Call Me Kat

The breaking-the-fourth-wall shtick grows old fast in the pilot — only one in four of the comments proves charming/funny — so it’s no surprise there’s less of it in the second episode.

Maybe there's a funny idea here, but without edge, bite or (yup) claws, we'll never know. Good heart, no claws (or laughs).

Bialik is endearingly self-deprecating even when her slapstick klutziness pushes for laughs. Unfortunately, the shows gimmicks--frequent Fleabag-stye asides to the camera, the cast waving and taking bows at the end--just reinforce the stale artifice of it all. [18-31 Jan 2021, p.10]

Bialik's bubbliness isn't enough to overpower the flabby storytelling and trite third act moralizing, but Call Me Kat has the potential to deepen its ensemble's characterizations over time. As of now, though, I only want to be friends with Kat and Kat alone.

A Fox sitcom that feels so tired and dated it's tempting to double-check the year. Loosely adapted from the British comedy "Miranda," the show revels in pratfalls, but none bigger than the banana peel it keeps slipping on in its pursuit of laughs.

Its trite attempts at humor and schlocky fourth-wall breaking might be an attempt at a nostalgic throwback but wind up making "Kat" feel like a failed '80s sitcom.

[Bialik] doesn’t have as firm a grip on the tone and format as Hart did, and very often feels like she’s doing an American impression of Hart’s very specifically British character and tone. ... Without a sharper central performance to ground it, nor cohesive enough directing and editing to stitch it all together, the show struggles to maintain its own pace and becomes more jarring than charming.

We hate to give Call Me Kat a thumbs down, given all the talent in front of and behind the camera. But the show sacrifices character for gimmicks, and the parts that aren’t gimmicky are mostly hacky and unfunny.