Kath & Kim

There is something about this show that keeps me watching and hoping for the future of it. In the writing, the jokes are few and far between, and the story lines are a bore, so I figure it must be the physical comedy and the visuals.

I do enjoy the camera movement, set dressing, and wardrobe. It's amusingly highly contrasted against the dullness that reigns. And I'm pretty sure every time I have laughed it was because of John or Molly's physical comedy. The two of them make a sickeningly cute couple that make me laugh and want to puke at the same time.

So here I go ready to sit down to Kath & Kim one more time tonight to see what path this production will go down (or up as the case may be, looking forward positively).

I watched the first episode and I found it to be a very wooden performance.

I have watched the original from it's early days on Big Girls Blouse to the last series on Channel seven. Kath and Kim was a great Mocumentary and it's humor is something that most people get.

However in this American version I found it to be dull, Molly Shannon is to fashionable to be Kath Day, Kath's wardrobe is supposed to be stuck in the 80s with her frizzy perm. While Selma Blair's figure hugging clothes isn't as good as what the original Kimmy wore. I also found that Selma seemed to be puffing her belly out a lot, she is obviously a (Australian) size 12 where Kim should be (Australian) a size 16/18.

The exchanges from Molly and Selma is obviously so scripted and there is pauses where there shouldn't be pauses or the pauses are a bit long, as someone suggested there could be a laughter track in there during those pauses. It's like Molly and Shannon are not used to each other, there is no Mother/Daughter chemistry.

Phil was okay he had the eccentric air around him like Kel. However Craig was to handsome and not the sweet plain humble Brett from the Aussie version.

I found watching this was like watching a very bad stage play. The acting was pretty much wooden and the exaggeration of Selma's expressions wore the funny off after ten minutes. Especially her sulking scenes.

To sum up, I find this show to be a waste of time, the script obviously has been dumbed down for Americans which most on the board say they prefer the original. If NBC wanted to show Kath and Kim why not pay the producers the money to screen the original.

All I can add is Magda you are one smart cookie for not letting the producers use your character of Sharon.

Me being from Australia and loving the series, I wasn't expecting much from the American version of Kath and Kim but I thought I'd watch the first episode to see if it was really that bad.

Well,whats there to say. Its nothing special.Selma Blair is OK as Kim and actually had a few good lines, Molly Shannon is not a good Kath though. The good thing about Jane Turner's Kath is that when she speaks with all her funny accents (such as when she says Yumor or Noice) it sounds like its just the natural way that she speaks, but when Shannon has a go at the accent, its clear that she is acting and trying to be the same as Turner. And the show really misses Sharon or some one else to give us something to laugh about, because the Kal and Craig characters in this version are really not funny.

So far only the first episode has aired and it is clearly not up to the standards of the Aussie version, although if it was a stand alone television show with a different name, not being compared to the Aussie version it would perhaps be viewed as being a little bit better. But if there is nothing else to do on a Sunday night (or Thursday night in America) then you cant do much harm in watching it, or better put on some of the Aussie version if you've got it.

I have not watched the Australian original, but I'm thinking it's a safe bet to say that it was superior to this. As a matter of fact, I don't think it's hyperbole to nominate this for the worst comedy show on TV. The 18 moronic episodes(of the bunch, there is maybe one brief moment that started to redeem the rest, that's it) are all so bland that once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Almost every character is intolerable, one-note(they came up with just a couple of types, then repeated them ad nauseum), shallow and stupid to the point where it causes physical pain for the viewer and those in the immediate vicinity. Many of them mispronounce words and sayings, and care first and foremost about fashion and celebrities. Oh, and they're trashy. Did you get all that? That's all of the material. I'm not kidding, nearly every joke is about that. By far the worst is Blair, who's the most developed, meaning, she has more negative qualities than the others. She's an irresponsible brat who causes problems for others. Isn't that hilarious? The acting is good. So's editing and cinematography. Meanwhile, the content is still terrible and repetitive. The one positive about this series would have to be that you can usually count on the two female leads(Selma in particular) parading around in skimpy outfits, looking hot. Finally, can someone tell me how John Michael Higgins keeps finding work? OK, he was great in Best in Show, I'll grant that. But that's the only time he's gotten even a chuckle out of me. Is it just that this humor is not for me? I recommend this to anyone who finds what I've described appealing. For anyone else, don't say I didn't warn you. 5/10

I am a huge fan of the Aussie version of 'Kath & Kim', so I was a bit worried about how an American copy would turn out. And, true to form,they missed a lot of what made the original , well, original. A little too studied, not as fresh. I imagine that the 'thought police' were out in full force- where is the smoking, for a start? But I gave it a chance and it is not as bad as I expected. Molly Shannon is pretty good as Kath, but Selma Blair is not quite right for Kim. She has the languid behavior down, but not the utter selfishness, nor the weight issues. Teeny Selma missed the point. I got the feeling I was seeing 'acting', rather than real people behaving normally. Perhaps a bit of the old Hollywood-style elitism? That those who live in the suburbs are to be ridiculed rather than appreciated for their own style? We are meant to laugh at them and not with them. Part of the charm of the original, for Americans, are all the Aussie idioms, and I would have liked to see a bit more of that type of dialogue in the American version- we have our own quirks, too! Also, in the original, part of the fun was that the two were almost the same age. Selma Blair was too much the juvenile, age-wise. It took a while but I did warm up to this version on its own merit. The basic idea is still there. When you have to expand the season into so many more shows the writing seems to suffer. A shorter season usually means better shows. But,I would love to have a beer with the Aussie characters, odd though they are- just to see what they would come up with next-the Americans didn't come across as interesting or as compelling. A little too politically correct? Here's a radical idea- how about bringing American audiences the Aussie show?