When Here Come The Habibs! premiered last year, all the predictable labels were trotted out. The laughs were “lazy”, the stereotypes “offensive”. And, at worst, the comedy was “casually racist”.
But all that noise missed the point. The show is poking fun at the stereotypes while also putting an ethnic family front and centre on commercial TV. That hasn’t really happened since Acropolis Now way back in 1992.
With the politics out of the way, let’s find out what we can expect from Australia’s favourite Lebanese family in the comedy’s second season.
Where we find them
At the end of season one we learnt that the newly wealthy Habibs, in the ultimate act of neighbourly warfare, had purchased the O’Neills’ house. Needless to say, this remains a sticking point when season two kicks off.
“There’s still tension between Habibs father Fou Fou (Michael Denkha) and Olivia (Helen Dallimore),” creator Rob Shehadie tells TV WEEK.
“They are still at each other – she’s trying to get the house back.”
Complicating things is the fact that love is in the air for Madison (Georgia Flood) and Elias (Tyler De Nawi). Both are terrified their families will find out.
“We’ve still got that love interest happening, but things get complicated,” Rob reveals.
Habibs matriarch Mariam (Camilla Ah-Kin).
What they’re up to
Not content with having to rent their old house from their “new money” neighbours, the O’Neills hatch a plan to restore order.
“We’ve got to balance it up a bit, because the Habibs clearly won,” co-creator Tahir Bilgic, 46, hints. “The O’Neills try to get the house back, but it’s not through a financial transaction – it’s something much bigger than that.”
Meanwhile, Toufic (Sam Alhaje) is back to his inventive best, trying his level best to come up with a business idea that will impress his father, Fou Fou.
“He wants to make him proud,” Sam, 23, explains. “He wants him to say, ‘You are a great son,’ and to be respected, appreciated and loved by him.
“Whenever he’s creating, it’s always with him in mind.”
Why you should watch
The first season set up what to expect when the lottery-winning Habibs brought their lavish, over-the-top Lebanese-Australian lifestyle to a posh Sydney suburb. The second season takes the laughs even further.
“It’s a bit broader, a bit bigger and the ideas are more expansive and the characters do more outrageous stuff,” Darren Gilshenan, who plays the petrified O’Neill patriarch Jack, explains.
“They often say the first season is about premise and the second is all about character. This time around, we learn much more about these crazy characters.”
Bring on the laughs!
