Iran hooked on TV show that highlights their sociopolitical difficulties

TEHRAN (Reuters) - At eight o'clock each evening, Iran grinds to a halt and tunes into a ground-breaking television comedy that candidly broaches often uncomfortable facts of life in the Islamic Republic.

The bazaar at Tajrish in northern Tehran, normally teeming with bargain hunters, is eerily quiet and stall-holders are glued to "Barareh Nights."

This comic soap opera may be set about 70 years ago in the little village of Barareh, but Iranian viewers see its corrupt councilors, rigged elections and vocal women's rights group as a microcosm of Iran today.

Barareh even "enriches" its staple foodstuff, peas, in a clear parallel with Iran's disputed uranium enrichment program, that Washington says is aimed at developing atomic weapons.

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by the strictness of their government when its revealed that it tolerates most of the country's addiction to a program bent on poking fun at and ridiculing the precepts of the ruling party.