TORONTO (CP) _ After 2.1 million people watched CBC’s "Little Mosque on the Prairie" on Tuesday night, its rerun one night later pulled in about 887,000 viewers. An audience of more than a million is considered a huge number for a Canadian show.

"Little Mosque" drew the largest audience of any CBC show Wednesday night, beating "The National" by 37,000.

The CBC, struggling with its ratings, promoted the breakout hit with a lot of cash and vigour.

"Little Mosque" had been getting buzz for weeks, with the BBC and CNN running items on the show.

The comedy, created by Zarqa Nawaz, moves to Mondays at 9 p.m. EST and Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

TORONTO (CP) _ More than two million Canadians tuned in this week to "Little Mosque on the Prairie," the new CBC comedy about a Muslim community in a rural town that has been the subject of worldwide attention.

The figure _ 2.1 million _ is a huge one for a Canadian television show. "Corner Gas," CTV’s big sitcom hit and one of the country’s highest-rated shows, routinely pulls in just over a million a week.

Kirstine Layfield, director of network programming for the public broadcaster, says it appears "Little Mosque" won its time slot, even besting a brand-new episode of the red-hot medical drama "House." She says the CBC is "ecstatic and thrilled" by the numbers.

Layfield says of the hundreds of people who phoned the CBC on Tuesday night to weigh in on the show, the vast majority of them were positive.

"Little Mosque" has been getting international buzz for weeks, with everyone from the BBC to CNN running items on the comedy by Muslim film-maker Zarqa Nawaz.

Nawaz says the attention is due to the fact that "Little Mosque" is considered one of the first North American sitcoms to portray Muslims in a humourous light in a post 9-11 world.