Can something be totally original and ridiculously derivative at the same time? Essentially that’s how television works.
Imported from the U.K. and streaming on Peacock, “We Are Lady Parts” is a silly romantic comedy about a punk band formed by Muslim girls in an unfashionable section of London.
The notion of hijab-wearing women blasting angry music isn’t the only cultural collision going on here. The band consists of a strident woman (Sarah Kameela Impey) who works at her father’s halal butcher shop and knows how to wield an ax. The bass player is a wife and mother (Faith Omole) who creates a subversive comic book about menstruation and rage, and wonders why customers don’t buy it.
The scariest member (Lucie Shorthouse) of the group doesn’t play any instrument. She chain-smokes beneath a burqa and manages the band. Their songs are an affront to every culture, most notably their own. One of the titles is “Ain’t No One Gonna Honor Kill My Sister But Me.”
For all of their preening pride, the girls know they are missing a certain something, so they search for a lead guitarist. This leads them to Amina (Anjana Vasan), a geeky science student who teaches guitar to young children but is too shy and nervous to play in public. She’s also deeply romantic and looking for Mr. Right, someone who hasn’t shown up on her dating apps or in the gruesomely awkward encounters arranged by her parents. Her interior monologues offer a florid narration to the proceedings and a stark contrast to Pussy Riot-types who see her talent as their salvation.
The tone is all over the place, but Amina and “Parts” are sweet enough to compensate. We shift from punk manifestos to Amina singing alone in her closet, accompanied by sock puppets. In a romantic reverie, she pictures herself in a black-and-white Hollywood movie, playing a hijab-wearing Greer Garson to her crush’s Laurence Olivier. She appears far more steeped in the works of Jane Austen than the Quran.
So, in many ways, this is a Muslim twist on “Bridget Jones’s Diary” meets “School of Rock.” It’s a crazy cultural casserole that just might work!
“Parts” is the second comedy after “Girls5Eva” to arrive on Peacock with wit, intelligence and audacity. Both are essentially about an ensemble of very different women defying cultural expectations to “play” together. And in their own different ways, both shows are rather infectious.
And both are a good example of using a streaming platform to create or import material not quite mainstream enough for network fare — or skittish advertisers.
It’s curious to note that after debuting such lackluster comedies as “Kenan” and “Young Rock” this spring, NBC won’t have any comedies at all on its fall 2021 schedule. Gotta make room for more “Law & Order” spin-offs!
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Ben’s actions reverberate on “Manifest” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Jamie Foxx hosts the fourth season premiere of “Beat Shazam (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).
— Maya faces family history on the season finale of “Station 19” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— Fin and Phoebe make plans on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Maggie and Winston’s big day arrives on the season finale of “Grey’s Anatomy” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
— Ten competitors arrive as “Alone” begins its eighth season (9:30 p.m., History, TV-PG).
— Something smells rotten in the state of New Jersey on “Clarice” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Rebel wants revised testimony on “Rebel” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
An idealistic teacher (Glenn Ford) encounters dangerous delinquents (Vic Morrow, Sidney Poitier) in the 1955 drama “Blackboard Jungle” (9:45 p.m., TCM, TV-14). The theme song (Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”) inspired riots.
SERIES NOTES
Truth and consequences on “Young Sheldon” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … Honey loses her grip on “HouseBroken” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … A complicated kiss on “Walker” (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … Matchmaking on “United States of Al” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
Memory lane on “Mom” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … New perspectives on “Legacies” (9 p.m., CW, r, TV-14) … Organ failure on “B Positive” (9:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … A family vacation on “Duncanville” (9:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … Wheatley faces the music on the season finale of “Law & Order: Organized Crime” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
W. Kamau Bell appears on “Conan” (11 p.m., TNT, r) … Jake Tapper and Billie Eilish are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Pete Davidson, Jodie Turner-Smith, George Saunders and Mario Duplantier visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sam Smith appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
