim Doyle Tim Doyle is an American television producer and television writer. His credits include ''Dinosaurs'', ''Roseanne'', ''Grace Under Fire'', ''Ellen'', ''Sports Night'', '' Still Standing'', ''The Big Bang Theory'', '' Better Off Ted'', '' Rules ...

Luke Greenfield Luke Greenfield (born February 5, 1972) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the 2004 film ''The Girl Next Door (2004 film), The Girl Next Door''. Greenfield directed the Pilot (Aliens in Ame ...

directed the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

.''Aliens in America'' at th
Futon Critic
last accessed June 4, 2007. The show is about an American teenager in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

whose family takes in a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

foreign exchange student from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Plot

High school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

er Justin Tolchuck (

Dan Byrd Daniel Byrd (born November 20, 1985) is an American actor. His most prominent roles include the 2004 film ''A Cinderella Story'', the 2006 remake of '' The Hills Have Eyes'', the 2010 films ''Easy A'' and '' Norman'', and the sitcoms ''Aliens in ...

) is a sensitive, lanky 16-year-old just trying to fit in at his high school in Medora,

. He lives with his well-meaning mom Franny (

Amy Pietz Amy Pietz is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is known for her roles on television. She received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series nomination for her role as Annie Spadaro ...

) who just wants him to be "cool" and fit in, entrepreneur dad Gary (

Scott Patterson Scott Patterson (born September 11, 1958) is an American actor. After making his film debut in '' Intent to Kill'' (1992), Patterson had his breakout with a main role as Luke Danes on the WB comedy-drama television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (200 ...

) who is very laid back, and his newly popular younger sister Claire (

Lindsey Shaw Lindsey Shaw (born May 10, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for playing Jennifer "Moze" Mosely on the Nickelodeon series ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide''. She also co-starred in the 2007 CW sitcom ''Aliens in America'', a ...

), who tries to raise her popularity in school. When the school guidance counselor, Mr. Matthews (

Christopher B. Duncan Christopher B. Duncan is an American actor. He is known for his television series regular roles like Braxton P. Hartnabrig on ''The Jamie Foxx Show'', President William Johnson in '' The First Family'', and his portrayal of Clarence Weidman on '' ...

) convinces the family to take in an

international student International students or exchange students, also known as foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their secondary or tertiary education in a country other than their own. In 2022, there were over 6.9 million international ...

, they accept him with the expectation that he will be a good-looking European or Latin American student that will make Justin popular. Although initially dismayed when Raja Musharraf (

Adhir Kalyan Adhir Kalyan is a South African actor noted for his role as Timmy in the CBS sitcom '' Rules of Engagement'' and as Awalmir Karimi/'Al' in '' United States of Al''. Early life Kalyan's family is of Indian South African descent. His mother, ...

), a 16-year-old

boy from

turns up instead, they soon warm up to him and although their cultures are different, Justin and Raja form an unlikely friendship that might allow them to get past the social nightmare of high school. Justin especially feels compelled to stick by Raja when he starts to notice the blatant racist and

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

attitudes of his classmates and community.

Cast

Main cast

as Justin Tolchuck *

as Raja Musharaff *

as Franny Tolchuck *

as Gary Tolchuck *

as Claire Tolchuck

Recurring cast

as Mr. Matthews * Adam Rose as Dooley * Chad Krowchuk as Brad *

Nolan Gerard Funk Nolan Gerard Funk (born July 28, 1986) is a SAG award nominated Canadian actor and singer, known for portraying Hunter Clarington in the musical comedy-drama television series ''Glee'', Collin Jennings in the comedy-drama television series '' Aw ...

as Todd Palladino *

Avan Jogia Avan Tudor Jogia (; born February 9, 1992) is a Canadian actor, singer, author and director. He first received recognition for portraying Danny Araujo in the television film '' A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story'' (2006). After moving to the ...

as Sam *

April Telek April Amber Telek (born April 29, 1975) is a Canadian actress. Early life Telek was born and raised on the North Shore of Vancouver, British Columbia. In Japan, she pursued her modelling career and won a Shiseido Cosmetics contract for Asia fr ...

as Leslie Becker

Production and broadcast history

Produced by

CBS Paramount Network Television CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a re ...

, the series was officially

green-lit In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the projec ...

and given a thirteen-episode order on May 15, 2007. It premiered on October 1, 2007, and aired on Monday nights at 8:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Central on

, following ''

Everybody Hates Chris ''Everybody Hates Chris'' (stylized in all lowercase) is an American semi-autobiographical sitcom created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi that originally aired on UPN from 2005 to 2006, and then on The CW until 2009. The series is based loosely ...

''. The show was originally to be produced by NBC Universal Television (now

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a division of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#Universal Studio Group, Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is ...

). It is filmed around the

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada area. The high school featured in the show is actually H. J. Cambie Secondary School in

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a city in the coastal Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly a suburban city, it occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough, New Westminster, Queensborough), between the two estuarine dis ...

, Canada with the interiors of later first-season episodes shot inside a studio. Beginning on February 10, 2008, ''Aliens in America'' moved to Sunday nights (along with the rest of the Monday night comedies) and aired at 8:30PM Eastern/7:30PM Central. On May 9, 2008, ''TV Guide'' announced the cancellation of the series. After the show's cancellation, reruns once aired on

Universal HD Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of ...

Patrick Breen Joseph Patrick Breen (born October 26, 1960) is an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, and director. Early life Breen was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 26, 1960. He attended Tottenville High School in Staten Island. Career He ...

was originally cast as Gary Tolchuck but the role was re-cast in July 2007.

Episodes

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Rating information is from ''Your Entertainment Now'' and ''The Futon Critic''. The weekly rating information is from ''ABC Medianet''.ABC Medianet
''Aliens in America'' averaged 1.57 million viewers in its sole season.

International distribution

References

External links

* {{The CW programming 2000s American high school television series 2000s American single-camera sitcoms 2000s American teen sitcoms 2007 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings The CW sitcoms American English-language television shows Television series about families American television series about teenagers Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television shows set in Wisconsin