Episode Review: "Little Mosque on the Prairie"
In the first installment of this new CBC sitcom, pretty much every non-Muslim is portrayed as an ignorant, knuckle-dragging buffoon to varying degrees.
Is anyone surprised?
If the multi-million dollar marketing campaign you're funding as a Canadian taxpayer hasn't clued you in already, the premise of the show is as follows: a burgeoning faith community of Muslims is trying to establish themselves in their white-bred, hillbilly Saskatchewan surroundings, and so they invite a young, idealistic ex-lawyer from Toronto who has decided to quit his job and become an imam to come and help.
My suspicions about the trite and sanctimonious dreck that I expected were confirmed before within the first two minutes, as a blue-collar, ham-n-egg eatin' feller with crooked teeth stumbles upon the group of Muslims worshipping in a rented church basement runs away, spooked, and immediately calls the "terrorist hotline".
Roll the credits.
Then, following the scene linked to above which is a clip of the imam boarding a plane and innocently dropping words like "suicide", "planning this for months", "Allah" and "bomb" during a cellphone conversation, the heavy-handed authorities turn into power-tripping bullies as they question the imam about his time spent in Egypt taking Islamic studies and his year he was in Afghanistan working at a charity camp.
(Those cruel police officers - what must they have been thinking?!?)
Later, the poor imam, frustrated at his new surroundings, finds himself unfairly placed on hold as he tries to buy a single one-way ticket out of town, back to the liberal and tolerant big city. It just so happens that he's a twenty-something male with an Arabic name travelling alone, so I think we're supposed to feel for him.
Even the mayor of the town, which is conveniently named Mercy, cracks a few "jokes" about terrorists. How embarrassing.
In fairness, some of the rhetorical flourishes of hardline Muslims were lampooned, but as we saw last year during the Danish cartoon controversy, there are far safer targets, aren't there?
What it all boils down to is something patronizing, predictable, and utterly pathetic, and totally not worth your time. Go read a book instead.
Overall rating: 2/10
posted by Road Hammer @ 8:40 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Actually bob, I don't know about 'multi million' but the cbc did spend more than usual for the promotion of the show.
This quote from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record:
"The CBC, struggling terribly in the ratings, had a lot invested in the show and promoted it with uncharacteristic cash and vigour, including an event at downtown Toronto's Dundas Square last week that featured free chicken shawarma and a bunch of friendly camels."
As for the show itself, I think you're being a little too harsh on it. If it were a show on CTV would you dislike it as much or is it just the fact that government money is spent on it? I thought it was mildly amusing, kind of like the"my big fat greek family" show that ran for half a season. What show/sitcom doesn't play on stereotypes and characterizations? It's the easiest form of comedy for a 22min sitcom. The show did stereotype old school muslims as much as it stereotyped rednecks.
that last paragraph in the previous post was directed at hammer, not bobcaygeon. sorry for any confusion.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Sad,
First, there is no such thing as government money, only taxpayers' money, so let's get that straight. Secondly, the show speaks for itself and my own personal characterization of it can only be found in the first and last paragraph of my review. Finally, the fact that it's a CBC show certainly has a lot to do with my feelings about it. I think the show's biases rather than its quality (or should I say, lack thereof) explains the CBC's support for it.
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