Bonza! (Kath & Kim)

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	Kath & Kim
Date:	12/05/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Silly Aussie fun

Disadvantages: On late on BBC2..

I lived in Australia for a year in the 1990s (I wasn't a student on a year out and I paid for it myself!) and my worst memory was the TV was bloody awful, Steve Vizard the only guy that made me chuckle, Blackadder re-runs the only thing that would keep you going through the woeful Brisbane winter. But today Aussie TV have finally something to chuckle at, Kath & Kim, a uniquely funny sitcom from Down Under. Just as Canadian sitcoms have their own appeal there's something cuddly and likable about this.

Each episode starts with Gina Riley,who plays Kimberely, performing "The Joker" on the opening credits, and an incredible pair of lungs too as the camera pans over a non-descript Melbourne suberb to her warblings, renamed Fountian Lakes for the show. So far BBC2 has broadcast 32 of the 25 minute episodes here and series five is abot to go out on ABC in Australia. The Americans have recently made their version but completely missed the point as they did with The Office. Just as Ricky Gervais`s comedy was uniquly British, Kath& Kim is very Australian.
Kath & Kim follows the day-to-day Australian suburban life of Kath Day-Knight (Jane Turner), her only daughter Kimberly Craig née Day (Gina Riley), Kim's husband Brett Craig (Peter Rowsthorn), Kath's love interest and eventual husband "purveyor of fine meats" Kel Knight (Glenn Robbins), and long-time and rather obese family friend Sharon Strzelecki (Magda Szubanski). Kim and Brett have a baby in the final episode of the second series whom they name Epponnee-Raelene Kathleen Darlene Charlene Craig, shortened to Epponnee-Rae, she, too a princiapal charatcer. Tha name is the type of couple they are. One pressumes the baby is named after Aussie TV personalites in the entertiment industry.
I wouldn't say the charatcers are working class Australians and they certainly don't live in a bad area, Oz rather a pleasant place to live as they don't really have a class system, only the ethnic underclass expelled to the ghettoes. Anyone can live anywhere if they can afford it, enough respect shown fro from the posh nieghbours that you had enough about you to manage to live next door to them will earn you an invite to the barbie. In fact I would say Aussie soaps are the treest representation of the lifestyle they portray.Hardly anyone gets murdered, raped or arrested in Aussie sitcoms and soaps. What Kath & Kim doesn't have als is the top totty Oz soaps always seem to have.
Kath and Kel are social climbers and if their friends have plasma TVs then they have to have one, even if it doesn't fit through the front door, Kel ordered to unscrew the hinges to avoid social etiquette embarasment. And if the neighbours have a hot tub then Kath will nag the likeable doormat Kel to get one. And why not have one in the front garden is Kaths attitude to what the Joneses have. Kel knows how to live an easy life with kath. He does what ehs told. Kimberely, on the other hand, is far more demanding, often unemployed and still living at home with mum and dad, her belt as stretched as her financial situation. She cant find the right man and cant be choosey with her wobbly thighs so sticks it out with Brett, who she eventually has a baby with because she cant find anyone better. Brett is a supervisor in a department store and another Aussie male doormat.

Mum never shys of reminding her daughter of her inadequacies and the two get on find because of that, a family ding-dong a matter of course for the day.Kath & Kel on the other hand never cross words, the perfect couple in the perfecxt city. They like to try everything once, be it jogging or tantric sex. But as long as it doesn't interupt with TV 'ringed' to watch in the TV guide. When Kath decided they should gets cable it's the only time the two came to a disagrement. If you ever saw Baz Lurmans brilliant Stricktly Ballroom movie then they would be one of the ballroom dancing couple in sequins, Kath into 'am-dram'.
-The Episodes I have seen-
99% Fat Free Season 3, Episode 8
Foxy on the Run Season 3, Episode 7
High and Dry Season 3, Episode 6
Hello Nails! Season 3, Episode 5
Kicking Up a Stink Season 3, Episode 4
Sitting on a Pile Season 3, Episode 3
The Mango Espadrille Season 3, Episode 2
Cactus Hour Season 3, Episode 1
The Hideous Truth Season 2, Episode 8
The Shower Season 2, Episode 7
Another Announcement Season 2, Episode 6
My Boyfriend Season 2, Episode 5
Obsession Season 2, Episode 4
The Moon Season 2, Episode 3
Inside Out Season 2, Episode 2
The Announcement Season 2, Episode 1
Wedding Season 1, Episode 8
Party Season 1, Episode 7
Money Season 1, Episode 6
Old Season 1, Episode 5
Fat Season 1, Episode 4
Sport Season 1, Episode 3
Gay Season 1, Episode 2
Sex Season 1, Episode 1
The new series will be aired on BBC digital and then on normal telly in the summer.
-Conclusions-
What I like most about the show is its different and wholesome, something we havent seen in the UK since the 70s, almost Australias Terry & June. The humour is suprisingly class centred for Aussie TV and the jokes very them and us. The acting is OTT in that 'Man About the House' way and deliberetly in your face. Ist not a big laugh comedy either,most of the jokes aimed at an Aussie audince of course, but subtitlites there to chuckle at if you're a 'Pom'.
If your going to rent a DVD then you don't need to start at series one as they are not slave to chronology, one episode like another in appearance or continuity. Although the BBC stick the girls on late it is worth setting the video for. Its tiresome to say the least having to sit though new sitoms on British TV hoping for a gem, and so why waste the chance to take a look at Kath & Kim. Without this and the excellent 'IT Crowd' in the last five years I would have said sitcom is completely dead, political correctness and cost cutting destroying the genre. Lets hear it for Australias first decent TV programe since the Paul Hogan Show!

Summary: Decent fresh sitcom