Groundbreaking new comedy Miles From Nowhere is full of humour and heart
Neon’s new comedy-drama is a delight, British drama Boil Up is your new kitchen nightmare, and why you should revisit Freaks and Geeks this weekend.
Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to your weekly dose of pop culture happenings and hijinks. This week saw the launch of new local comedy-drama series Miles From Nowhere, the arrival of new comedy-drama Strife, and Calum Henderson reports back from a rewatch of classic comedy-drama Freaks and Geeks. Is this the moment for the comedy-drama? Are we living our lives unsure if we should laugh or cry? Does watching too much TV really make you pee in the night? Let’s find out. / Tara Ward
Miles From Nowhere is a chaotic, hilarious and loveable new local comedy
In the second episode of Miles From Nowhere, a young New Zealand Muslim man named Ahmad (Sami Afuni) appears on a morning news show. A video of him using the word “jihad” in a livestream has gone viral, and Ahmad is fronting to explain how his enthusiastic speech about a sausage sizzle fundraiser has been misconstrued as insurrection. The conversation, however, goes quickly off track. “Welcome to our country,” the host tells him, speaking slowly and offering him a plate of pork sausage rolls. “I was born in Avondale,” Ahmad replies.
It’s one of the many funny and perceptive moments from Miles From Nowhere, the new six-part comedy-drama created and written by award-winning poet, journalist and writer Mohamed Hassan and directed by Ghazaleh Golbakhsh. The series is inspired by Hassan’s life as a Muslim man in New Zealand, and his determination to see his community represented in ways that accurately reflected his own experiences.
“When I met director, producer and proud Wellington boy Ahmed Osman on a shoot in London, we talked for hours about our favourite comedies – Atlanta, Ramy, Kim’s Convenience – and wondered when we’d get to see a Kiwi comedy about the community we loved,’ Hassan wrote in this lovely piece about what inspired him to make the series. “We’d both waited a lifetime to see someone tell that story, and if no one was going to tell it, maybe we should.”
Miles From Nowhere pulls you into that story from the very first scene. When we first meet the show’s protagonist Said (Arlo Green), he’s a bit lost. He sleeps all day, still lives with his Mum, and he’s been dumped by his fiancee Marwa (Roxie Mohebbi) days before their wedding. With no job and little hope, Said spends his days dreaming of becoming a singer-songwriter.
But when Ahmad’s speech goes viral, Said’s family is visited by two Security Intelligence Services officers. Said is forced to explain that his Facebook posts about “blowing things up” were merely song lyrics, exposing his secret musical aspirations. As the series develops, Said forms an unlikely but dangerous friendship with one of the officers, which will see him risk his whole community to fulfil his dreams.
While Said tries to sort his life out, Miles From Nowhere uses humour to challenge many commonly held Western stereotypes about Islam, immigration and the Muslim community. And while the story is centred in one community, the themes of the show are universal. Said’s issues are ones that every viewer will relate to, no matter their religion or nationality: relationship troubles, family tensions, the struggle to find purpose in your life. These are the human concerns that have occupied dramas and comedies around the world since TV first began, and highlights all the things we have in common.
Every viewer will relate to the strained relationship between Said and Narwa, and we all have friends like Darwish (Bala Murali Shingade) who offer support and compassion but aren’t afraid to call their mate a dickhead when they need to. Said may be the focus of the show, but a series of loveable, familiar characters whirl around him, like taxi driver Faizan (Mustaq Missouri) and Said’s cajoling mum Shadia (Sherwin Darwish). These supporting characters are never so over the top that they become ridiculous, but provide welcome comic relief to Said’s personal struggles.
The writing is full of dry, quiet humour that feels distinctly us. There’s the moment the angry intelligence officers ask if Said loves New Zealand and he replies understatedly, “I mean, it’s alright”. When Ahmad and Darwish are interviewed by a Pākeha journalist, Darwish scolds Ahmad for bringing up Captain Cook: “you know how uncomfortable it makes them”. These sharp one-liners anchor the show in a New Zealand we all know, poking fun without ever losing the show’s strong sense of community and heart.
It’s refreshing to see a groundbreaking show like Miles From Nowhere on our screens. Like recent comedies like Homebound 3.0 and Raised by Refugees, it gives representation to a New Zealand community rarely seen on mainstream television, and does it on their own terms. Now, more than ever, we need to see diverse and unique stories that celebrate our differences, acknowledge our similarities and challenge our stereotypes about who we are as a nation – all while having a good laugh.
Miles From Nowhere streams on Neon and screens on Sky Open on Wednesdays at 8.35pm.
Thought there was no more Bad News? You were wrong!
Why does no one care that the world is ending? How will we all survive when everything falls apart? If you’re haunted by these dilemmas, then Alice Snedden’s new two-part special is coming next week to save you. Premiering Tuesday, 27 February on The Spinoff, Alice Snedden’s Bad News Saves the World sees her learning to light fires in the bush and asking if societal collapse is inevitable. Can someone fix climate change in 20 minutes? Watch and find out as Alice prepares for the worst and Alice picks a fight with farmers (in the name of Rose Matafeo). Made with the support of NZ On Air.
Why you should watch: Boiling Point (TVNZ+)
You don’t have to have seen the extremely stressful 2021 movie to throw yourself into Boiling Point (which picks up six months after the film of the same name ended). This new four part British drama follows the staff working in the fancy Point North restaurant, where nobody is chill and nothing ever goes right. Think The Bear, but with more Stephen Graham, or Industry with more hollandaise sauce.
This isn’t a relaxing watch, but it is a compelling one that delves into the individual lives of the people working in this high pressure situation every single night. One critic called it one of the best shows of 2023, saying the series has “a phenomenal script, a brilliant cast and beautiful filming”.
You might also like:
If you’re a fan of Line of Duty, check out Criminal Record (Apple TV+). Peter Calpaldi thrives as a bad cop who’ll do anything to stop a young female detective from reopening a controversial case he handled 25 years ago. While not as action packed as LOD (and sadly with fewer waistcoats) Calpaldi plays the villain brilliantly.
Why you should watch: Strife (ThreeNow)
If you’re a fan of Offspring’s Asher Keddie, you’ll want to hoover up her new show Strife. This is a comedy drama loosely based on the life and career of Mamamia website founder Mia Freedman, and it’s set in 2012 when blogging was king and online media was just beginning. Kedder plays Evelyn, a working mother going through a divorce while launching a brand new lifestyle website. The stakes are high, and Evelyn’s managing a team who want to write about oil spills but find that stories about genetic sexual attraction really bring the clicks. (“If you write a story and nobody clicks on it, did you even write it?” No, I’m not triggered at all.) It’s a light, easy to binge show that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but Keddie really makes this worth watching.
The Spinoff pop culture links of the week
Didn’t get tickets to Taylor Swift? Don’t worry, Duncan Greive has you covered with his cracking review of the “extraordinary, eye popping” Eras Tour.
It’s only February, but I’m calling it: the jigsaw racing in Ōtepoti Dunedin was the sporting event of the year.
Ramon Te Wake reflects on the groundbreaking 2004 series Takatāpui in My Life in TV.
Stewart Sowman-Lund discovers how the Worst Idea of All Time became the best idea of the decade.
Here’s everything that’s new to streaming this week.
Why you should watch: Freaks and Geeks (TVNZ+)
Time and hindsight have not been kind to many of the things I liked or thought were good in the early-2000s, but I’m happy to report this doesn’t extend to Freaks and Geeks. I rewatched the whole series the moment it was added to the TVNZ+ library earlier this month, and if anything the bittersweet coming-of-age comedy-drama which launched at least half a dozen successful Hollywood careers has only got better with age (and that scene where Bill eats dinner alone while watching TV hits harder than ever). The popular narrative around Freaks and Geeks is the tragedy of it being cancelled after just one season, but I reckon it may have been a blessing in disguise – give me one perfect season over the law of diminishing returns any day (creator Paul Feig’s planned storylines for future seasons all sound kind of bad to me anyway). / Calum Henderson
Before we pop off…
After seven years away, Brooke Fraser is returning to New Zealand in June for a one-off concert with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.
A New Zealand version of Location Location Location (catchily titled AA Insurance Location Location Location) will screen on TVNZ later this year. If you love having a perve inside other people’s houses, sign up here.
Love me a black and white photo, love me some sneaky behind the scenes images from this week’s BAFTAs.
Speaking of awards ceremonies, Netflix is screening the Screen Actors Guild Awards live on Sunday 25 February and Disney+ has The Oscars live on 11 March.
And finally, is your telly affecting your tinkle? In a huge day for science, this study suggests watching too much television might make you pee in the wee small hours. Sweet dreams, everyone.
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.