Colorlines, News Report, Posted: Nov 09, 2011

 On Sunday TLC will premiere “All-American Muslim”, a reality TV show that follows the lives of five American Muslim families in Dearborn, the Michigan town that’s home to one of the nation’s largest Muslim communities. The show’s purported aim is to help dispel misrepresentations of Muslim American. And while we’re hoping it’s all that it’s cracked up to be, there’s plenty of reason to be weary about it.

It’s being produced by Shed Media, the company that’s also responsible for drama-filled shows like “The Real Housewives of New York City” and “Basketball Wives.” Neither series represents women in a positive light, to put it lightly.

But there’s a chance that this show could be different.

Namely, Dearborn-native Mike Mosallam is involved in the show’s development. Mosallam is Muslim and works as the director of film initiatives for Michigan’s Wayne County. So let’s hope there’s a balance and we actually get what TLC promises: “A powerful new eight-part series that goes inside the rarely seen world of American Muslims to uncover a unique community struggling to balance faith and nationality in a post 9/11 world.”

So far they’ve got a lot to prove. The show’s logo on Shed Media’s website doesn’t really say “All-American” to me. In fact, the rustic and fringed font combined with the red bars in the background all end up reading to me as “jail” or “circus” themes. Compare the identity to the right with all the other TV shows that use the term American in the titles and this one seems a little off.