2008-2009
On the bonus features' gag reel for "Kath & Kim: Season 1," Selma Blair tells Molly Shannon that they make quite the comedy team. She says it in jest, but I don't: They're great together, and this comes from someone who usually finds Blair to be repellent.
She's quite funny as Kim, the belly-bearing, junk-scarfing, self-absorbed daughter of Shannon's Kath Day. A newlywed, Kim 's contemplating divorce, so she moves in with mom: "I didn't sign up for cooking dinner or being interested in how anyone's day was. I'm a trophy wife, like Melania Trump or Mrs. Larry King Live."
Kath's not too keen on it, especially now that she has a new boyfriend in Phil (John Michael Higgins), a "sandwich entrepreneur" who works at the mall and creates a menu item to celebrate their love (ingredients: tuna fish and sausage on ciabatta, with curly fries).
I'm not sure why this NBC series failed to attract an audience, because it's funny from the get-go. Shannon doesn't have to do much but bare her gummy smile to garner laughs, but she's never one to shy away from humiliating herself for them, either. She's fearless. Blair isn't her equal, but her perpetually frowning prima donna provides the bitter to Shannon's sweet.
Not a single one of the 17 episodes on this double-disc set failed to make me laugh out loud. That' s too bad since the show is history, despite the "Season 1" designation of its title.
"?Rod Lott
