{"id":29988,"date":"2024-05-24T09:06:47","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T13:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/zarqa-is-a-madcap-canadian-comedy\/24\/05\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-05-24T09:06:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T13:06:47","slug":"zarqa-is-a-madcap-canadian-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/zarqa-is-a-madcap-canadian-comedy\/24\/05\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Zarqa\u2019 Is a Madcap Canadian Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Canadian sitcom \u201cLittle Mosque on the Prairie\u201d premiered in 2007 and centered on a small Muslim community in a fictional Saskatchewan town. It ran for 91 episodes over six seasons, eventually showing around the world (it is streaming on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/video\/detail\/0NUCB5DCM0VJZSRB3CRGHLYMFF\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Freevee<\/a>, the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/therokuchannel.roku.com\/details\/01d7dbf87ed058328b2772f3440b37c7\/little-mosque\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Roku Channel<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/tubitv.com\/series\/300006679\/little-mosque-on-the-prairie\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tubi<\/a>). Now its creator, Zarqa Nawaz, has a new short-form comedy with a narrower focus but a similar cartoony vibe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cZarqa,\u201d created by and starring Nawaz, is on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLJyG4btas2dkYxRTOou73d_-jdMdc1dC9\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a> and follows a divorced Muslim mother in Regina, Saskatchewan. In the opening moments of the show, she learns on social media that her ex-husband is marrying a younger woman \u2014 a white yoga instructor. Zarqa panics and posts that she is dating a white brain surgeon, which she is not, and the shenanigans are afoot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She begins a contrived romance with a pasty neurosurgeon, Brian (Rob van Meenen), though neither of them can tell if they\u2019re actually interested in each other or just in pulling one over on everyone else. Zarqa wants to show off at her ex\u2019s wedding, and Brian gets a rush from freaking out his tightly-wound, racist parents. Adding to the rom-com of it all, Zarqa is surprised and delighted to learn an old college flame (Rizwan Manji) has been appointed as the new imam at her mosque \u2014 and wouldn\u2019t you know, her ex (Anand Rajaram) might be having cold feet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cZarqa\u201d has a madcap urgency to it, partly because the episodes are barely 10 minutes long and partly because of Zarqa, who is brusque and driven and tends to stir up drama. Her grown son recoils from some of her antics but reminds himself, \u201cWe don\u2019t say \u2018crazy\u2019 anymore.\u201d Her parents lament that she is \u201ca double D: divorced and difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Both \u201cZarqa\u201d and \u201cLittle Mosque on the Prairie\u201d have an exaggerated sitcom style; most characters repeat one behavior and express one idea, which sometimes can make both series feel a little like kids shows with grown-ups in them. On \u201cMosque,\u201d the central theme was the perceived differences \u2014 and lo, the similarities \u2014 between Muslims and non-Muslims. On \u201cZarqa,\u201d the focus is on race. \u201cI sell white people brown-people things,\u201d Zarqa tells Brian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The jokes and observations in \u201cZarqa\u201d are pretty mild, but the story is fun, and it is told with endearing warmth and energy. So far all six episodes of Season 1 and some of Season 2 are on the CBC\u2019s YouTube channel, with the rest arriving shortly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/24\/arts\/television\/zarqa.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Canadian sitcom &ldquo;Little Mosque on the Prairie&rdquo; premiered in 2007 and centered on a small Muslim community in a fictional Saskatchewan<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/zarqa-is-a-madcap-canadian-comedy\/24\/05\/2024\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29988"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}