CBC's Little Mosque to break new ground
In a show that will be the first of its kind on North American TV, CBC plans to begin a new comedy series about a small community of Muslims living in rural Saskatchewan.
Little Mosque on the Prairie doesn't come to air until Jan. 9, but already it has attracted attention from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN and satirical talk-show host Stephen Colbert.
The show's creator, Zarqa Nawaz, says she hopes the cheeky send-up of stereotypes and the clash of cultures will show Muslims in a new light.
"That Muslims can be funny and are just like everyone else," she said in an interview with CBC Television.
A Regina-based mother of four, Nawaz says she hopes her children will see the new face of Canada in the show.
"I'd like them to be able to watch TV and see people who also look like them. So they can also connect that way," she said.
Shot in Toronto in 2006, the show focuses on a Muslim community in the fictional Prairie town of Mercy, following family conflicts and the community's interaction with their neighbours.
"It's based on my own observations growing up as Muslim in North America," she said.
Toronto-born actor Zaib Shaikh plays a young lawyer turned religious leader in the series.
The show isn't meant to be political, he said, and doesn't deal with political themes.
"It's a show that's meant to be funny, that shows an aspect of Canadian culture that just happens to be Muslim."
In one episode, a father fights with his adolescent daughter over what she can wear to school. In another, a battle of sexes erupts when a spiritual leader wants to put a divider between men and women in the mosque.
The show is a half-hour sitcom with humour arising out of the situations, Nawaz said, adding that her main goal is to get people laughing.
"Muslims have reacted very favourably to the show, because they want to see themselves on screen as real people," she said.
Nawaz was born in England, grew up in Toronto and moved to Saskatchewan 10 years ago. Her BBQ Muslims was a hit at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1996.
Actor Carlo Rota, who has a part in this show, as well as the hit U.S. series 24, says he thinks Little Mosque on the Prairie could only be made in Canada.
"I get heavy guys, bad guys, guys that garrotte, guys that strafe with machine guns," he says of his usual roles for TV.
American TV is too timid to make a show with such a fresh perspective, he said.
The show premieres next Tuesday and then will air on Monday nights and be repeated on Wednesday nights.
Police Reunion Rumors Reaching Fever Pitch
Rumors are swirling that the Police will reunite for 2007 dates in England and the United States, which would be the legendary trio's first since disbanding in 1986. Sources tell Billboard.com the reports are legitimate but would not publicly comment until final details are nearer to completion.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the release of "Roxanne," the single that broke the Police in the United States. "Discussions have been underway as to how this will be commemorated," reads a post on Sting's Web site attributed to an A&M spokesperson. "While we can confirm that there will indeed be something special done to mark the occasion, the depth of the band's involvement still remains undetermined."
Sources say in addition to DVD releases, A&M is planning another multi-disc collection in the vein of 1993's "Message in a Box," which featured the band's complete studio recordings and a handful of rarities.
A Police reunion has been the concert industry's dream for two decades, as it is believed the band could play stadiums internationally should it choose to reunite. But besides an impromptu set at Sting's 1992 wedding to Trudie Styler, the Police's only other post-breakup performance was in celebration of its 2003 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
And while Sting has repeatedly expressed reluctance at reuniting, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers have kept the flame alive. This summer, Summers told Billboard he was certain the group could have continued on past its 1983 commercial peak with "Synchronicity."
"The more rational approach would have been, 'OK, Sting, go make a solo record, and let's get back together in two or three years,'" he said. "I'm certain we could have done that. Of course we could have. We were definitely not in a creative dry space. We could have easily carried on, and we could probably still be there. That wasn't to be our fate. It went in another way. I regret we never paid it off with a last tour. We snuck out the back door, which is what we were told to do, until it just became too frustrating to lie about it."
"I'm very keen on it," Copeland told Billboard.com of a potential reunion, the day after the Rock Hall induction. "But I absolutely understand why it's not going to happen and I'm down with that. It was really great to be the Police for 15 minutes. If you can think of some other award we can go get or some other good reason, give me a call, and I'll try it out!"
In 2001, Copeland excitedly told Billboard about "one piece of unreleased Police product" which he hoped would eventually see the light of day.
"One of the times when they were working on the box set or something like that, they convened the three of us on the phone. Sting and Andy were in Italy; Andy was visiting Sting at the time, and I was on a DSL line in L.A.," he recalled. "And we went down all the song titles from all of our albums. Song title: 'Can't Stand Losing You.' And we each just talked about the track and argued and shouted and screamed. There was laughter and tears. It was very cathartic. It was almost like a therapy session. It was hysterical. It was so much fun."
"We were really going at it with all the language, straight for the jugular, refighting the battles, laughing hysterically while we put the stiletto exactly where we stuck it last time," he continued. "The engineer said it was like watching a concert. They were in Italy and it's like after dinner, and I'm here in L.A. at 10 in the morning. I'm getting more and more caffeinated as they're getting drunker and drunker."
"It seems like we're in contact all the time, but actually, years go by," Copeland said of his ongoing relationship with Summers and Sting. "It's sort of like whenever we see each other, it's like we saw each other five minutes ago. We don't have any sensation of time going by. We don't pick up the phone every week, but when we do, we pick up from where we left off."