Why Are They Worried About TLC’s All-American Muslim Show?

TLC’s newest reality television program “All-American Muslim,” which documents the lives offive Lebanese-American families in Dearborn, Mich.,has been met with unexpected resistance, with a number of advertisers including Lowe’s and Kayak.com dropping out of their slots due to what they perceive as a controversial agenda.

The nexus of resistance to the show has been the Florida Family Association, the New York Times reported. The organization’s founder and only paid employee is David Caton, a born-again Christian and self-proclaimed longtime pornography addict who has grown skilled at tapping into conspiratorial networks to wage culture war.

Caton has previously mobilized the Christian right against issues including gay marriage and high school support groups for gay teenagers. He's used similar tactics in the past to resist other television shows he perceived as affirming of homosexuality, including “Degrassi High” and “Modern Family.”

The decision to drop advertisements from the All-American Muslim time slot has been met with an outcry from progressive and Muslim advocacy groups. ThinkProgress blogger Zaid Jilani writes, “a reality TV show that lets Americans relate to the lives of Muslims in the United States is an offensive idea to those who want to demonize Islam.” Hip hop mogul Russell Simmons has spoken out in support of the show, and he bought some of the lost air time to promote his RushCard line of pre-paid debit cards. 

Advertisers who have pulled out from the show are now facing backlash, including protests outside Lowe’s stores, criticism from elected officials, and a petition with more than 200,000 signatures asking Lowe’s to apologize.

While the show has received positive reviews—the LA Times praised it for falling in line with TLC’s programming taking a “nonjudgmental approach to its subjects”—the show is surprisingly banal. A camera crew documents the day-to-day lives of the protagonists, which is edited into a standard reality television format, replete with canned, emotionally manipulative music and talking head-style interviews. 

At its best, the show places family lifestyle choices in the context of faith. In a recent episode, a character who recently converted to Islam frets over whether to keep his dog and there is tension in another family over whether the daughters will continue to wear head scarves during high school.

As with most reality television, there is sometimes an uncomfortable sense that the producers are trying to extract a story from what is really just a string of events. The characters frequently retreat into the family values truisms suggested by the stock character casting, which includes a football coach and a police officer.

The bottom line is it's just reality television. Is Caton really that threatened by a show seemingly dedicated to making American Muslims seem as ordinary as everybody else?

Jon Christian is a staff writer with Campus Progress. Follow him on Twitter @Jon_Christian.

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