Alice in Arabia

Unless you missed out on a childhood, odds are you grew up with Alice in Wonderland. And now, Alice will be tumbling down the rabbit hole once again and landing in a whole new place – Saudi Arabia. Um, wait, come again? An upcoming US drama series by the ABC Family Network will revolve around an American girl who gets kidnapped by her extended family and forced to live in Saudi, where, in a plot twist that surprises no one at all, she has to "count her on independent spirit and wit to find a way to return home while surviving life behind the veil." We can bet our left kidney this show will once again plug into the Americans vs. Arabs mentality, in a good vs. evil kind of showdown wherein, once again Arabs, and by extension Muslims, will probably be the terrorising, oppressive force while poor little Alice with a heart of gold, who clearly represents America, dedicates her life to fighting CRIME AND THE FORCES OF EVIL. Oh wait, that's the Powerpuff Girls, but essentially that's what it’s gonna break it down to. This may just be us instinctively going on the defensive, but really, we all read the premise. 

The show has already incited a lot of backlash on social media for its apparently prejudiced premise. But ABC has defended it, with a spokesperson saying, “We hope people will wait to judge this show on its actual merits once it is filmed. The writer is an incredible storyteller and we expect Alice to be a nuanced and character driven show. ” The show was written by Brooke Eikmeier, a former U.S. Army soldier and NSA operative. LOL. Yeah, sure, it'll be a just and accurate portrayal of Arabs and Muslims. Guess we'll just have to wait and see…