Little Mosque on the Prairie

This delightfully lighthearted Canadian series is ensemble comedy at its best. No character is one-dimensional, which makes everyone's interactions both hilarious and filled with surprises and their relationships remarkably relatable. The characters are appealingly, unapologetically human, prone to disagreements and overreactions and even changes of opinion as time goes by and life experiences affect them. Even though it's done with humor, there's so much validity in how the show presents the ups and downs of real life that it's easy to imagine similar stories playing out in just about any community.

Little Mosque on the Prairie does an exceptional job toying with benign stereotypes and having fun with personality conflicts between different genders, generations, and especially cultures. On its own, it's a hilarious commentary on interpersonal relationships and the woes of conflict resolution. But viewed through the lens of modern issues, its seemingly innocent jabs at matters such as terrorism and racial profiling ("What's the charge? Flying while Muslim?" Amaar asks when he's detained at the airport, for instance) can strike a nerve. Adults can differentiate between the humor and the real-life issues that inspire it, but kids and tweens may find the line a little grayer.