Hitting our screens this week is the boldly titled #1 Happy Family USA, a new adult animated comedy from Prime Video.
An 8-episode first season, dropping this Thursday, centers on the Husseins, an Epyptian-American family settled in New Jersey on the eve of 9/11. What happens next not only changes the course of history, the trajectory of the Hussein family’s lives, and those of their neighbors, but all of America.
At the centre of events is Rumi Hussein (Ramy Youssef), a 12 year old Bulls fan who is desperate to find a way to make his wildly inappropriate teacher (played by Mandy Moore) fall in love with him. Facing fear, shame, doubt, ostracisation by his peers, and a massive identity crisis is about to play havoc with Rumi’s romantic ambitions.
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When his Dad Hussein Hussein (also voiced by Youssef) decides that the best way for the family to fit in (read ‘not be mistaken for terrorists’) is to be more American than his newly terrified neighbors, he sets out on a quest to make them the # 1 American happy patriot family on the block.
However when an alcoholic FBI agent moves in across the street, and sets his bleary eyes on the Husseins, Rumi and his family soon realize fitting in may be harder than it looks.
TVPulse Magazine editor and columnist Jennifer Griffin sat down this week to talk to Showrunner and Co-creator Pam Brady (who conceived the series together with Rami Youssef) and Creative Director/Executive Producer/Writer and Pulitzer Prize winning illustrator Mona Chalabi.
The pair spoke about the show’s creative bravery in tacking such a sensitive moment in American history, how the creative team manages to walk a fine line between comedy and pathos, the show’s very deliberate visual style, and more.
Catch the full interview below.
#1 Happy Family USA bows on Prime Video Thursday, 17 April.
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