Executive producer David Guarascio said the writers approach the show "just wanting to be honest about the high-school experience and still be funny." And the writers draw on their own experiences. "Some of the things that seemed quite terrible 20 years ago, you can sort of laugh at now."

"Aliens in America" isn't really about a Muslim teen in America, it's about teenagers who don't feel like they fit in. "I guess we thought that everybody kind of feels like an outsider," said executive producer Moses Port. "And I don't know too many people who have felt like an insider, or those people are faking it pretty well. So that was kind of one of the genesis for the show — that everybody there feels slightly isolated or on the outside, looking in."

"Aliens" is very "Malcolm In the Middle"-ish— complete with a teenage narrator. And there's a bit of "Scrubs" thrown in as well, with some very funny cutaway scenes.

And it's got a lot of heart to go with the humor — a winning combination.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com