State of Emergency

The set up, although a touch contrived, is an engaging enough idea: the son of Middle-Eastern dictator returns from self-imposed exile in the US and a culture clash ensues.

But almost immediately the characters look paper thin. The relationships between the protagonist Barry and his wife and family are unrealistic to the point that he just comes off like a very bad parent and a crappy husband. How the wife stayed married to such an emotional zombie for 19 years is a mystery.

Jamal, the brother, is an Uday Hussein knock-off, who in flash-backs is a trembling wimp but ends up being a psychopathic rapist when it is in fact child Barry who shoots a man dead during a test of Jamal's resolve. It is Jamal who is groomed as the father's successor but it is Barry who has the steely nerve and true ruler's cunning. (Here's the nucleus of the show.)

The father is a rent-a-despot who's only got the people's best interests at heart, which feels like an apologetic for Middle East dictatorships.

It's all made worse by the gurning and hamming of the supporting cast, who seem to have cut their teeth in Turkish soap operas, and a whopping slice of anti-Arabism.