television

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).