KCETLink Presents Third Season of Controversial Hit Israeli Comedy, 'Arab Labor'

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Ayn Allen or Rachel Coulson

747.201.5886, aallen@kcet.org                  

747.201.5707, rcoulson@kcet.org

KCETLink Presents Third Season of

Controversial Hit Israeli Comedy, 'Arab Labor'

BURBANK, CA--Can comedy help to bridge a cultural divide that's thousands of years in the making? KCETLink, a leading national independent public broadcasting and digital network, announced today it will continue its presentation of the award-winning hit Israeli sitcom, ARAB LABOR, with the launch of season three on KCET beginning Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. and on Link TV (via DirecTV 375 and DISH 9410) on Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Two episodes air weekly back to back on both channels and will stream online for two weeks after each broadcast. 

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 that pokes fun at the cultural and political differences in Israel's mixed society.

In Season 3, Yoske is struggling to sell his apartment because he has an Arab neighbor, so he asks Amjad to keep a low profile -- or basically to disappear. In order to prove to the world that Israelis and Arabs can live together, Amjad joins the show "Big Brother". Amjad's first task as he walks into the "Big Brother" house is to make everyone in the house believe he is a Jew. Despite putting his all into the task, Amjad must flee the house due to the harsh racism he encounters in there.

This season will follow Amjad in his attempts, which some will say are futile ones, to become a part of the Israeli society. Attempts which are at times pathetic, sometimes outrageous, but always heart-warming and thought-provoking.

Media are raving about ARAB LABOR after its premiere in the U.S. on Link TV in fall 2008. The series, which is in Arabic and Hebrew, with English subtitles, 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.

• "Kashua has managed to barge through cultural barriers and bring an Arab point of view into the mainstream of Israeli entertainment." 
  -The New York Times

• "Sayed Kashua, a noted satirist, offers a wry take on the challenges and foibles of an Arab family loosely based on his own." 
  -The Los Angeles Times

• "...a groundbreaking TV Show that finds humor in sharing a homeland." 
  -The Chicago Tribune 

For more information and series assets, visit: kcet.org/arablabor and linktv.org/arablabor.

ABOUT KCETLINK MEDIA GROUP

KCETLink Media Group, formed by the merger between KCET and Link Media, is a national independent, nonprofit, digital and broadcast network that provides high-quality, culturally diverse programming designed to engage the public in innovative, entertaining and transformative ways. With a commitment to independent perspectives, smart global entertainment, local communities, and opportunities for engagement and social action, KCETLink depicts people and the world through a lens unavailable elsewhere in U.S. media. A viewer-supported 501(c)(3) organization, KCETLink content is distributed nationally via satellite on Link TV - DIRECTV channel 375 and DISH Network channel 9410 - and on KCET in Southern and Central California via broadcast and cable, as well as through various digital delivery systems. For additional information about KCET and Link TV productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org or linktv.org.

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