"We suffer from this male guardian requirement just as much as the women," said Muhammad al-Wan, a Saudi short story writer, when asked if he liked the episode.
"We are enslaved by the de-mands at home because a woman can't do anything without a man," he said.
The show's writers find much to mock in Saudi Arabia. Episodes this season have poked fun at people who act in servile ways around princes and then turn around and play the prince themselves at home; at the harsh way Saudis treat imported laborers; and at the way guests on Arab satellite television shows scream at one other.
Qasabi said that in recent shows they have made a determined attempt to focus on critical issues, the kind of political and social reforms that so many Saudis eagerly await and which he believes religious conservatives want to block.
He is miffed that in the face of the current tirade, no liberal columnists have defended the show. He is unsure whether they fear being attacked or consider the show too lowbrow to defend.
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