Little Mosque on the Prairie

Being that this show is filmed in my city and because I'm in film, I hear about what's going on in the biz around here, and I've heard the buzz about Little Mosque on the Prairie before it even aired. I've been meaning to check it out, but I'm really not much of a T.V. watcher. I buy T.V. shows on DVD to watch, but I don't watch cable very often. I was in Walmart trolling for new DVDs and thought I'd finally check it out.

Season 1 begins when Amaar (Zaib Shaikh), the new Imam from Toronto arrives in small town Mercy, Saskatchewan. The local Muslims have set up a Mosque in the Parish hall of the Anglican church. The show's main characters include the Hamoudi family, father Yasir (Carlo Rota), a building contractor who runs his office out of the Mosque, his western wife Sarah (Sheila McCarthy), and their beautiful daughter, Rayyan (Sitara Hewitt), the town doctor. Other members of the Mosque include Baber (Manoj Sood), a widowed, traditional Muslim man exasperated by his teenage daughter, Layla (Aliza Vellani), who is going through typical teenage rebellion doubled with her embarrassment of her religion being different than all her friends and her father (Baber: "Layla, turn off that hippity hop!"). Fatima (Arlene Duncan), a widowed African Muslim woman, runs the cafe in town, a popular meeting place for all the characters. The Anglican priest, Reverend Duncan McGee (Derek McGrath), has opened up the Parish Hall for the Muslim community to use as a Mosque, much to the dismay of several townspeople. He also begins a friendship with Amaar and becomes a mentor, giving him advice on leading a congregation of followers and the headaches that sometimes go along with it.


Unfortunately, the first season only contains eight episodes. I have to admit, my knowledge of Islam is limited to the two weeks that we studied it in my Religious Studies 100 class. I enjoy the show for that reason. It's interesting to see the Saskatchewan experience through the eyes of a Muslim. Our small towns are not exactly known for their tolerance and understanding of different religions, sexual orientations, races, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love Saskatchewan, but I have had my fair share of racism growing up Native Canadian in this province. One character that addresses this is Fred Tupper (Neil Crone), the town's radio talk show host who spews ignorant rants about women, Muslims, homosexuals and anything different on his show. However, off air, he is slightly more tolerant spending a lot of time at Fatima's cafe (some on the IMDB boards speculate that he actually has a crush on her). Speaking of crushes, it is clear there is also some tension between the beautiful Rayyan and the hunky Amaar.


I consider the show fresh, enjoy the humour and look forward to season 2 when it comes out on DVD. I get a big kick out of Baber and his interactions with his daughter, especially. I also like the interactions between Amaar and Duncan. We briefly discussed the show in my producing class last year. The instructor, who is a writer and producer, has a barometer of whether a show is a success or not. "Is it embarrassing?" If the answer is no, then it's a success. So, his assessment of the show was "it wasn't embarrassing". In any case, it's worth checking out and airs on CBC. I chose to end with a quote from the episode where the Mosque gets a convert who is a little too uh, exuberant about his new faith for everybody's taste.

Marlon (the convert): You'd make an obedient wife. Perhaps we could meet for coffee?
Rayyan: I don't meet men for coffee.
Marlon: Forgive me, I meant with a chaperone.
Rayyan: My chaperone....has to wash her hair.

More ramblings to come.....