Watch What We Say

Kath & Kim

By Jason Lee

October 13, 2008

I hate them already.

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I also found the actual production of the show to be interesting. For one thing, there's no obnoxious laugh track in the background, hammering home every joke. Secondly, the show is shot in a nimble, handheld style as opposed to a standard three-camera set-up. The result is that the jokes and situational humor do not nearly feel as forced or staged as they do in other sitcoms.

So, what didn't work? First of all, I'm not sure what this show is supposed to be about. Is this supposed to be a show skewering Hollywood / LA sensibilities? There are a lot of insider jokes about celebrities but their neighborhood definitely doesn't look like any place in LA that I've seen. And is this family rich? Kim acts like an insufferable spoiled brat who was raised in an environment where she had everything, but it doesn't look like the family is well-off. Certainly, when your mother is dating a man who makes sandwiches for a living in a shopping mall food court and your daughter is married to a guy who works as a salesman in a local electronics store, you're not exactly rolling in dough.

More importantly, the character of Kim does not work. She is unlikable to the point where you wish that the show would morph into some TV version of Scream and she'd get skewered by a knife-wielding, mask-wearing killer. She cannot see beyond her own selfish needs and believe me, there are a lot of them. "Mom's going a Chinese restaurant with her boyfriend where he'll probably propose to her? Sure, I'll go along and start flirting with a guy who's clearly on a date even though I'm still married." This kind of self-centeredness isn't funny, it's torture. Torture for anyone who has to sit there and listen to her speak.

Again, this isn't a horrible show. It certainly made me laugh at a couple of points. And Molly Shannon alone almost pulls this show back into a sunnier place . . . but whenever that happens, Selma Blair comes along and destroys any hope of humor. She's not just a bull in a china shop. She's the Cloverfield monster in a china shop.

Let me put it this way: I didn't hate this show as much as The Mentalist or 90210.

Watch What We Say rating: Two TiVos




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Watch What We Say: Rating System

Four TiVos: This is television content raised to the level of a transcendent art form. Not only should you TiVo this program for yourself, you should keep it on your TiVo for future generations to watch and savor.

Three TiVos: This is a very good show with a regular spot in my TiVo rotation. I watch every week and will often invite my friends over to share the enjoyable experience.

Two TiVos: I'll TiVo this show if I need something to watch while I'm folding laundry or dusting furniture.

One TiVo: I actively dislike this show and never allow it to take up space in my TiVo. Often times, I'll gripe about the show's producers, ridicule the actors and lambaste the network for keeping it on the air.

Zero TiVos: If this show is on, I unplug my TiVo for fear that the show is accidentally recorded and my entire home entertainment system gets contaminated with this malignant, diseased trash.


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