Tyrant - Middle East Godfather. Cancelled after Season 3.

Last edited by Monkey Man on Thu Sep 08, 2016 7:39 pm, edited 6 times in total.

Tyrant premiered on FX on Tuesday, June 24th 2014. Written by the Emmy-winning producers of Homeland, Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff, the script borrows the theme from the original Godfather story — a scion drawn reluctantly into the brutal family business — and situated it in an Arab dictatorship. The first season will consist of 10 episodes. Cancelled after Season 3.

twitter.com/FOXtvUK/status/507544352391172096

Tyrant tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the inner workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed (Adam Rayner), the youngest son of a war-torn country's controversial dictator, returns to his homeland after a self-imposed 20-year exile in America for his nephew's wedding. Upon his return, Barry is immediately thrown back into the familial and national politics of his youth. He braces himself to confront the stark realities of his father and older brother Jamal's (Ashraf Barhom) harsh rule, and finds himself at odds with Jamal's wife, Leila (Moran Atias), who strongly believes in a firm, unforgiving regime. Although his wife, Molly (Jennifer Finnigan), struggles to comprehend her husband's apprehension, Barry is unable and unwilling to make his all-American family understand his unease over returning home. Emma (Anne Winters), their 17-year-old daughter, adores her father and shares his disdain for the extravagances of her extended family. Meanwhile, their son, 16-year-old Sammy (Noah Silver), revels in the lavish lifestyle their "royal" status brings, but dangerously tests cultural divides with his poorly disguised interest in handsome family bodyguard Abdul (Mehdi Dehbi). Barry's only warm memory of his childhood, boyhood friend Fauzi (Fares Fares), wants nothing to do with him. Fauzi is now a journalist, whose reports on the abuses of the Al-Fayeed rule resulted in his arrest and torture. Barry must now confront the life he once fled. With his father's health in decline, everyone – Jamal, their mother Amira (Alice Krige), their father's top advisor Yussef (Salim Daw), and even easygoing U.S. diplomat John Tucker (Justin Kirk) – expects him to assume a more active role in both the family and the regime.

http://www.fxnowcanada.ca/shows/tyrant/

Cast:

• Adam Rayner as "Barry Al-Fayeed"
• Jennifer Finnigan as "Molly Al-Fayeed"
• Ashraf Barhom as "Jamal Al-Fayeed"
• Moran Atias as "Leila Al-Fayeed"
• Noah Silver as "Sammy"
• Anne Winters as "Emma"
• Fares Fares as "Fauzi"
• Salim Daw as "Yussef"
• Justin Kirk as "John Tucker"
• Mehdi Dehbi as "Abdul"
• Alice Maud Krige as "Amira"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2568204/

Enjoyed the first episode so thought I'd chuck together a thread.

I was looking forward to this but the reviews put a really dampener on my enthusiasm. Might check in with it down the line.

Why is a white brit playing someone from the middle east?

Lost interest when I read his name was BARRY Al-Fayeed!

Looks like it's shot very will and the rest will disappoint.

If you read further you'd see that his actual name is Bassam

Crimson: I'd give it a go anyway, a lot of the reviews seem to be just getting on the high-horse over the middle-east being shown as corrupt and dangerous

I feel like they've made a huge misstep by calling it TYRANT and talking to the press so openly about ripping off Godfather. A little less obviousness would help it creatively and for strawberry float's sake don't compare your show to Godfather because there's 0% chance it's as good.

It's a very by the numbers pilot, even the little reveal at the end is predictable. Just as I was thinking "the only box left to tick is an affair" it happened :lol:

the gay son was such a case of this; a relationship/character trait that's blatantly been put there for tension down the line. doesn't help that the rest of the character is just being really annoying.
It could be very interesting but I think it'll only work if the protagonist becomes a ruthless shithead rather than just a brooding gooseberry fool and I think that's where they're going.
Unfortunately for the show my biggest takeaway was "man I really should watch the rest of House of Cards", it's better than Power though which is the other new show about being the head of a naughty organisation.

I'll keep watching for a while regardless of where they take the plot because Jennifer Finnigan looks lovely in it :wub:

P.S. Is anyone else completely desensitised to scenes of torture now? I no longer tense up at all because the same "shocking images" happen every time

Sounds interesting, but I am so skeptical. I can just imagine it being pro democracy, and all about how they end up missing America, the land of the brave and free etc. If you tell me it doesn't do that, I will give it a chance.

The second episode of this was so much better, all the characters are improving massively, even the crazy brother.
I was surprised that they could show child killing on camera

The show's name is somehow even stupider now though

It was a better episode and makes me wonder how the shows structure will be in future. I like his family (wife and kids) in general but they do seem to be detached from reality in some ways. Some hot women in this show.

Anyone still watching? Definitely worth watching and has inproved somewhat. Having seen the penultimate episode I'm assuming they'll keep the brother around and probably the coup will fail along with the family staying in the country. Maybe the new military chief will get the blame.

No 2nd season announced yet but looking hopeful.

twitter.com/FOXtvUK/status/507544352391172096

Renewed for a 2nd season - http://deadline.com/2014/09/tyrant-rene ... -2-836060/

Tyrant - Middle East Godfather. Cancelled after Season 3.

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