Little Mosque on the Prairie

[CentreHice]

New CBC comedy show. premieres Jan. 9th.

www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/arts/television/07mosq.html

What do you guys think?

A quote from the article:

“Little Mosque on the Prairie” ventures into new and perhaps treacherous terrain: trying to explore the funny side of being a Muslim and adapting to life in post 9/11 North America. Its creators admit to uneasiness as to whether Canadians and Americans can laugh about the daily travails of those who many consider a looming menace.

“It’s a question we ask ourselves all the time,” said Mary Darling, one of the show’s three executive producers and an American who has lived in Canada for the last decade. “If 9/11 is still too raw, it might not work,” she said.

If it's a stinker, we'll all need a "Corner Gas Mask".

[franko]

centrehice said:

New CBC comedy show. premieres Jan. 9th.

www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/arts/television/07mosq.html

What do you guys think?

A quote from the article:

“Little Mosque on the Prairie” ventures into new and perhaps treacherous terrain: trying to explore the funny side of being a Muslim and adapting to life in post 9/11 North America. Its creators admit to uneasiness as to whether Canadians and Americans can laugh about the daily travails of those who many consider a looming menace.

“It’s a question we ask ourselves all the time,” said Mary Darling, one of the show’s three executive producers and an American who has lived in Canada for the last decade. “If 9/11 is still too raw, it might not work,” she said.

If it's a stinker, we'll all need a "Corner Gas Mask".

I need more time to think about it but, as a Canadian entertainer, I know how hard it is to get a show developed. And right now, I'm just wondering why this one?

I think unless it mocks Islam (a big mistake) it will not fly in the US. We're more "tolerant" in Canada and like quikiness, but I don't think it's going to fly. Now. Maybe setting the table for the future (a la "Here's Sidney" and "Three's Company", and gays).

[CentreHice]

franko said:

I think unless it mocks Islam (a big mistake) it will not fly in the US. We're more "tolerant" in Canada and like quikiness, but I don't think it's going to fly. Now. Maybe setting the table for the future (a la "Here's Sidney" and "Three's Company", and gays).

Do you mean, "Love, Sidney" that starred Tony Randall in the early 80s? There was talk that the character was gay...but they soon put him back in the closet. And "Three's Company" made fun of homosexuality. Countless anti-gay one-liners from Messrs. Roper and Furley. All before political correctness.

It was Ellen Degeneres who took the fall while also opening the door for being the first openly gay character in a sitcom. 94-98. Near the end, it was all about being gay...and the show swooned. Will & Grace started right after that in 98 and we all know how successful that show was.

[franko]

centrehice said:

franko said:

I think unless it mocks Islam (a big mistake) it will not fly in the US. We're more "tolerant" in Canada and like quikiness, but I don't think it's going to fly. Now. Maybe setting the table for the future (a la "Here's Sidney" and "Three's Company", and gays).

Do you mean, "Love, Sidney" that starred Tony Randall in the early 80s? There was talk that the character was gay...but they soon put him back in the closet.

Indeed I do. I was amazed that it lasted as long as it did. He was mostly in the closet but the was a picture of his "former good friend" in the apartment that made it pretty obvious.

And "Three's Company" made fun of homosexuality. Countless anti-gay one-liners from Messrs. Roper and Furley.

RIght. But it made it acceptable to talk about. One small step at a time.

It was Ellen Degeneres who took the fall while also opening the door for being the first openly gay character in a sitcom. 94-98. Near the end, it was all about being gay...and the show swooned. Will & Grace started right after that in 98 and we all know how successful that show was.

And now there "The L Word", and Rosie, and . . . but it had to start somewhere.

Rock Hudson dying of AIDS brought about discussion as well.

[Skilly]

Come on people ....

Everyone knows the guy who lived in the house on "Too Close for Comfort" was gay ... (Ted Knight starred in it I believe)

[Skilly]

If I am not mistaken the first gay person in a sitcom was in a show called "The Corner Bar" (1972). Useless Trivia.

The first openly gay couple on TV was in 1975 in a show called "Hot L Baltimore" (Got that one by googling).

In fact, I found a site that list all the openly gay characters in TV ever. And there were 9 shows before Ellen Degeneres (who I loathe).

1. Peter Panama - The Corner Bar (1972)
2. George Gordon - Hot L Baltimmore (1975)
3. Jodie Dallas - Soap (1977-1981) - played by Billy Crystal
4. Cliff Waters - Brothers
5. Bev Harris - Roseanne (1988-97)
Leon Carp - Roseanne (1988-97)
Scott - Rosanne (1988-97)
Nancy Bartlett Rosanne (1988-97)
6. Wayland Smithers and Patty Bouvier - Simpsons (1989 - present) obviously the successful show with a gay character
7. Martin's Mom - Martin (1992-97) (martin Lawrence show)
8. Brian - The Larry Saunders Show (1992 - 98)
9. Frank Pickle - The Vicar of Dibley (1994 - 99)
10. Ellen Morgan - Ellen (1994 - 98)

and if you want to count soap operas ..you could go back to 1956 and "As the World Turns"

I hate Ellen getting credit for anything .... I find her the least funnies woman I have ever listened to.

[CentreHice]

skilly said:

Come on people ....

Everyone knows the guy who lived in the house on "Too Close for Comfort" was gay ... (Ted Knight starred in it I believe)

How could I forget ol' Monroe: Jm J. Bullock? ;D

But I don't think his character was gay.

Anyway Skilly....any thoughts on the thread itself? Perhaps a little too touchy of a subject? Sounds like they're going for a "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" kind of angle....I just hope it doesn't contain a lot of 9/11 allusions.

It may actually dispel a lot of Islam/Muslim stereotypes. There's no doubt that's a group feeling they've been painted with the same brush.

[Skilly]

I'll reserve judgement until I see it .. if I do see it at all ...

I'd hate it to be a sterotypical show ... but I dont see how it works unless it is. I know if it was "Little Newf on the Prairie" , I would be a tad concerned ... but if done right it could be funny and I would laugh. I'd have to get a muslim perspective really to see if they are offended ... any people here muslim with thoughts?

[franko]

Well, I watched it, and as the resident Neanderthal right-wing fundamentalist bigoted Protestant (did I forget anything? white?) I say . . . meh.

Of course, it was the first episode, and it takes a while for characters to develop, and there are few stars, but I found it very forgettable. A few half-laughs, a bit of corniness, but not as quirky as Seeing Things or Tom Stone.

But hey! It's CBC, and they are mandated to provide Canadian programming (and they want to do it cheaply). 8 episodes in the can; if it gets better it'll hang on for a couple of seasons; if not . . . more Road to Avonlea reruns coming your way on MotherCorp.

[Skilly]

franko said:

Well, I watched it, and as the resident Neanderthal right-wing fundamentalist bigoted Protestant (did I forget anything? white?) I say . . . meh.

Of course, it was the first episode, and it takes a while for characters to develop, and there are few stars, but I found it very forgettable. A few half-laughs, a bit of corniness, but not as quirky as Seeing Things or Tom Stone.

But hey! It's CBC, and they are mandated to provide Canadian programming (and they want to do it cheaply). 8 episodes in the can; if it gets better it'll hang on for a couple of seasons; if not . . . more Road to Avonlea reruns coming your way on MotherCorp.

I had every intention to watch until I saw the commercials ... they turned me away so I never watched. They were the most unfunny commercials I ever saw .... I thought it was going to be a comedy and if it wasnt I wasnt watching.

[franko]

It was typical Canadiana humour.

You really didn't miss much -- in fact you or I could have written the screenplay, it was that trite.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

skilly said:

If I am not mistaken the first gay person in a sitcom was in a show called "The Corner Bar" (1972). Useless Trivia.

The first openly gay couple on TV was in 1975 in a show called "Hot L Baltimore" (Got that one by googling).

In fact, I found a site that list all the openly gay characters in TV ever. And there were 9 shows before Ellen Degeneres (who I loathe).

1. Peter Panama - The Corner Bar (1972)
2. George Gordon - Hot L Baltimmore (1975)
3. Jodie Dallas - Soap (1977-1981) - played by Billy Crystal
4. Cliff Waters - Brothers
5. Bev Harris - Roseanne (1988-97)
Leon Carp - Roseanne (1988-97)
Scott - Rosanne (1988-97)
Nancy Bartlett Rosanne (1988-97)
6. Wayland Smithers and Patty Bouvier - Simpsons (1989 - present) obviously the successful show with a gay character
7. Martin's Mom - Martin (1992-97) (martin Lawrence show)
8. Brian - The Larry Saunders Show (1992 - 98)
9. Frank Pickle - The Vicar of Dibley (1994 - 99)
10. Ellen Morgan - Ellen (1994 - 98)

and if you want to count soap operas ..you could go back to 1956 and "As the World Turns"

I hate Ellen getting credit for anything .... I find her the least funnies woman I have ever listened to.

You appear to know a lot more about this subject than I do. Hmmmmmmmmmmm........

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Little Mosque on the Prairie or "Shootout at the Al Kaye Corral".

Two gunfighters face eachother. One is a Sheite, the other a Sunni.

Everyone is nervous as their fingers twitch over their guns in their holsters. Neither one is willing to move first. In the backgroung an impatient Turd screams "Draw!"

Simultaneously they both grab their guns and shoot themselves in the foot. The first one to bleed to death wins and is a martyr..

a) Does anybody really care that one of them reveres Imams and the other loves the Califs who are decendents of Ali?

b) Aside from that one difference they both use the same Koran and pray facing the same direction?

c) Do we really want these guys to have nuclear bombs instead of hand guns?

d) If we give them Israel will they really leave us alone and for how long? (see Paris, Indonesia, Chechnia)

As long as Saddam and His Sunnis were killing Kurds and Sheites we tried to look the other way. They hate eachother and they hate us. They hate their women and they hate television and they hate music and they hate diversity and they hate and hate and hate.
We can't change them and we can't control them and there are no simple solutions. We can't bury our head in the sand like an ostrich.

There are enough people writing serious Political Science 101 essays on the subject. The liberals explain their views and other liberals read and nod in agreement. The conservatives write conservative papers and conservatives read them and nod in agreement. Nobody really has an open mind.

While I may treat the subject lightly, and some may take offense, underneath lies a kernel of truth. If you have a dog that bites (and the whisperer isn't around) and you can't teach the old dog new tricks and you can't trust the old dog with a baby in the house; at some point out of frustration, desperation or necessity the dog has to be put to sleep.
We have to protect ourselves and we are running out of options.
We are also running out of time.
9/11 was a long time ago and the airports aren't any safer because we take our shoes off and put medicine in 3 oz baggies.
My office has a daily alert sticker that is almost always yellow. It says that today we have a heightened alert. We have to be careful and observant but not stereotype. WTF?

At this point we aren't sure how to rectify the situation but bombing the whole area and taking the oil is starting to sound like the least terrible option.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

franko said:

It was typical Canadiana humour.

You really didn't miss much -- in fact you or I could have written the screenplay, it was that trite.

I saw the commercials for it and immediately thought it was feel-good kind of show. Not my bag at all.

Give credit to CBC for trying it though. Do you think it will fly past this season? Will it get through the season for that matter?

Cheers.

[ropoflu]

habsfaninla said:

skilly said:

If I am not mistaken the first gay person in a sitcom was in a show called "The Corner Bar" (1972). Useless Trivia.

The first openly gay couple on TV was in 1975 in a show called "Hot L Baltimore" (Got that one by googling).

In fact, I found a site that list all the openly gay characters in TV ever. And there were 9 shows before Ellen Degeneres (who I loathe).

1. Peter Panama - The Corner Bar (1972)
2. George Gordon - Hot L Baltimmore (1975)
3. Jodie Dallas - Soap (1977-1981) - played by Billy Crystal
4. Cliff Waters - Brothers
5. Bev Harris - Roseanne (1988-97)
Leon Carp - Roseanne (1988-97)
Scott - Rosanne (1988-97)
Nancy Bartlett Rosanne (1988-97)
6. Wayland Smithers and Patty Bouvier - Simpsons (1989 - present) obviously the successful show with a gay character
7. Martin's Mom - Martin (1992-97) (martin Lawrence show)
8. Brian - The Larry Saunders Show (1992 - 98)
9. Frank Pickle - The Vicar of Dibley (1994 - 99)
10. Ellen Morgan - Ellen (1994 - 98)

and if you want to count soap operas ..you could go back to 1956 and "As the World Turns"

I hate Ellen getting credit for anything .... I find her the least funnies woman I have ever listened to.

You appear to know a lot more about this subject than I do. Hmmmmmmmmmmm........

I think its a good thing that Habsrus as is own in-house representative of the gay part of world, it makes for a more diverse, richer community. Go skilly go!

[franko]

I thought I was harsh . . . I guess I'm a good guy at heart:

The joke's on us

Barbara Kay, National Post

I caught the opening episode of CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie Tuesday night. It wasn't quite as bad as I'd anticipated. That is to say, it's awful, but at least my worst fears were not realized: Thanks be to Allah, there are no Jews in this sitcom.

So I was spared my fantasized plot thread of a young Muslim boy and a young Jewish boy -- the son of the local rabbi, of course -- who find some quarrel in a straw, but then, through the wisdom of their sage and tolerant fathers, become best friends, while their families go into business together in a joint kosher/halal butcher shop, where the Jewish boy's older brother, home from med school for the summer and helping out in the shop, falls madly in love with the Muslim boy's doe-eyed, hijab'd sister, as a result of which her father's wish for an arranged marriage with a friend's son from Pakistan wavers, he sees the multicultural way of the future, and his opposition to the match with the Jewish boy melts away. Fade to a wedding feast on a groaning table laden with chopped liver, hummus, brisket, couscous, with happy Muslims and Jews, arms linked, awhirl in a dizzying hora, segueing into a joyous, high stepping round of YMCA ?

. . . the cast is stuck in the pre-ironic 1950s model sitcom, like Father Knows Best, My Three Sons, Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It to Beaver, where characters are cardboard cutouts, the reigning mood is earnestness, where nobody is really bad (although many are somewhat simple), everyone's intentions are good and whatever minor conflict serves to propel the plot forward is resolved with a kind word.

Wait a minute. I think I just described every comic series that has ever been produced by the CBC. Ah, all is illuminated. In 1957, Little Mosque on the Prairie would have been a crackerjack series. In 2007, it is a reminder that the CBC is a cultural fossil.

the whole article

[franko]

otoh . . .

TORONTO (CP) - Zaib Shaikh, the star of CBC's "Little Mosque on the Prairie," couldn't contain his glee Wednesday after learning the internationally hyped sitcom pulled in 2.1 million viewers for its premiere.

"It's fantastic for Canadian culture, it's fantastic for Muslims and non-Muslims and their perceptions about one another, it's fantastic for the CBC, it's fantastic for Canadian television," said the Toronto-born Shaikh, who plays the progressive young imam on "Little Mosque."

"The fact that so many people seemed to want to watch it, that so many people actually did watch it and that a Canadian show is getting this much international attention - it's quite surprising and unbelievable."

An audience of more than a million is considered a huge number for a Canadian show. CTV's "Corner Gas," the private broadcaster's big sitcom hit and one of the country's highest-rated shows, pulls in close to 1.5 million viewers a week.

American powerhouse shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "House" routinely get just over two million Canadian viewers a week.

. . . The question now, of course, is whether viewers will continue to tune in or whether Tuesday's ratings bonanza was due to the novelty factor. the rest

[franko]

My take:

• 2.1 million people watching? I'd love to know how they came up with that number. Maybe included those who clicked on for 30 seconds before clicking away -- if you didn't see the beginning you wouldn't watch the end. Or if so, definitely the
  
• Novelty factor. I watched it because (a) I was home unexpectedly and so was able to; (b) I wanted to be able to comment on it as I am always interested in pop culture, and (c) my wife had control of the remote and wanted to see it.
  
• Dis: not really a feel-good kind of a show. It is part of CBC's attempts at multi-cultural programming at best, and a filler to appease the CRTC at worst. Will it last the season? Yes -- 8 episodes are in the can and so they'll be played because CBC isn't going to waste money. Will it go further? Perhaps -- depends if the acting and the scripts are less wooden.
  

I give CBC credit for trying (and boy, can they be trying!) but really, the show is lame. And like Barbara Kay says nobody is really bad (although many are somewhat simple), everyone's intentions are good and whatever minor conflict serves to propel the plot forward is resolved with a kind word., and all conflicts are resolved within 12 seconds of their being aired, and everything works out the way you knew it would; you know, just like in real life. I know that they only have 22 minutes to resolve any issue, but boy did they pump them through last night.

It was the first episode. The hope is that many of the 2.1 million viewers will return next week. The 2 viewers in our household will not -- me because I'll probably be out [not that I'd watch it anyway -- I don't even watch the ever-popular Corner Gas]; my wife because it isn't worth her time.

[Skilly]

ropoflu said:

habsfaninla said:

You appear to know a lot more about this subject than I do. Hmmmmmmmmmmm........

I think its a good thing that Habsrus as is own in-house representative of the gay part of world, it makes for a more diverse, richer community. Go skilly go!

WTF!!??

I am not gay. Married, and have two little girls.

There is a wonderful things called google .... all I did was type in "Gay characters on TV".

[ropoflu]

skilly said:

ropoflu said:

I think its a good thing that Habsrus as is own in-house representative of the gay part of world, it makes for a more diverse, richer community. Go skilly go!

WTF!!??

I am not gay. Married, and have two little girls.

There is a wonderful things called google .... all I did was type in "Gay characters on TV".

Of course. I was pulling your leg, building on HFLA faked suspicions.

No harm intended. Really.

[Skilly]

ropoflu said:

skilly said:

WTF!!??

I am not gay. Married, and have two little girls.

There is a wonderful things called google .... all I did was type in "Gay characters on TV".

Of course. I was pulling your leg, building on HFLA faked suspicions.

No harm intended. Really.

Non taken .... but next time a winkey would be appreciated.

[CentreHice]

skilly said:

ropoflu said:

Of course. I was pulling your leg, building on HFLA faked suspicions.

No harm intended. Really.

Non taken .... but next time a winkey would be appreciated.

Oh...you said a "winkey".....whew..... ;D

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

centrehice said:

skilly said:

Non taken .... but next time a winkey would be appreciated.

Oh...you said a "winkey".....whew..... ;D

Two straight guys winking at eachother.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...................

(Just starting rumors and making trouble. I have two boys and a girl.)

[Skilly]

habsfaninla said:

Two straight guys winking at eachother.

The operative words being "straight guys"

habsfaninla said:

Now three in a row ..... I like at least one female in a "menage a trois", no soup for you!!