This is not a flame but an honest review of why Call Me Kat failed. The source material, a BBC classic, featured a comic giantess, Miranda Hart, who viewers either love or hate. Her love interest in the show was very believable, whom US viewers might recognize as Welshman Tom Ellis of Lucifer fame. A lot of humor was mined from the largeness of Miranda compared to most everyone, including her diminutive friend and co-worker, Stevie. Miranda's gangliness must have been part of at least a half-dozen gags per show. Miranda's mom was a major funny force, trying to get her married off (a concept that can't play anymore in the US).
Now to CMK. In the US you can't do any body-shaming humor, so casting a gangly lady was not in play. Kat's shortness was also out of play for laughs. Kat's best friend is . . . nobody I can tell. Kat's mother is played by Swoosie Kurtz, whose terrifyingly thin appearance takes the edge off her comedy. Kat's love interest is played by Cheyenne Jackson, a talented Broadway performer who has no chemistry with Bialik. The loss of Leslie Jordan was curtains for Kat. He was the comic soul of the show.
The bottom line is that the US show is about a humorless independent woman. The UK show has a pathetic woman with room for growth, which does happen (spoiler alert). So watch the UK show, skip the US. And Jim Parsons, hire a casting director next time you produce. You're never going to get Maddie-and-Dave- or Rob-and-Laura-level sizzle, but maybe at least Cheers?
