I Want a Pair of Underoos*

Thinking critically about my life, the universe and everything has helped me realize that skipping lunch doesn't just give me a headache, it makes me very cranky. I'm probably the only person that this is news to but this afternoon I ended up working through the only time I could conveniently get away for food (stupid "I NEED THIS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!" people - you don't need it now and if I give it to you now you'll only sit on it for the next hour) and I'm rightly pissed off.

Not just about having to work through my lunch but in general: a Wolverine without coffee kind of mood, where he guts Kitty Pride at the breakfast table for finishing the last of the milk. Probably not the best time to download grad school applications.**


*This title has nothing to do with anything except I want a pair of underoos.
**God, I'm never going to get in anywhere /intimidated anxious whine.***


***Gah! I just requested a prospectus from the University of East Anglia. Am I really going to do this? /metaphorical head between metaphorical knees

I Et the TV - Little Mosque on the Prarie

The worst thing I can say about the CBC's new comedy, Little Mosque on the Prairie, is that they try too hard.

Creator and show-runner Zarqa Nawaz is herself a practicing Muslim, a mother of four, who moved to Regina 10 years ago with her husband. Her experiences, both as a Muslim in Regina and a liberal Muslim, became the subject of a series of short films and documentaries before her debut this evening as a comedic talent for the CBC. As a comedy writer (her previous credits include the short BBQ Muslims about brothers who find themselves under investigation for terrorism in our post-9/11 when their backyard BBQ explodes), she pushes the political humour too hard - scenes involving the new iman's run in's with airport security and the local yellow press are painfully self aware and PC - but when the relentless "this is a COMEDY about MUSLIMS in CANADA" subtext is given a break, there's a friendly, not-overly challenging comedy about culture clash on the prairies lurking inside Little Mosque on the Prairie just waiting to break out.

LMotP benefits from a strong cast, particularly Sheila McCarthy as WASP-turned-Muslim Sarah and her potential nemesis, Fatima (Arlene Duncan), who believes that convert-to-Islam Sarah's cucumber sandwiches are an innapropriately WASP way of breaking the Ramadan fast. Carlo Rota as community leader/shady character Yasir and Sitara Hewitt (is there a more Canadian name?) as his devout-yet-modern daughter, Rayyan, are charming - even though their characters are little more than Islamic-spiced stereotypes. Zaib Shaikh as the modern, liberal, Torontonian iman, Amaar, however, manages to be both flat and grating.

The cast is rounded out with a handful of familiar Canadian actors of the "I don't know their name but I'm sure I saw them on Mr. Dressup" variety who all do yeoman work as the somewhat clueless Anglo inhabitants of the fictional town of Mercy.

The production design is CSB standard - the sets look both realer and cheaper than Everybody Love Raymond - and the show is, overall, a pleasant half-hour of television. Based on a single episode, I'd have to award Little Mosque on the Prairie a grade of C+. Worth watching, or at least taping to watch after Friday Night Lights.

That said, Little House on the Prairie has real potential - ditch the self-conscious political humour and focus on the interaction between the Muslims and mainstream on the prairie and LMotP has real potential.

If nothing else, any show that makes my mouth water for a bowl of goat curry is worth watching a second time.

Little Mosque on the Prairie airs Wednesday at 8 pm on CBC.

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eta - 'the flist is alive, with the posts on 'Little Mosque on the Prairie.'

Even the Beeb has gotten in on the action.