Mo covers a lot of ground, making the political personal, vivid and wholly involving. Amer is a bewitching - I thought long and hard about that word and it's the right one - performer, who keeps tight and grounded what could sprawl. If he occasionally sucks up a little too much of the oxygen at others' expense, it's a price worth paying - especially if it gets corrected in what hopefully will be a second series.
He's at the centre of a strong cast filled with actors who are well known in Arab-language media and rising Arab American stars who are all as able as he is when it comes to negotiating the deeper, darker emotional, cultural and political waters the show ventures into.
Its compelling warmth, however, never leaves it. It is impossible not to become instantly invested in Mo's life and that of the rest of his family, to feel the petty humiliations inflicted on his brother Sameer at work, even if Sameer himself (who, it is suggested, is autistic) seems not to.
You will want to put a fist through the screen at several points on fiercely loving and frustrated Maria's behalf. All while laughing with them. It's a wonderful thing.
