Fox picks up rights to build U.S. "Mosque"

By Etan Vlessing

BANFF, Alberta (Hollywood Reporter) - The Canadian comedy "Little Mosque on the Prairie" will get a makeover for U.S. television.

20th Century Fox Television has acquired U.S. format rights to the show, which centers on a Muslim community in a small prairie town, and will develop the comedy for a potential U.S. network slot.

"Comedy is a great way to bridge cultures and bring peoples' guards down," Mary Darling, the series' executive producer with Toronto-based Westwind Pictures, said Monday at the Banff World Television Festival.

There's no word on casting or a production schedule for an Americanized "Little Mosque." The Hollywood studio is still assembling a writing team.

Darling said "Little Mosque" garnered extensive U.S. interest soon after bowing on pubcaster CBC in January 2007.

"Fox got the creative vision of the show, that it has to be funny while it treads sensitively on certain Muslim issues," Darling said.

The U.S. format deal does not preclude a separate deal to air the original Canadian comedy south of the border, she added.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter