Excerpt:
Military drama "The Brave," which is having its fall finale Monday night on NBC, is hardly the only show of its kind — CBS's "SEAL Team," The CW's "Valor," and National Geographic's "The Long Road Home" were newly introduced to the genre this fall. But "The Brave" has one element that stands out as a television rarity: a heroic Muslim main character.
"It's very refreshing," says Hadi Tabbal, 34, who stars on the show as Amir Al-Raisani. "When it comes to Islam, TV is populated with vilified characters. I've read for hundreds of parts of them; I've played them. It's an honoring feeling to play a character who is on the good side of the game for once, and who is nuanced. Amir dedicated his life to fight extremism because it misrepresents his faith."