As far as sitcoms go, this one is hitting every standard for its time, and it does so in a slightly above average manner. It's a sitcom that when it first aired, was watched and enjoyed by well over 3/4th of its country's population, and at the time of the writing of this review (almost 30 years after the show's first airing) it's still considered a relevant, beloved and well known phenomenon, which doesn't have an equal in Norwegian TV history. It's a show that has been enjoyed by everyone from people in the highest political, economical and social elite, to the old, the poor, kids and the average person.
Some of Norway's all time greatest comics and actors stars in, frequent and make guest appearances in this show, a factor which contributes to increasing its overall quality, and making it more enjoyable. This also causes the show to have more of a "cozy" vibe, a feature that has viewers feeling more charmed and entertained, as well as being a key element in keeping them around and having them enjoy whatever they're watching - even when a show isn't at its best. This is also something that this shows predecessor "Mot i Broestet" was famously known for.
Like most good shows, there are both brilliant and not quite so amazing episodes. This does not however; reflect negatively on the shows creator, writer, director, composer and producer Tore Ryen, whom just about single handedly wrote and directed every episode of Karl & Co (as well as all of his other shows) completely on his own. A fun fact regarding this, is that Ryen would always write one episode for his sitcoms every week, and at one point in the late 90's - he had 3 sitcoms running at the same time (a feat which most writers would consider to be an almost impossible achievement). It's also worth noting that Ryen's record on writing a sitcom episode, is merely 6 hours. Normally, a tv show will have anything from 2-20 writers on each episode, with up to 300-400 writers working on a show throughout its entire lifespan. Most TV show writers usually also have 1-3 weeks to write out an episode together AFTER the episode's story has been broken (I.e. Outlined), and therefore do not need to come up with everything within a few days like Ryen usually would.
Is this a perfect sitcom? No it's not, but then again I have in all fairness yet to discover such a thing. I also can't really say that I've ever watched a sitcom that's either funnier and/or more enjoyable than this one. "Two and a half men", "The Big Bang Theory" "Family Guy" and "The IT Crowd" are some shows that are fairly equal to ours in terms of greatness and how funny they all are. Sadly, they all lack both the type and amount of feel good factor and soul found in "Karl & Co".
Naturally enough, the show at times contains a certain amount of cheap and/or repetitive gags, as well as some plots, story lines and endings that one definitely doesn't need to be psychic in order to predict. This can sometimes get a bit boring and/or annoying to some people, this guy included. It's important to note however, that this is a consumer product that's made to be consumed and enjoyed by as many "normal" people as possible, and that it's therefore (neither by definition or intention) NOT a culturally elitist art piece that's intended for miserable cultural snobs and critics (even if many of these people actually have admitted to more or less secretly enjoying this show).
With said things taken into consideration, "Karl & Co" becomes an even more impressive sitcom, and all in all there's a great time to be had with this one - especially if you have the ability to appreciate the things that it does best, which is to entertain, amuse, engage and make us love and cherish its characters.
