Monday's episode of the long-running and occasionally controversial Saudi comedy series Tash Ma Tash returned heated debate to the public sphere after taking on the subject of reforming the Kingdom's education curricula. Saudis flocked to internet forums and circulated thousands of mobile telephone text messages following the episode, entitled “Development,” in which Nasser Al-Qasabi, one of the show's two main stars, portrayed the role of an educational official charged with improving the curriculum and putting in place a program which would “open the way to the future with an open mind.” In the scenario, Al-Qasabi is confronted by comedy partner Abdullah Al-Sadhan in the guise of a forceful objector to the moves who insists on keeping the current program in place and rejects any such “development” suggestions as the ideas of Saudis who “have traveled or been educated abroad,” regarding any change to religious curricula as a “violation of the Islamic religion.” The tale follows Al-Qasabi as he finds himself in a variety of comedic situations born out of his frustration at being blocked at each juncture, until he finally resolves to resign, a move that the minister of education rejects out of hand, saying he “must continue to develop the curricula, whatever opposition there is from extremists.” In the episode's subplot, a young Saudi seeking work as a teacher is turned down for a job, despite his outstanding qualifications, on the grounds that he failed to display “sufficient religious piety” in his interview. Yahya Al-Amir, the writer of the script for the episode, told Al-Arabiya television channel that the series was not “just a comedy” but had become “an important cultural event” reflecting the nationwide dialogue currently occurring in Saudi society which “has blossomed out of the National Dialogue conferences of the last few years.” “The cultural movement as evidenced by Tash Ma Tash and the Saudi press is a product of Saudi cultural development which has moved on from the debate phase to the foundational phase,” Al-Amir said. “The idea in the episode was to provoke discussion of ideas, not actual events. The episode looks at figures of bureaucracy hampering development, and the bureaucracy which poses just as great a threat as religious strictness.” Al-Amir said that addressing the issue of a national sovereign project had come from a royal decree, and that educational and judicial development were designed to reformulate institutions that no longer met the needs and demands of Saudis who “have started to feel that their ambitions go beyond those of those institutions”. Reactions to the episode, naturally, reflected a wide range of views, from those who called for the series to be stopped, and others who saw it as a fair expression of what young Saudis are experiencing. “The series doesn't attack anyone, and I think it enriches the idea of offering different viewpoints,” wrote one viewer on Al-Arabiya's website. Others wondered why the show appeared to only target religion and left other sections of society untouched. Al-Watan newspaper noted that during the episode's job interview with the outstanding potential schoolteacher he was asked if he read the newspapers Al-Watan and Al-Riyadh. “The episode was more daring than any that went before it,” Al-Watan wrote Tuesday, “notably when portraying the internal conflicts in the Ministry of Education and the different currents of thought.” Tash Ma Tash, now in its sixteenth year, has come in for criticism in recent years from sections of the public who felt it had gone stale and to an extent run out of ideas. After Monday's episode Al-Madina newspaper, however, hailed the “return of the ‘Tash' of old, with constructive ideas and the acting duo creatively playing off one another to bring characters to life in a comic fashion.”
