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Riff RaffReview of 'Little Mosque on the Prairie' Series Premiere
January 10th 2007 04:32
'Little Mosque' Cast
Small town Canada, with a little Muslim Twist.
Tongue in cheek cheekiness abounds in this much buzzed about CBC comedy. The series premiere broadcast on January 9, 2007 was fast-paced, witty and, above all, funny.
The Muslim inhabitants of small town Mercy, Saskatchewan have been without a Mosque until the Pastor leases the Anglican parish hall out to 'Yasir's Construction Co'. Yasir has not told the Reverend that the parish will be used as a makeshift Mosque and the Muslim followers have not been told that it is a secret Mosque.
Yasir feels he must keep the Mosque a secret as no one in the small town has been willing to rent out space for Islamic worship.
Meanwhile, a young, handsome Torontonian lawyer, Amaar Rashid, has answered his calling - and a newspaper ad - to become an Imam (leader of a Muslim congregation). At the airport, he is deep in cell phone conversation defending his decision to give up being a lawyer and move to Saskatchewan when a woman in line overhears what she believes to be terrorist exclamations:
"I've been planning this for months. It's not like I dropped a bomb on him. If dad thinks it's suicide, so be it. This is Allah's plan for me."
At this point, the woman flees.
"I'm not throwing my life away! I'm moving to the Prairies."
Of course, this is a comedic misunderstanding where Amaar's attempt to convince his parents that he has not lost his mind in giving up his big city, lucrative life for a humble Prairie one sounds (comicly) suspicious in a post 9/11 world.
In a flash, airport security have whisked a baffled Amaar out of line telling him, "Step away from the bag. You're not going to paradise today."
In the security office Amaar asks, "What's the charge? Flying while Muslim?'"
Deadpan delivery by security officer: "No, that is not the charge."
"I was joking. Muslims around the world are known for their sense of humour."
Another deadpan delivery: "I did not know that."
"I was jok~" Amaar gives up trying to explain the idea of joking to these bafoons.
Back in Mercy, the secret mosque is not so secret after all. It leaks onto the local radio show that there may be a hidden terrorist cell in town and a media frenzy is unleashed which, in tiny Mercy, means one reporter shows up at the makeshift Mosque. Just in time for Amaar's arrival, the reporter sticks a mike in his face demanding to know what is his affiliation with the terrorists?
Amaar explains that the cops had nothing on him.
"Cops? What cops?" reporter thinks he has finally hit the jackpot and found the Pulitzer Prize winning story.
'Who are you?" asks the snap-happy reporter.
"I'm the new Imam. Its like a priest or rabbi, but browner."
Yasir and his family arrive to welcome their new Imam. The reporter loves it and asks,
"What is your connection to Al Quaida?"
"What is your connection to journalism?" Yasir's daughter fires back.
Reporter to Ammar, "Are you from Saudi Arabia?
"No, I'm from Toronto!"
"Toronto? Even better!" reporter gleefully snaps photos.
Its a whirlwind (and humorous) introduction to Amaar's new home.
Visiting the local coffee house, Amaar's big city expectations get him into a bit of hot water.
"Could I get a low-fat cappuccino?" he asks innocently.
"We don't make low-fat cappuccino," says the Muslim waitress, Fatima.
"Ok, I'll have a regular."
"We don't make regular"
"You don't make cappuccino?" Amaar can't believe his Toronto ears.
"There is your cappuccino!" The waitress sick of his whining, plops a huge blob of whipped cream into a cup of coffee.
"What am I doing here!" Amaar whines.
Amaar seems to think this nutty small town isn't for him and attempts to book a flight home over the phone answering "Amaar Rashid" when asked for his name. He is then put on hold.
He mutters, "Can't a Muslim book a one way ticket without someone having to call their supervisor?"
But he quickly realizes that Mercy and its quirky inhabitants have grown on him and they really need him to be their new Imam.
The pastor, hearing of all the recent commotion, keeps trying to get a hold of Yesir but Yesir avoids him at all costs fearing the Mosque and congregation would get evicted for misrepresenting themselves.
Yesir pleads with the new Imam to stop the eviction. He tells Amaar, "Sue him."
"I can't sue him...Well, I can but I'm not doing that anymore," replies the chagrined Amaar.
Finally, the Pastor manages to catch up with Amaar and Amaar tries his best 'lawyer talk' to get out of the sticky situation.
The Pastor can't get a word in so he is forced to tell Amaar, "With all due respect, shut up! I'm not evicting you." The Reverend had simply been trying to give them a new lease with their proper activity as a Mosque on it.
The premiere episode closes with Amaar in front of his congregation in their very own Little Mosque on the Prairie. While this program is not a drama nor is it trying to make political statements, it does show us through humor that we all have our funny idiosyncrasies and share much common ground. Through laughter, this show can help break down prejudices and hopefully lead to better understanding and tolerance between cultures.
Some other quotes from the premiere include:
The old Imam (an eccentric older man with some unique views on life and Islam) said,
"American Idol? Canadian Idol? I say, all idols must be smashed!"
and
"Desperate housewives? Why should they be desperate when they are only performing their natural womanly duties?"
An Anglo-Canadian man to Fatima, "Would it kill you Muslim girls to show a little cleavage?"
Fatima replies, "Would it kill you if I hit you with a cleaver?"
Anglo-Canadian mayor of Mercy is miffed after radio show mentions her PR assistant as being a Muslim convert and possibly influencing the city office. She tells her PR assistant, Sarah, "You're supposed to spin the news, not be the news"
Sarah tells the mayor that she will get to the truth of the matter.
Mayor replies, "I can work with the truth...but only as a last resort."
After his family confronts Yesir for covering up the Mosque's presence in the Christian parish hall, Yesir says, "Would you like to tell Jesus about it or should I?"
"I don't think the prophet had a telescope from Costco" said when congregation was trying to ascertain when Ramadan begins.
Amaar jumps in and says, "In Toronto...(sees everyone's look of disgust)...Forget it!"
Fatima gets her back up at that and replies sarcastically, "Tell us how they do it in Torroonto"
"Tell me, does Ramadan begin when the bell rings at the Toronto Stock Exchange?" another follower pipes in, making fun of the big city Imam.
The mayor visits the Mosque and comforts Amaar by telling him that the radio host (who was giving Amaar a hard time) had called her the 'she-mayor' when she first took office.
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Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
The line, "American Idol? Canadian Idol? I say, all idols must be smashed!" just cracks me up.
Comment by Big Cat
Chatterpillar
Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
Safran reminds me of Canadian comedian Rick Mercer. Mercer has a bit called 'Talking to Americans' where he "would travel to major American cities and conduct on-the-street interviews with average Americans regarding Canadian politics, the weather, etc., often with hilarious results as the subject's ignorance about Canada was illustrated. One example saw Mercer asking Americans' opinion on whether Canada should change its "20 Hour Clock" to the 24 hour one used by the United States. He received approval from citizens and the Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack.
Mercer made international headlines in 2000 when he pulled a "Talking to Americans" stunt on then-presidential candidate George W. Bush. He successfully got Bush to answer questions about non-existent Canadian Prime Minister "Jean Poutine" (a play on the real politician's name, Jean Chrétien and popular Canadian dish poutine). Bush was not amused at the time, and has since then refused to accept any interviews from the CBC."
(Quote from wikipedia)
Comment by Francis
Passionate Apathy
From the review I am really hoping Little Mosque gets shown here in the States.
Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
Hope I didn't offend you with the 'Talking to Americans' jokes.
Cheers,
Pegasus
Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
"the CBC says Little Mosque was its highest-rated debut of a series ever. Kirstine Layfield, director of network programming, says it appears that Little Mosque won its time slot, even besting a brand-new episode of the red-hot medical drama House. The network also says it is receiving considerable interest from U.S. broadcasters and agents."
So, Francis, maybe you'll get to see the show after all.
Comment by Francis
Passionate Apathy
Not offended at all; I've worked in our public schools and I know our biggest problem isn't other people laughing at how ignorant our graduates are.
Glad to hear the show is doing well; it's be$t chance to be $hown in America i$ to convince the $uit$ what a well-$cripted and $uperb program it is.
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
OMG, you're joking... it would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
here are some more examples (from wikipedia):
"* persuading Americans to congratulate Canada on legalizing VCRs
* various political controversies involving one or more Canadian states (Canada has provinces, not states),
* congratulating the Canadian government on building a dome over its "national igloo" to protect it from global warming (one of the interview subjects so fooled was Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee),
* agreeing that the U.S. should bomb Saskatchewan
* proposing the idea that a Canadian company actually had the mining rights to Mount Rushmore,
* congratulating Canada for officially joining North America,
* controversy around the reconstruction of the historic "Peter Mann's Bridge", named after "Prime Minister Peter Mann" (actually a pun on the name of Canadian journalist Peter Mansbridge who certainly never was Prime Minister!),
* asking if Jean Chrétien-Pinochet should be charged with crimes against humanity,
* asking students and professors at Columbia University to sign a petition asking Canadians to discontinue the practice of abandoning the elderly on ice flows,
* congratulating Prime Minister Tim Horton on getting a double-double (a coffee with two creams and two sugars or, according to Mercer, 'support on both sides of Congress'),
* the coronation of Svend Robinson as King Svend I of Canada,
* wishing Canadians a "Happy Stockwell Day" (Stockwell Day is a name of a Canadian politician),
* congratulating Canadians on classifying Labrador Retrievers as elephants, to prevent them from being used for hard labour,
* tricking Americans that Canada did not have "high tech" things like airplanes, paved roads or FM radio.
Some of the Americans interviewed seemed just to be playing along, although professors at distinguished American universities always seemed to be taken in by absurdities like the Saskatchewan seal hunt. The only Americans who were shown outsmarting Mercer were a university student who spent her time laughing at him, and a small child who pointed out to his mother that Canada has provinces, not states."
You know, Epiphanie, I couldn't watch too much of Mercer's shows because I would feel sorry for the Americans he was making fun of (even though maybe they did deserve it if they really didn't think that Canada has airplanes, electricity, paved roads, etc). He was a bit of a Borat before Borat was!
Comment by Mrs M
Mum's Word
Love & stuff
Mrs M
Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
Cheers,
Peg
Comment by Bhumika
Political Minds