CBC’s much hyped and much anticipated “Little Mosque on the Prairie“ premiered last night.

I’d been looking forward to this show for months and especially after the minor attention it’s gotten.

I was ready and open to like this show and although I didn’t hate it, this first episode didn’t blow me away. I felt there could have been a bit more substance to it, plus it felt a bit rushed to me.

I don’t know, maybe I was expecting too much from a thirty minute sitcom (with no laugh tracks).

It’s a comedy about a small Muslim community in a small prairie town in Canada, their new mosque, Imam, and the neighbours’ perception of and reaction to them in this post September 11 world.

While this makes for a great premise, the first 10 minutes threw in every stereotypical Muslims-are-terrorist joke in the book. Which makes me wonder what they’ll do for the remaining episodes, they can’t repeat the same jokes over and over, can they?

A couple of jokes and/or situations garnered a smile or chuckle from me, but there wasn’t anything laugh-out-funny to me, probably because it seemed a tad ridiculous to be funny.

This show has the potential to be what it’s supposed to be, it could be humorous, satirical and insightful. Depends on what direction the show takes and how characters are developed.

Overall, it’s a great concept; the first episode was a ‘weak-good’ because I was expecting something more along the lines of the great immigrant/assimilation comedy.

I’ll have to watch at least three more episodes to form a solid opinion, but it’s fresh, interesting, and different, unlike anything on TV right now. Plus it’s got buzz…

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