ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the potential of a prime-time drama to promote multiculturalism and ethnic diversity in national commercial television and to respond to the needs of migrant viewers. A multicultural drama on prime-time television is usually described as risk programming' for commercial television, but the popularity of Mogadishu Avenue proved that the multicultural approach can also lead to a commercial success. The chapter shows that the migrants in Finland do not watch Finnish serials because they are too Finnish orientated' and have little to offer for migrant audiences. In Mogadishu Avenue, the production company had a lot of freedom to make its own decisions without the interference of the distribution channel. The humour in Mogadishu Avenue stems from a discursive conception that national cultures are intrinsically different from one another, and that these differences necessarily lead to conflicts and cultural contradictions whenever Finns and migrants meet.
