Burbank, Calif. –Feb. 2, 2015 – KCET, the nation’s largest independent public television station serving Southern and Central California, presents the fourth season of ARAB LABOR, a humorous, irreverent Israeli sitcom that pokes fun at the cultural and political differences in Israel’s mixed society. The new season will premiere on KCET on Friday, Feb. 13 at 10 p.m. New episodes air back-to-back Fridays at 10 and 10:30 p.m.
Created by Sayed Kashua, an Israeli-born Palestinian journalist, Arab Labor (translated from the Hebrew “Avoda Aravit,” which colloquially implies “shoddy or second-rate work”) is a controversial hit Israeli comedy series that focuses on Amjad Alian, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity, as he seeks high status in the society into which he was born, but where his car is searched everyday when he drives to his job in Jerusalem.
Humorously highlighting the collision of language, religion and custom, the milestone series depicts Israeli society through the eyes of an amusing Muslim Arab family and their constant desire to conform.
The fourth season follows Amjad and his wife Bushra as they discover that they are about to become parents for the third – and positively unplanned – time. Bushra is confined to bed rest, and Amjad finds himself torn between his pregnant wife, his family and his new career as a political media consultant.
In the season premiere, a social protest in Jerusalem is featured, and Amjad mistakenly joins the leaders of the “tent protesters.” Also, interfaith couple Meir and Amal experience financial hardships and are forced to part with their comfortable apartment in Jerusalem and move to East Jerusalem.
Arab Labor is in Arabic and Hebrew, with English subtitles. The series plays on religious, cultural and political differences to daringly depict the mixed society in Israel. The sitcom marked a milestone on Israeli television as the first program to present Palestinian characters speaking Arabic in primetime.
For more information on Arab Labor, visit http://www.kcet.org/shows/arab_labor/
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