All-American Muslim

Last updated
All-American Muslim
All-American Muslim logo.png
Created by TLC
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
Executive producers
  • Nick Emmerson
  • Jennifer O'Connell
  • Dan Peirson
Production location Dearborn, Michigan
Running timeApprox. 43 minutes
Original release
NetworkTLC
ReleaseNovember 13, 2011 (2011-11-13) –
January 8, 2012 (2012-01-08)

All-American Muslim is an American reality television series that aired on TLC. The program followed the daily lives of five Lebanese-American Shia Muslim [1] families in Dearborn, Michigan, the largest Muslim community in the United States. [2] All-American Muslim premiered on November 13, 2011.

Contents

TLC canceled All-American Muslim after one season, citing low ratings. [3]

Format

Each episode follows members of various Shia Muslim families going through the events of their daily lives, with emphasis placed on how their faith affects their actions. Interview segments with individual cast members are interspersed throughout, in which they explain specific points of Islam and how they relate to the various situations. Cast members also appear in short round table segments in which they discuss general principles of Islam as they relate to specific events depicted in the episode.

Cast

Development

TLC ordered All-American Muslim from Shed Media U.S. in July 2011. [5] The initial order was for eight 30-minute episodes. [6] The episode length later expanded to 60 minutes. TLC general manager Amy Winter said, "We wanted to show there was diversity even within the Muslim community. These are families that might have beliefs that are different than yours, but we are all living similar daily lives and hopefully we will bring that to light." [7]

Before deciding on Dearborn, TLC considered Muslim communities in San Diego, Washington and Northern Virginia. [8]

Episodes

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"How to Marry a Muslim"November 13, 2011 (2011-11-13)
2"The Fast and the Furious"November 20, 2011 (2011-11-20)
3"A Muslim Goes to Washington"November 27, 2011 (2011-11-27)
4"Friday Night Bites"December 4, 2011 (2011-12-04)
5"Muslims Moving On"December 11, 2011 (2011-12-11)
6"A Chance at Redemption"December 18, 2011 (2011-12-18)
7"The Day the World Changed"January 1, 2012 (2012-01-01)
8"Crunch Time"January 8, 2012 (2012-01-08)

Following a screening at the 2011 Television Critics Association Press Tour, The Hollywood Reporter dubbed All-American Muslim "fascinating". Noting that the participants believed the series was not intended to be educational, THR nonetheless felt that "watching their lives will teach us a lot about the culture of Americans who practice Islam and how they're both similar and unique from us". [9] In a formal review following the series premiere, THR reiterated its praise. With the caveat that the series might look very different were it focused on Dearborn's more conservative Palestinian or Yemeni communities, THR found the series "undeniably authentic and moving" and that viewers would come away with a greater understanding of the Muslim-American community. [10]

The series premiere was viewed by 1.7 million viewers. Ratings dropped for subsequent episodes, with the December 18 episode registering 900,000 viewers. The series has averaged 1 million viewers per episode. [11]

Sponsorship controversy

TLC General Manager Amy Winter was asked about the possibility of sponsor backlash while the series was in production. She responded, "We usually find with TLC that the backlash occurs as soon as we start marketing something and once viewers experience the show, we get a far different response." [7]

On December 9, 2011, born-again Christian David Caton, the "founder and sole employee" of the Florida Family Association, [12] sent e-mails to various companies, claiming that the show is favorable propaganda for Muslims and urging them to withdraw their sponsorship from the show. The home-improvement chain Lowe's did so. FFA posted an email (which Lowe's described as a "form letter" [13] ) in which the chain noted FFA's communication and informed the group that it would pull its advertising. A chain spokesperson said it was because of "concerns, complaints or issues from multiple sides of the viewer spectrum" and did not mention the FFA specifically. Lowe's later posted to its Twitter feed: "We did not pull our ads based solely on the complaints or emails of any one group. It is never our intent to alienate anyone. Lowe's values diversity of thought in everyone, including our employees and prospective customers." [14]

In response to Lowe's decision, celebrities including Russell Simmons and Mia Farrow called for a boycott of the retail outlet. Simmons bought advertising time for the episode scheduled to air December 18, 2011. Actor and former Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement Kal Penn also called for a boycott. [15] Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, criticized Lowe's decision "to uphold the beliefs of a fringe hate group and not the creed of the 1st Amendment." [16] Representative John Conyers of Michigan called on Lowe's to apologize. Michigan state representative Rashida Tlaib contacted the company's corporate headquarters, reporting that Lowe's declined to change its decision. [17] California state senator Ted Lieu also issued a boycott call, labeling the Lowe's action "bigoted, shameful, and un-American". He further stated he would explore "legislative remedies" if Lowe's did not rescind its decision. [18]

Muslim-American and Arab-American activists joined in the criticism. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee called upon members to contact Lowe's to urge it to reverse its position. [17] The Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations met to consider possible actions, including boycotts and protests. [16] The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, based in Dearborn, and the National Network for Arab-American Communities announced that they would no longer accept donations from Lowe's. [19]

In response, Lowe's stated, "As you know, the TLC program 'All-American Muslim' has become a lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives – political, social and otherwise. Following this development, dozens of companies removed their advertising from the program beginning in late November. Lowe's made the decision to discontinue our advertising on Dec. 5. As we shared yesterday, we have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, and we're proud of that longstanding commitment. If we have made anyone question that commitment, we apologize." [18]

FFA stated that 65 companies removed their advertising from the series, including Kayak.com. Kayak's chief marketing officer, Robert Birge, released a statement that TLC was "not upfront" about the nature of the series and that the decision to pull the company's advertising was based in part on the quality of the series, which he said "sucked". [20] Three companies, Campbell Soup Company, Sears Holdings Corporation and Bank of America, disputed FFA's assertion. [21] TLC said advertising support remained strong. [21]

A member of the Internet civil disobedience group Anonymous hacked the FFA's website in response to the controversy, exposing personal information about FFA newsletter subscribers and donors and condemning the group for "hatred, bigotry and fear mongering towards gays, lesbians and most recently Muslim Americans". [20]

Lowe's received a petition on December 20, 2011, calling on Lowe's to reconsider, containing 200,000 signatures. Lowe's met with representatives of the petitioners for over an hour but declined their request. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Lowe</span> American actor (born 1964)

Robert Hepler Lowe is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom A New Kind of Family (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in the early 1980s, he came to prominence as a teen idol and member of the Brat Pack with roles in films like The Outsiders (1983), Class (1983), The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), Oxford Blues (1984), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), About Last Night... (1986), and Square Dance (1987). The success of these films established him as a Hollywood star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowe's</span> American home improvement and hardware store chain

Lowe's Companies, Inc. is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of Oct. 28, 2022, Lowe's and its related businesses operated 2,181 home improvement and hardware stores in North America.

<i>Little People, Big World</i> American reality television program

Little People, Big World is an American reality television series that premiered on March 4, 2006, and airs on TLC. The series chronicles the lives of the six-member Roloff family farm near Portland, Oregon. Many of the episodes focus on the parents, Matt and Amy, and one of their children, Zach, who has dwarfism.

<i>Mad Men</i> American period drama television series (2007–2015)

Mad Men is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons and 92 episodes. It is set during the period from March 1960 to November 1970.

<i>LA Ink</i> American reality television show

LA Ink is an American reality television show on TLC that follows the events of the High Voltage Tattoo tattoo studios in Los Angeles, California. The spin-off of TLC's Miami Ink, premiered on August 7, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oprah Winfrey Network</span> American pay television network

Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is an American multinational basic cable television network which launched on January 1, 2011, effectively replacing the Discovery Health Channel. The OWN is a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Studios, conceptualized largely by popular talkshow host, Oprah Winfrey—the name of Harpo Studios is Winfrey’s first name, spelled backwards.

<i>Gossip Girl</i> 2007 American teen drama television series

Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six seasons from September 19, 2007, to December 17, 2012.

<i>19 Kids and Counting</i> American reality television show

19 Kids and Counting is an American reality television series that aired on the cable channel TLC for seven years until its cancellation in 2015. The show features the Duggar family: parents Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and their 19 children – nine daughters and ten sons – all of whose names begin with the letter "J". During the duration of the show, two children were born, three children were married, and four grandchildren were born.

Parks and Recreation is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 episodes, over seven seasons. A special reunion episode aired on April 30, 2020. The series stars Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, a perky, mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks Department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. The ensemble and supporting cast features Rashida Jones as Ann Perkins, Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford, Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson, Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate, Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer, Adam Scott as Ben Wyatt, Paul Schneider as Mark Brendanawicz, Rob Lowe as Chris Traeger, Jim O'Heir as Garry "Jerry" Gergich, Retta as Donna Meagle, and Billy Eichner as Craig Middlebrooks.

Pretty Little Liars is an American mystery teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series was broadcast on Freeform between June 8, 2010, and June 27, 2017, comprising 160 episodes over seven seasons. Set in the fictional Rosewood, Pennsylvania, the plot follows five best friends whose secrets are consistently threatened by the anonymous "A", who begins harassing them after the disappearance of their clique leader. Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, Sasha Pieterse, and Janel Parrish lead the ensemble cast, alongside Holly Marie Combs, Ian Harding, Bianca Lawson, Laura Leighton, Chad Lowe, Nia Peeples, Tyler Blackburn, and Andrea Parker.

<i>Undercover Boss</i> (American TV series) American reality television series

Undercover Boss is an American reality television series, based on the British series of the same name and produced by Studio Lambert in both countries. Each episode depicts a person who has an upper-management position at a major business, deciding to go undercover as an entry-level employee to discover the faults in the company. The first season consisted of nine episodes produced in 2009 and first aired on February 7, 2010, on CBS. Companies that appear on the series are assured that the show will not damage their corporate brands.

<i>Sister Wives</i> American reality television series (2010–present)

Sister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that premiered on September 26, 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes Kody Brown, his wife Robyn, ex-wives Meri, Janelle, and Christine, and their 18 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah, moved to Las Vegas in 2011, and to Flagstaff, Arizona, in mid-2018.

<i>Skins</i> (American TV series) American television series

Skins is an American/Canadian teen comedy-drama television series that premiered on January 17, 2011, on MTV in the United States. It is a remake of the original UK show of the same name, and follows the lives of a group of teenagers in Toronto, Canada, through their final two years of high school. As with the UK series, the American version features a cast of amateur actors and young writers.

<i>The Playboy Club</i> American television series

The Playboy Club is an American historical crime drama television series that aired on NBC from September 19 to October 3, 2011. Set in 1961, the series centers on the employees of the original Playboy Club operating in Chicago. The Playboy Club stars Eddie Cibrian, Laura Benanti, Amber Heard, Jenna Dewan, Naturi Naughton, Leah Renee, Wes Ramsey, Jenifer Lewis, and David Krumholtz.

<i>NY Ink</i> American TV series or program

NY Ink is an American reality documentary television series that debuted June 2, 2011 on TLC. TLC renewed the series for a second season in August 2011, also noting that the series' first season averaged 1.3 million viewers per episode. Filming for the third season started in August 2012 with the season premiering on April 4, 2013.

Pawn Queens is a reality TV series about female pawn shop operators, airing on TLC, which premiered in 2010, following its pilot episode in 2010.

D.U.I. is an American reality television series featuring police officers. The show premiered on December 1, 2011 on TLC, and is a similar format to COPS, but focuses exclusively on suspects arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. However, unlike COPS, the show will also follow the suspects through the legal system, and will show the personal consequences of their decision to drink and drive for each individual. The first six episodes of the series aired in 2011, with the next six following in 2012.

David Caton is an American political activist and writer. He is founder, president and sole employee of the Tampa-based hate group Florida Family Association campaigning against homosexuality and perceived dangers of Islamicization.

The Florida Family Association (FFA) is an American non-profit organization founded by David Caton and based in Tampa, Florida. It campaigns against homosexuality and Islamic-American relations. The organization is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2013 the New York Times noted FFA was a one-man Christian fundamentalist organization.

A <i>Parks and Recreation</i> Special Special episode of Parks and Recreation

"A Parks and Recreation Special" is a special episode of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation and the 126th episode overall. It was originally broadcast on April 30, 2020, on NBC. It was written by series co-creator Michael Schur with Megan Amram, Dave King, Joe Mande, Aisha Muharrar, Matt Murray, and Jen Statsky, and was directed by Morgan Sackett. Set during the COVID-19 pandemic, the episode shows Leslie Knope and her friends as they handle life during quarantine.

References

  1. ↑ Warikoo, Niraj (11 November 2011). "TLC premieres 'All-American Muslim' reality TV show". Detroit Free Press. USA Today. Archived from the original on 2011-12-16. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  2. ↑ "All-American Muslim". TLC. Archived from the original on December 19, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  3. ↑ "TLC not bringing 'All-American Muslim' back for second season". Archived from the original on 2012-03-10. Retrieved 2018-12-02.
  4. ↑ "All-American Muslim: Meet the Families". TLC. Archived from the original on 2011-12-24. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  5. ↑ Rose, Lacey (July 21, 2011). "TLC Orders 'All-American Muslim' Series". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  6. ↑ Guthrie, Marisa (July 21, 2011). "TLC Looks at Lives of Muslim Americans". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  7. 1 2 "TLC filming new reality show "All American Muslim" in Dearborn". The Arab American News . July 29, 2011. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Muslims caught in reality show crossfire struggle to understand controversy". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 2011-12-21. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
  9. ↑ Nededog, Jethro (July 29, 2011). "TLC's 'All-American Muslim': More Educational Than the Cast Will Admit". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  10. ↑ "All-American Muslim: TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter . 8 November 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-12-14. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  11. ↑ "'Muslim' TV ratings dive amid media frenzy". 21 December 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-01-10. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  12. ↑ Samuel G. Freedman, "Waging a One-Man War on American Muslims" Archived 2012-05-10 at the Wayback Machine , New York Times, 16 December 2011
  13. 1 2 "Lowe's Denies Request From 200,000 Petitioners to Reinstate Advertising on 'All-American Muslim'". The Hollywood Reporter . 20 December 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-01-07. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  14. ↑ Szalai, Georg (December 9, 2011). "Lowe's Pulls Ads from TLC Show 'All-American Muslim'". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  15. ↑ Hughes, Sarah Anne (December 13, 2011). "Russell Simmons, Kal Penn offer support to 'All American Muslim' after Lowe's pulls sponsorship". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 2011-12-14. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  16. 1 2 Li, Shan (December 13, 2011). "Lowe's faces backlash over pulling ads from 'All-American Muslim'". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 2011-12-15. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  17. 1 2 Williams, Oralandar Brand (December 13, 2011). "Muslims consider Lowe's boycott". The Detroit News . Archived from the original on December 16, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  18. 1 2 Potts, Kimberly (December 12, 2011). "Mia Farrow, Russell Simmons Urge Lowe's Boycott After Muslim Ad Drama". TheWrap.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  19. ↑ Toby, Mekeisha Madden (December 15, 2011). "Lowe's ad fracas ups interest in show". The Detroit News . Archived from the original on December 16, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  20. 1 2 Liebowitz, Matt (December 14, 2011). "Anonymous hacks group in Muslim TV show uproar". SecurityNewsDaily.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2011. Archived page requires scrolldown.
  21. 1 2 Elliott, Stuart; Stelter, Brian (December 13, 2011). "Controversy Drives Advertisers From 'All-American Muslim' — Or Does it?". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2011-12-15. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.