Humans are the top dog here on this little blue planet we call Earth. We know this because we’ve told ourselves so. I mean, it has to be true; we tend not to eat each other or our young, we’ve outgrown butt sniffing (for the most part), and we have, on occasion, been known to harmoniously coexist with each other, though, admittedly those occasions have been rare.

For us here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. living harmoniously with others who are different than us is part of the American Experience. In different times in our relatively short history we Yanks have shown great compassion for those whose lives and lifestyles are so far from what we consider normal that they look as if they’ve just arrived on an interstellar cruiser instead of a 747.

On the other hand, we can be downright inhuman to those we perceive as being threatening somehow.

Japanese Americans understand this latter face of America all too well; it was they who were rounded up and interned in camps during World War II for no other reason than that they were of Japanese decent.

Acts of war can make people crazy; ignorant people doubly so, which may be why Americans of Middle Eastern decent today may be feeling like the Japanese did so many years ago. Ignorance is the problem that is the root of much of the distrust we may feel towards anyone remotely resembling a Middle Easterner.

One of the traits of being a superior species is our ability to adapt and learn. One of the easiest ways for us to learn something is by making it funny. Perhaps that was the thinking behind the new CBS show, Aliens in America.

Take the show, The Wonder Years, when Kevin Arnold was in high school, swap out his older brother, Wayne, for a hot younger sister, add a foreign exchange student from Pakistan, mix well and you have an idea what Aliens is like, and that’s not bad.

The show is funny because it pokes fun at our own stereotypes while it more seriously yet subtly deconstructs stereotypes we may have of ’aliens’. It opens eyes and minds through humor, and that’s just the pilot episode.

If I was a betting man I’d put money on Aliens lasting only one season. People don’t like to be preached to when they’ve wrapped themselves in ignorance (another trait of us superior humans), even when the preaching is done with a soft shoe and a rubber nose. I hope I’m wrong though, if the other episodes are like the first then I’d call Aliens in America a winner and it deserves a good run.

Get the free pilot episode at the iTunes Store.

Speaking of being different in America, how about if you were a blood swilling undead detective who uses his undeadedness to save the innocent and solve crimes?

There some bad points to being a vampire: Tanning would be out of the question, your dates would probably be psychos looking to join the ranks of the undead, and your birthday cake might be considered a fire hazard. You wouldn’t have many friends and the ones you do have seem to always wear turtlenecks and reek of garlic.

Yes, un-life as a vampire can suck (you knew I had to), still, having an overwhelming and constant urge for a Bloody Mary can have its perks. You get to see your long term investments mature, you never have to see a dentist (unless you are making a withdrawal), and you can truly go to a health club just for the scenery (and selection).

I’m not sure if I’m a fan of the new CBS show, Moonlight, (which sounds like it should be a show about werewolves instead of vampires). The dialogue is OK, the acting is acceptable, in fact, there’s really nothing bad about the show, it’s just that it’s been done before.

As with Blade, Mick, the vamp in Moonlight can handle daylight, though not a lot of it, and he doesn’t like being a blood sucker. Similar to Det. Nick Knight in Forever Knight, Mick is a private eye and he wants to redeem his past transgressions by helping the innocent and putting a smack-down on the bad guys.

I’m not that excited about what I saw in the first episode, but if you’re into vampires in work-a-day roles then this one’s for you. Again, not a bad show, just not original. You can grab the first episode, No Such Thing As Vampires, at the iTunes Store.

Well, that’s going to do it for this week. Check back next week when I take a peek at some more video podcasts.

Other freebies on the iTunes Store:

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.