--- description: Pakistan's embassy in Washington had harsh words for 'The Brink' title: Why Pakistan Is Angry About an HBO Comedy image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01726d3d677464bd/698872f4cd1bba9a546fe4b0/the-brink.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why Pakistan Is Angry About an HBO Comedy by [Wajahat S. Khan / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Wajahat S. Khan / NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 28, 2015 5:21 PM CUT  Jack Black and Iqbal Theba in the season finale of The Brink. Jack Black and Iqbal Theba in the season finale of The Brink.Merie W. Wallace—HBO by [Wajahat S. Khan / NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Wajahat S. Khan / NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 28, 2015 5:21 PM CUT ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — HBO comedy “The Brink” is following in the footsteps of “Homeland” by ruffling the feathers of viewers in Pakistan — those who can get their hands on it, anyway. Featuring Tim Robbins as the U.S. Secretary of State and Jack Black as a bumbling foreign staffer, the one-season wonder was dropped last month after U.S. viewing figures dipped well below 1 million. In Pakistan, “The Brink” sparked a similar backlash to that which greeted Showtime’s award-winning “Homeland” last year — which critics alleged portrayed the country in a negative and one-dimensional way. While “The Brink” offers a more comedic take on. . . [_Read more from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hbo-comedy-brink-sparks-fury-u-s-ally-pakistan-n469426?cid=par-time%5F20151128 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4128477/hbo-the-brink-sparks-fury-in-pakistan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4128477/hbo-the-brink-sparks-fury-in-pakistan/"},"headline":"Why Pakistan Is Angry About an HBO Comedy","datePublished":"2015-11-28T17:21:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:56:24.540Z","description":"Pakistan's embassy in Washington had harsh words for 'The Brink'","url":"https://time.com/4128477/hbo-the-brink-sparks-fury-in-pakistan/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01726d3d677464bd/698872f4cd1bba9a546fe4b0/the-brink.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Wajahat S. Khan / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt01726d3d677464bd/698872f4cd1bba9a546fe4b0/the-brink.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"the-brink","caption":"Jack Black and Iqbal Theba in the season finale of The Brink.","creditText":"Merie W. Wallace—HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4128477/hbo-the-brink-sparks-fury-in-pakistan/","name":"Why Pakistan Is Angry About an HBO Comedy"}}]}] ```