CBC's new sitcom, "Little Mosque on the Prairie" has been getting a lot of attention lately. It really got crazy the past week or so as I noticed revolving billboards advertising while driving to work. Then while watching the Rick Mercer Report tonight, every commercial had an advertisement for the new show (which surprisingly didn't ruin the jokes or the show). Finally before signing off, Rick Mercer made an announcement about Little Mosque on the Prairie and that it was coming right up.
So of course I had to watch it, and I was really impressed. It's no wonder that CBC was advertising it so much. They knew they had a good show on their hands (or their market testing told them that).
It has received mostly positive reviews including US coverage (video coverage here).
The only negative review I've seen is by Bill Brioux who wrote a scathing review that got printed in basically every Sun Media newspaper in Canada (except the Vancouver Sun, which isn't really a "Sun"), each with a different headline, but with the exact same body. (Other articles written by this guy include "Numbers don’t lie — CBC barely alive in the ratings department" and "Game over for the CBC.") His critique doesn't really go into any detail explaining what he things is wrong with it, he just lists off some of the jokes. And getting your negative published in 10 different newspapers with a different title but the same content is just wrong.
Anyways, I don't want to go in to detail analyzing Little Mosque on the Prairie, but I laughed quite a bit and thought it was very well done. I think they have a good enough cast and a good set of characters to work with for at least a few seasons. Sure the stuff on the CBC just doesn't compare to comedy greats like The Office (UK), The Colbert Report, Sacha Baron Cohen, Arrested Development, and of course Seinfeld. But with Colbert and Seinfeld being the only things currently on air I have to supplement it with the Rick Mercer Report, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and Corner Gas. I'll be tuning-in to Little Mosque on the Prairie again next week and hopefully it's as funny as the first episode. (There is also a French-language Quebecois version of The Office re-starting soon, which I plan on checking out).
Comments
Tom (not verified)
Mon, 2007-02-05 13:29
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Promotes Hatred Towards Rural Folks.
"Little Mosque" depends of offensive stereotypes for its humour.
Also, while at times funny, I do wonder about how "real" the situation is. I once saw a show about how the Nazis made two propaganda films about the conflict between the British and the Irish. The films, at least according to those who were interviewed who had seen them were quite good. The only problem was that the people in the movies were not Irish. What I mean by that was that the culture of the Irish portrayed in the films in no way reflected actual Irish culture as I guess the Germans who wrote, produced, and acted in the movies never took the time to get to understand the traditions and feel of the Irish people. It just wasn't important to them because in the end it had nothing to do with the Irish. It was as one commentator of the movies said "Germans talking to Germans".
And that is kind of what I am getting with the "Little Mosque" show. In the end it isn't really about small town Saskatchewan or Muslim communities living within small town Saskatchewan. In the end what it comes down to is just Liberal Urbanite Canadians talking to Liberal Urbanite Canadians, with their political message being far more important to them than whether or not the situation portrayed reflects a real situation in the country accurately enough.
By the way, why does "The She Mayor" remind me so much of the mayor on South Park?
David Grant
Tue, 2007-02-06 00:17
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It's not real
I think most comedy TV relies on stereotypes for humour. And most TV is not real.
One of the reasons it's great just because it's the first show of its kind to have muslims, whether stereotypical, realistic, or not. Kind of like when Ellen came on TV and became the first gay sitcom character. It covers multiple stereotypes though, the young cute Muslim who has grown up in Canada and is a doctor. A Black muslim. A young male Imam. A Caucasian woman who has converted to Islam and is married to a Muslim who is not very religious. Some ultra-religious folk (Baber, whose character I admit makes a bit of a mockery of Islam). A local resident who is fairly accepting (the mayor). Some bigots. The Anglican mayor who runs a dwindling parish.
Maybe I don't see the negative impact the show could have by reinforcing stereotypes and what not. I shared an office in grad school with two Muslim students from Iran for about a year so I got the real experience of actually having Muslim friends and learning a bit of Farsi. So I know the show is not real.
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