I should have added aspoiler alert. grin

hope you enjoy as much as I did. And Mike .... sorry man. 8-)

I actually don't watch much but this had caught my eye. Glad I took the time.

Thanks for the reminder, GR! For once I'm glad I live in this time zone - it's not on for another hour here in BC! To the tv!

The headtoxins and nonsense you people with televisions have to put up with makes me.... makes me....

smug!

Going to watch it now, we taped it. I was forced to watch Degrassi. GR, I hope it makes me laugh, though I do not want to break something.

It was OK -- not as good as I hoped, but not as bad as I feared. Pilots are often rocky. I can't wait for the next one.

I enjoyed the first one and look forward to more. I'm so glad to see the CBC working in drama/light comedy with all of the underlying social commentary. I rarely watch TV (no cable, strictly rabbit ears) so it's quite a treat.

My daughter and I watched the program and we enjoyed it - it looks like it is going to be a good series - lots of laughs -

laughter might be the healing of the world. thought it was great

I am sorry I missed it, but I had a meeting at the church. I had really been looking forward to it. I am sure someone taped it. I have quite a few Muslim friends who are really worn down by the image of Muslims in popular culture and are hoping that this will present them in as silly and quirky a way as anyone else.

One of the things I like about Canada is the way in which we seem to be able to have fun with the foibles of culture. Over the last decade (at least), there have been all sorts of VERY funny ethnic and regional comedians taking the mickey out of their own background. This is a really good thing, in my opinion. I recall one comedian of East Indian origin who asked us to imagine if Sikhs dominated the NHL. He did a fake announcer: "... and it's Singh ... over to Singh... passes to Singh... and SINGH GETS A BREAKAWAY... SHOOTS... and SINGH makes the save!!!"

I missed it. Stupid night classes!

*Shakes fist

On the other hand, in Film 251, we watched LA Confidential. Fanstatic film, I still with I could have seen the premier though. My Religious Studies prof was talking about it this morning. Maybe they'll air it again.

James, if you have not read the novel "LA Confidential" (and the rest of Elroy's so-called "LA trilogy"), give it whirl.

I watched it, I liked it, I'd watch it again. However, I hear CBC is not going to keep it in this timeslot (why completely escapes me - it seems perfect following the Rick Mercer Report). I heard they are going to put it Monday at 9:00, opposite Heroes (Clearly if this is true they WANT the show to fail) But then I heard Weds. at 8:00. CBC seems determined to make some of their top material fail by putting it in lousy time slots. Such was the death of Wonderland which was one of the best shows on TV at the time but crappy time slot.

Honestly Muslims scare me. I think this is a great opportunity to learn more about their faith/culture without having to leave the living room. Enjoyed the show, will continue to watch. It is great to see something that portrays Muslims in a positive light; I'm getting too used to seeing them on the evening news. Well done CBC!

I saw this show last night, and loved it. I'm watching it again right now and taping it too. This show is great! I think Everyone in North America should see it!

Can I just add that the new imam is pretty easy on the eyes? =)

Diana...yes, he's very easy on the eyes!!!

i loved it too!! i agree that it had some very rocky points, but overall i think it will fly.

and yes, that imam is pretty hot... i mean, yes, a great actor, that man. very well spoken.

my favorite line in the pilot... 'you arabs couldn't find the moon unless there was oil spurting out of it.' LOL!!!!

I saw a repeat of the premiere last night. It reminded me a bit of Corner Gas.............more a collection of comedic characters making their way in everyday life, versus emhasis on depth and plot. I loved it, haven't laughed so much at a TV show for a long time. I like the guy who plays the church minister, he's on the series "Doc". I watch that show sometimes. It certainly brings in God and faith issues....in a somewhat corny, melodramatic way! Okay, I have to admit it , some episodes do bring a little tear to my eye!

There just aren't a lot of good shows on TV these days. We have satelite as we have no cable access and I wonder why we bother sometimes . Many times when we do get a chance to sit down and feel like watching a bit we scroll through one reality show/channel after another. About the only shows we take in are Law and Order, CSI, Without a Trace and the news. But too many episodes of those shows gets boring after awhile too!

Liked the show. Great time slot after Rick Mercer. Very healthy way to show there are lots of different Muslims just like there are lots of different Christians and Jews. When I worked at at Jewish HS I learned that some students just took the holidays and paid little attention to why while others were quite serious in their practice. Hope Little Mosque doesn't turn into drivel and soap operas or I won't watch.

It's on again tonight and it looks like a battle of the sexes as Baber (the more conservative Muslim) wants to errect a barricade in the mosque to seperate the men and women, as is done in many mosques.

I personally think it is disgusting to have a barricade. Women have been subjegated long enough in religion! How's about some equality!

Okay, time for a more negative review (sorry fans!)

I saw the pilot last night... I thought it was okay, though as a Prairie-boy and Religious Studies major I found ALL of the cliches to be very forced - ie. both the Muslim cliches and the Praire ones.

I found the writing to be good, but the directing of the pilot left a lot to be desired. Some of the jokes were overdone, others had bad timing, and the performances were a mixture of over-acting and under-acting.

I'm also not convinced that this is what's needed to address the cultural tensions in Canada right now - bigots won't get the irony and people who already see through stereotypes aren't really learning much that's new.

On the other hand, I do appreciate the comment made above by the person who admitted to feeling frightened/disturbed by Islam. A show like this might be able to increase familiarity and comfort, and therefore neighbourliness. Because the truth is, it is a very 'alien' tradition to many of us and we shouldn't be pretending that we're all the same when we're not.

But when it comes down to it, so many characters were over-the-top farces of reality (the OPP officer at the Toronto airport, for instance) that I found very little of it truly funny.

Sorry but that over the topness is currently what's going on with many people in the current law enforcement agencies. Cultural profiling is what they have to go buy. Now if you had been standing in line where that woman was and heard the new Imam talking the way he did, before he mentioned moving to the praries you wouldn't be concerned?

I'm not saying it's right, but it is understandable. With CNN logos like "THE WAR ON TERROR" it isn't hard to see where the paranoia is coming from. I thought all of the characters where fairly reasonable. Only a couple of conservative nuts on both sides of the spectrum on the show.

GospelCrazy,
I agree with almost everything you said except that I actually enjoyed it. I agree that the stereotypes were a bit over done, but I still found it funny. And I must agree with the person who liked the line about oil spurting out of the moon.... that was easily my favorite line of the show.
Having just taken a course in Shiism, I was a little disappointed that the characters were all Sunni, but I suppose it makes the most sense for them to be.
Anyway, I'll watch it again.... just as soon as I figure out which timeslot they're putting it in!

Loved it, can't wait for the next one.
Over the top is good, it's great, it's fantastic.
We take ourselves and everyone else much too seriously.
This is the modern version of "all in the family" and thank God for it.

SciFiQueen: You don't have to apologize to disagree with me. : )

Was great....laughed all the way through!

WHo loved episode two?

I loved Sarah adn Yasir's response to no sex with his wife!

I loved seeing Baber lighten up a little with his daughter.

I laughed so hard in this episode and I can't wait until the next episode!

...and there was a joke about the United Church in episode 2. The imam was sitting on a bench with the Anglican minister, and the imam asked the minister whether he ever had trouble with his congregation. The minister said he once had a music director that smoked pot, which would have been ok, accept for the time the minister accidentally ate two of his funny brownies at a church picnic. The imam said, well, I guess that music director is out of work, and the minister said (wait for it.......) No, he is working for the United Church now.

I liked episode 2 much more than the pilot. I'm glad I took the time to give it another chance.

I loved episode #2 and, as far as I know, it's on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. The next episode is on January 31st....