Kath & Kim is a character-driven Australian television situation comedy series. The series was created by, and is written by Jane Turner and Gina Riley who play the title characters: a suburban mother and daughter with a dysfunctional relationship. The series main characters consist of Kath Day-Knight, a cheerful 50-year-old woman, her self-indulgent daughter Kim Craig, Kath's boyfriend and second husband, the metrosexual Kel Knight, as well as Kim's estranged husband Brett Craig and her lonely, overweight "second best friend" Sharon Strzelecki. The series is set in the fictional suburb of Fountain Lakes in Melbourne. It is primarily filmed in Patterson Lakes.
The series was conceived by Turner and Riley in the early 1990s as a weekly segment of the Australian comedy series Fast Forward. The skit was then developed into a full-series. The first series of Kath & Kim premiered on ABC TV on 16 May 2002, with three further series following, while a television movie, entitled Da Kath and Kim Code, was broadcast nationally on 25 November 2005. Kath & Kim has garnered much critical acclaim since its debut, winning two Logie Awards, for "Outstanding Comedy Programme" and the "Best Television Drama Series" award at the Australian Film Institute Awards. In Australia, it has become a pop culture phenomenon, and is a success with audiences nationwide. Internationally, the series has spawned a cult fanbase, and in 2006 it was announced an American version of the series would be produced, to air on NBC. Riley and Turner served as executive producers on the US version. The American version was also picked up by Seven, which debuted the program on 12 October 2008, just three days after its debut in the United States.
What do hornbags, bad hairdos, and power walking have in common? All feature with hilarious regularity on _Kath and Kim_, a classic Australian comedy series.
Netflix here in Australia has all four seasons available along with a number of specials which are highlight packages, behind the scenes, and bloopers. We’ve worked our way through all of them now and had a jolly good time the whole way through.
This show was a massive hit during its run from 2002 to 2007 and rightfully so. It’s not just the situations that the family gets themselves into, but their over the top accents and over reaction to everything adds a whole ‘nother level of humour.
To mix things up there’s also a number of guest stars that pop up from time to time. Off the top of my head there’s Geoffrey Rush, Kylie Minogue, Matt Lucas, and even Shane Warne playing a Shane Warne impersonator.
It’s an over the top comedy that never failed to get a laugh out of me many times each episode. If you’re looking for a real good belly laugh, check this one out, it’s one of the best comedies to come out of Australia.
