- Network: NBC
- Series Premiere Date: Oct 9, 2008
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Critic Reviews
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As superbly superior as Shannon is (a comparison to Lucille Ball, while inevitable, would not be overreaching), the whole cast shines, and not just in refracted glory.
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The dialogue is surprisingly fresh, even to someone who's watched way too many MTV reality shows.
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There's some very funny stuff here, but the serious question before NBC is this: How long can it stretch the joke before viewers go stark raving mad?
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Ding ding ding went the bell, and up went an agreeing groan, six minutes in. Perhaps this was less a judgment of Kath & Kim's general quality--it was one of the better shows we screened, or at least one of the not-as-bad.
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Shannon has a power-walker approach to the comedy of unearned positivity--not too fast, not too slow, able to suck up disappointment and move on--and it works for her character. But Blair, who can breathe hot snark on any line, hasn’t quite figured out how to make Kim hideously funny more often than just hideous.
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The core problem with K&K is that there's no character to root for.
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Unfortunately, Blair's bratty take on Kim is repetitive and not even mildly amusing, Shannon is wonderful at her role (as always) but doesn't have much of a character to work with, and the stories are neither real enough to be relatable nor outrageous enough to flesh out a true farce.
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Kath & Kim needs to decide if it wants to satirize American parenting or popular culture. Because if the first two episodes are any indication, it certainly cannot do both.
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There is a twinge of fun every now and then in Kath & Kim, even if most critics are so apoplectic at its crass stupidity they can barely write a sentence.
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The individual performers, enthusiastic as they seem to be, are hardly helped by this approach. Shannon and John Michael Higgins (who plays Kath’s new boyfriend, Phil Knight) are both used to playing lovable buffoons. But their time is largely wasted here.
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Kath & Kim should be funnier, and could yet be, but the pilot disappoints.
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Except for a visit to a gay bar for hip-hop, most of the action (tantrums, blubberings) occurs either in the house or a sandwich shop at the mall. This is because the unappetizing Kath & Kim is fixated in the oral stage.
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Satiric comedy only works if it's funny. And in this case, it's not.
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Whatever lingering debt the show owes to its original template has also resulted in some awkward elements, including occasional internal monologues by both title players that are as empty, banal and unfunny as when they're actually talking.
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Kath & Kim writers, meanwhile, seem to have nothing but contempt for their heroines. Kim is willfully ignorant, rude and obnoxious in a fashion that has no redeeming qualities, and Kath is mainly an unhappy blank who lets her daughter walk all over her.
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It lacks the charm of the original. Worse, the characters in the NBC show are so exaggerated that the whole thing feels like a skit.
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Kath & Kim originated in Australia, which shares the British affection for slobby class humor, but here it falls about as flat as food-court champagne.
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Despite Shannon and Blair's best efforts, Kath & Kim's main characters feel like a compilation of attitudes (and wardrobes), forced into a sitcom format so tired that you'll see the plot resolution in next week's episode (not to mention most of the jokes) coming from nearly a half-hour away.
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Kath & Kim is based on an Australian hit series of the same name but this Americanized version is an unpleasant way to pass a half-hour.
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It's a complete wince-inducing mess that makes you feel sorry for Shannon and annoyed at NBC and Nader.
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NBC's unfunny adaptation of the wildly funny Australian sitcom, is arguably the worst idea for an import from the Land Down Under since Vegemite.
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Witlessly Americanized by Michelle Nader (King of Queens), Kath manages to waste the talents of Molly Shannon while exposing the limits of Selma Blair's comedy range.
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It may remind some viewers more directly of the British sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous," except that "Ab Fab" was hilarious and this one just gives you a headache.
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I feel sorry for Shannon, who nicely underplays her role, but she’s trapped in show that does not work, and, with Blair as her co-star, will never work.
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It's sneering and unwatchably badly written; it shoots at fish in a barrel and still manages to miss.
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Dreadful. Worse even than those awful Olympics promos.
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Shannon and Blair have none of the clueless peas-in-a-pod chemistry of the actresses in the Australian original. Shannon is wound too tightly, and Blair is terribly miscast.
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Kath & Kim features Molly Shannon, adapts an Australian hit and joins the NBC lineup at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The results are simply dreadful. That is all.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 25 out of 47
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Mixed: 4 out of 47
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Negative: 18 out of 47
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Sep 3, 2011
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LizaL.Nov 20, 2008
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TrishyM.Nov 18, 2008This show will eventually be hugely popular once viewers get to know the characters.