La petite Mosquée dans la prairie

Not being a great fan of the CBC network I have to say they might get my attention with this show. This show pokes fun with mild satire at the average persons concept of folks from the Middle East. This will be a hit if the writers can break the stereo typing that seems to come from the medias attempt to blanket just the negative elements of everyday life. CBC's leap of faith is to be commended. I don't know if an American network could pull this off as their sitcoms seem to be floundering for the last decade or so. I'm old - poke - poke 50 years old. I am willing to give this show a chance - beats the heck out of all these other shows they base on life. Thank you CBC.

My partner and I laughed out loud many times during the one episode we have seen so far. The humour is based on townspeoples' exaggerated fear of the innocent actions of a group of bungling Muslims trying to set up a mosque in the basement of an Anglican church.

The comedy rips along at such a pace the show is over in what seems like a few minutes. It is not at all like your usual TV sitcoms with long stretches of laugh track after every lame joke.

There are many juicy characters. The humour is not based on cheap insults, the way so many sitcoms are.

It has so much fun with stereotypes, both poking fun at them and demolishing them.

It is not degrading to Muslims, any more than your average sitcom is degrading to Christians. You enjoy and love all the batty characters.

The handsome young Imam is the straight man, who acts as a foil to the eccentrics in his congregation.

The CBC has coughed up a lot of awful comedies over the years. Air Farce comes to mind. And now Little Mosque on the Prairie. This was supposed to be a controversial show that pushes the envelope with big laughs. Well, I was right to assume that this show would not be very controversial and wrong to assume that any laughs might be forth-coming.

This show relies on stereotypes to sell the same old tired jokes. It is fitting the show is set in the prairies because these are jokes you can see coming from ten miles away. Typically they'll set up a joke, you'll think "I wonder what the twist will be because there's no way they are going with such a predictable joke", and then they'll do that predictable joke, and then you'll groan and wonder why you gave this show another chance.

I've sat through five episodes of this show and I want my 2 1/2 hours back. CBC please stop spending our tax dollars on such awful shows. It's a good premise and I recognize some good actors in the show but this show is just not funny, not interesting, not controversial, not good at all.

I thought it was funny. Little jokes about the misconceptions and prejudices westerners have about the eastern religions and the Arab nationals.

Having caught the first episode this evening, I was pleasantly surprised that the CBC has produced a quality comedy, even in light of the controversial content. This show should earn notoriety through its fine acting, intelligent commentary, and its combination of palatable slapstick and wry humour, thankfully with heavier emphasis on the latter. Instead the controversy behind the fact that it is primarily about a group of people that follow a religion that has been completely demonized in the western world has powered its media attention. Their is nothing about this comedy that should incense people, it is not a Muslim extremist justifier, it is not an attempt to integrate violent people into docile Canadian culture. It is just what it should appear to be: a fish-out-of-water comedy with a relevant, modern twist. The hatred and prejudice that has been spewed about this show (weeks before it aired even its first episode) is completely unjustified (and plain old racist in my opinion) can only show that those doing the spewing haven't even watched the show, and due to their own shortcomings, probably never will. Too bad, cause its damn funny.