While my praise still has to be qualified by my caveats, I thought Episode 3 of Little Mosque was the strongest yet. Some great moments for Carlo Rota and Manoj Sood (as Baber).
And I'm sorry, but a priest going hard-core gamer over a first-person-shooter is laugh-out-loud funny.
In one post you bemoan CTV putting better shows in bad places and now you want the CBC to change (make better) a show you call a hit. Perhaps you are in denial about the true nature of the medium. It's television, it's about the commercials.
First of all, we've got a rule here, bub. If you're going to bust out the snark, you do it with a name -- or you allow everyone else to ridicule you as a girly-net-coward.
Secondly, really? Your big point that you build to is that commercials are important to television?
Wasn't meant to be "snark", rather to point out that the networks, and these days that sadly includes the CBC, exist for ad revenue and so are disinclined to change anything about a show that draws a large audience, regardless how "bad" that show might be. And the fact is CTV only makes Canadian shows because it has to. Writers, Directors and DOPs mistake television for art when it is commerce. Just as well too, a Canadian novel that sells more than 5000 copies is thought to be a major success.
Regards anonymous postings: including them seems to prevent blogs from becoming too "clubby". It's the host's preogative to edit out any he or she thinks are offensive or unfair.
But they also allow people to say things they don't have the courage to put their name to. It takes a moment to register on Blogger. You don't even have to set up a blog. And in my experience, the people who take the time to do that generally leave more thoughtful comments -because as in the real world, your name (or even your nickname) is a brand that follows you.
As for the art/commerce thing. It's still a very old argument -- one that's used mostly by the people who still persist in looking down on TV. It's a 1970's argument. The data and the evidence suggest, Deal or No Deals aside, that intelligent and nuanced programming is actually trending up. The makeup of the audience, rather than the number, is the only reason that Studio 60 is still on the air, for instance.
With CBC and mosque, if the numbers level off that's good for the channel, but they still lost 50 percent of their initial audience. Don't be so sure that they won't want to tinker to try to get some of those people back.
Random note to MEF ... I liked the Little Temple on the Tundra bit this week, cute.
I've just returned from Real Screen, a non-fiction tv conference in Washington DC, attended by about 1300 tv types from the US, Canada, the UK and other parts unknown and bar none the thing most non-Canadians asked me about was Little Mosque. So, not only is it a hit, it has raised our tv cred internationally a whole heck of a lot.
"Little Mosque" depends of offensive stereotypes for its humour.
Also, while at times funny, I do wonder about how "real" the situation is. I once saw a show about how the Nazis made two propaganda films about the conflict between the British and the Irish. The films, at least according to those who were interviewed who had seen them were quite good. The only problem was that the people in the movies were not Irish. What I mean by that was that the culture of the Irish portrayed in the films in no way reflected actual Irish culture as I guess the Germans who wrote, produced, and acted in the movies never took the time to get to understand the traditions and feel of the Irish people. It just wasn't important to them because in the end it had nothing to do with the Irish. It was as one commentator of the movies said "Germans talking to Germans".
And that is kind of what I am getting with the "Little Mosque" show. In the end it isn't really about small town Saskatchewan or Muslim communities living within small town Saskatchewan. In the end what it comes down to is just Liberal Urbanite Canadians talking to Liberal Urbanite Canadians, with their political message being far more important to them than whether or not the situation portrayed reflects a real situation in the country accurately enough.
By the way, why does "The She Mayor" remind me so much of the mayor on South Park?
The comment regarding September 11th in the third episode was extremely offensive.
To compare an electrical fire (caused by a member of the mosque albeit accidentally) where no one was even injuried and the damage to the mosque amounted to a few rugs and other minor property to an act that caused the deaths of 2996 people was beyond the pale.
Can you imagine having to make the decision between either jumping to your death or being burned alive? Yet by that comment the show tries to trivalize this. That the CBC would allow that comment shows it to be lacking of any decency and conscience.
It is even more concerning when you realize that the vast majority of the people in the Muslim world and even one third of Westerners believe that September 11th was caused by the Americans and/or the Israelis. Was that the idea that was trying to be promoted? Just like that Muslim was blaming the infidels in the town for the fire that was really caused by another member of the mosque, the Muslims are being blamed for something that was caused by members of the West and therefore the electrical fire was indeed their September 11th.
I am quite offended that the CBC would go into encouraging that kind of thinking.
I think your point is way off. And I'm from New York, and I had relatives in the Twin Towers both in the 1991 bombing and 9/11. All got out, but still. Don't presume to play the 9/11 card with me.
Two weeks after 9/11, Gilbert Gottfried made a joke at a roast about being late because his plane had a stopover at the Empire State Building.
That was a funny joke. People were uncomfortable, and no one laughed. So then he told a particularly filthy version of "The Aristocrats." And it was the release the audience needed.
Don't tell me what I can and can't make fun of. Whether I'm a muslim, a jew, a Catholic...American, Canadian, or Egyptian - my values include not having someone tell me what I can't and can find funny.
You're grinding an agenda axe, and that's fine. But I call you out.
11 comments:
While my praise still has to be qualified by my caveats, I thought Episode 3 of Little Mosque was the strongest yet. Some great moments for Carlo Rota and Manoj Sood (as Baber).
And I'm sorry, but a priest going hard-core gamer over a first-person-shooter is laugh-out-loud funny.
Oh yes...Rev. McGee and his "venal sin".
I was definitely amused!
In one post you bemoan CTV putting better shows in bad places and now you want the CBC to change (make better) a show you call a hit. Perhaps you are in denial about the true nature of the medium. It's television, it's about the commercials.
First of all, we've got a rule here, bub. If you're going to bust out the snark, you do it with a name -- or you allow everyone else to ridicule you as a girly-net-coward.
Secondly, really? Your big point that you build to is that commercials are important to television?
Okay. Good for you. Point made, such as it is.
Wasn't meant to be "snark", rather to point out that the networks, and these days that sadly includes the CBC, exist for ad revenue and so are disinclined to change anything about a show that draws a large audience, regardless how "bad" that show might be. And the fact is CTV only makes Canadian shows because it has to. Writers, Directors and DOPs mistake television for art when it is commerce. Just as well too, a Canadian novel that sells more than 5000 copies is thought to be a major success.
Regards anonymous postings: including them seems to prevent blogs from becoming too "clubby". It's the host's preogative to edit out any he or she thinks are offensive or unfair.
But they also allow people to say things they don't have the courage to put their name to. It takes a moment to register on Blogger. You don't even have to set up a blog. And in my experience, the people who take the time to do that generally leave more thoughtful comments -because as in the real world, your name (or even your nickname) is a brand that follows you.
As for the art/commerce thing. It's still a very old argument -- one that's used mostly by the people who still persist in looking down on TV. It's a 1970's argument. The data and the evidence suggest, Deal or No Deals aside, that intelligent and nuanced programming is actually trending up. The makeup of the audience, rather than the number, is the only reason that Studio 60 is still on the air, for instance.
With CBC and mosque, if the numbers level off that's good for the channel, but they still lost 50 percent of their initial audience. Don't be so sure that they won't want to tinker to try to get some of those people back.
Random note to MEF ... I liked the Little Temple on the Tundra bit this week, cute.
I've just returned from Real Screen, a non-fiction tv conference in Washington DC, attended by about 1300 tv types from the US, Canada, the UK and other parts unknown and bar none the thing most non-Canadians asked me about was Little Mosque. So, not only is it a hit, it has raised our tv cred internationally a whole heck of a lot.
"Little Mosque" depends of offensive stereotypes for its humour.
Also, while at times funny, I do wonder about how "real" the situation is. I once saw a show about how the Nazis made two propaganda films about the conflict between the British and the Irish. The films, at least according to those who were interviewed who had seen them were quite good. The only problem was that the people in the movies were not Irish. What I mean by that was that the culture of the Irish portrayed in the films in no way reflected actual Irish culture as I guess the Germans who wrote, produced, and acted in the movies never took the time to get to understand the traditions and feel of the Irish people. It just wasn't important to them because in the end it had nothing to do with the Irish. It was as one commentator of the movies said "Germans talking to Germans".
And that is kind of what I am getting with the "Little Mosque" show. In the end it isn't really about small town Saskatchewan or Muslim communities living within small town Saskatchewan. In the end what it comes down to is just Liberal Urbanite Canadians talking to Liberal Urbanite Canadians, with their political message being far more important to them than whether or not the situation portrayed reflects a real situation in the country accurately enough.
By the way, why does "The She Mayor" remind me so much of the mayor on South Park?
The comment regarding September 11th in the third episode was extremely offensive.
To compare an electrical fire (caused by a member of the mosque albeit accidentally) where no one was even injuried and the damage to the mosque amounted to a few rugs and other minor property to an act that caused the deaths of 2996 people was beyond the pale.
Can you imagine having to make the decision between either jumping to your death or being burned alive? Yet by that comment the show tries to trivalize this. That the CBC would allow that comment shows it to be lacking of any decency and conscience.
It is even more concerning when you realize that the vast majority of the people in the Muslim world and even one third of Westerners believe that September 11th was caused by the Americans and/or the Israelis. Was that the idea that was trying to be promoted? Just like that Muslim was blaming the infidels in the town for the fire that was really caused by another member of the mosque, the Muslims are being blamed for something that was caused by members of the West and therefore the electrical fire was indeed their September 11th.
I am quite offended that the CBC would go into encouraging that kind of thinking.
Greg,
I think your point is way off. And I'm from New York, and I had relatives in the Twin Towers both in the 1991 bombing and 9/11. All got out, but still. Don't presume to play the 9/11 card with me.
Two weeks after 9/11, Gilbert Gottfried made a joke at a roast about being late because his plane had a stopover at the Empire State Building.
That was a funny joke. People were uncomfortable, and no one laughed. So then he told a particularly filthy version of "The Aristocrats." And it was the release the audience needed.
Don't tell me what I can and can't make fun of. Whether I'm a muslim, a jew, a Catholic...American, Canadian, or Egyptian - my values include not having someone tell me what I can't and can find funny.
You're grinding an agenda axe, and that's fine. But I call you out.
Greg came back with a lovely little piece of hate, the only content of which was this:
The first bombing of the WTC took place in 1993, not 1991. I misstyped.
Greg also gets the prize -- it's back to registered comments only. You can't play nice, you lose the sandbox.
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