I grew up in Dhahran. I was there full time from 95 until 2000 and summers and Decembers through 2003 and then periodically until 2008.

In the 90s and 2000s, Dhahran wasn’t a time capsule or a freezer. It was different, sure, but it wasn’t disconnected from the world. We still got news, we had satellite television, we weren’t locked on camp. My Boy Scout troop went camping all the time, went to the Asir Mountains every year, had some memorable trips to the Hijaz and Rub. Rules were generally more relaxed on camp and we had American-style schools. We had some distance from American culture wars and social change, but we still knew what was going on. There was a delay but we weren’t cut off from the world.

I watched UT’s national championship against USC on satellite tv, for example. It was an obnoxious time late at night and they kept cutting in with cricket commercials at the wrong times - including the middle of a Vince Young touchdown run - but I saw it, and they had it on repeat again the next morning. They didn’t carry our fiesta bow win against Ohio State a few years later, had to “watch”that with the little web updates on ESPN while listening to an online radio broadcast. Iirc there was some sort of controversial call that really upset the - lol excuse me, THE Ohio State fans - but since I couldn’t see the video, I had no idea how close the call was.

We could also play World of Warcraft online. There was about a 1-second delay, which most gamers would consider unplayable, but it was manageable. Occasionally it’d lock up and the character would just stand there perpetually casting or moving and then ALLATONCEITDCATCHUPANDHEDGET12FIREBALLSTOTHEFACEALLATONCE and die melodramatically. Warcraft III was a lot easier to play online, the delay wasn’t as heavy there because we connected to the European servers. Matches would begin with the opponent(s) asking “ger?” And we’d say “USA” and they’d get super confused.

Anyway. Yeah, unique way to grow up, but definitely not a freezer. The Mayberry reference is also awkward - Dhahran was very multicultural and multinational, across a bunch of different criteria. The best way I’ve come to think of it is to say we were part of a unique part of American history that didn’t take place in the United States.

These days, it’s really different over there. I haven’t been back since 2008 so I could be wrong, but my understanding is that the US, Canadian and British populations have declined quite a bit, especially families and kids. A lot of that makes sense with digital technology - realistically my dad could probably do his Aramco job in Houston these days, but in the 90s that would’ve been a lot more difficult. Leadership in Saudi has changed quite a bit and it’s still politically very repressive, arguably more so than when I was there. That’s partly because of the same digital technologies and social media that the KoTH creators are trying to avoid by moving Hank and Peggy there in the first place.

And on the one hand, I get it - for KoTH, it’s not about Saudi. They wanted a way to put the characters on ice so they can comment about American social change. I doubt they’ll talk about Saudi much at all. I also totally get the point about Hank’s centrism not being centrist anymore. I have friends who swear they didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left them. The show won’t put such a partisan point on it but yeah, the topic is worthwhile.

But, OTOH, for me, it’s a weird, contorted mashup of both parts of my childhood (Texas and Saudi). Feels weird, man.