Having problems with message search?
Noice
one, Kath
By
Michael Idato October 9, 2004
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/08/1097089556096.html
A smattering of gems mercifully adds some sparkle to
end-of-year viewing.
About
this time every year we begin the inexorable slide towards the end of ratings.
Yep, that wasteland of reruns, shocking US rubbish that didn't make the cut
with the rest of the reasonable
Before
we hit the skids, however, there are a few last cards to play in the TV poker
game. The final episodes of Friends,
the final episodes of Sex and the City,
a couple of inexplicably popular first-run episodes of CSI and - drum roll, please - the long
awaited new series of Kath & Kim
(ABC, Thursday).
Barely
a few frames into the first episode - we noted with pleasure the addition of
Cujo the dog and newborn Epponnee Rae to the credits - and we were back in
suburban
As
Kim, clad in a pair of eye-poppingly inappropriate skin-tight pants, discussed
the virtues of her new status with her second-best friend Sharon (Magda
Szubanski) the new mum very nearly drove off without the most important baby
accessory in the book - the baby herself.
It
took a few moments to regain the rhythm of the past two series, a process
assisted greatly by the ABC repeating the eight episodes of series two in the
lead-up to this week's premiere.
The
unlikeable Poole, who apparently abandoned Kath (Jane Turner) and one-day-old
Kim to run off to Hong Kong with pool model Wendy Patterson (how long before
she turns up, then?), is back in Fountain Lakes, ensconced in Kath's life,
house and ensuite.
The
third season of a comedy as delicately structured as Kath & Kim can often be make or break. Some, luckily,
mature nicely, while others don't make the transition into middle or old age at
all well. Absolutely Fabulous,
for example, is a great example of a very successful comedy which lost its way,
albeit only briefly, by listening too hard to the punchlines ("Sweetie,
darling" and the like) rather than the mechanisms that structured the
comedy in the first place. While it regained its momentum in its most recent
(fifth) series, there were times in its third and fourth series that many
viewers and critics felt it had lost the sharpness of its first handful of
episodes.
It
is clever, then, that writers Riley and Turner do not load the Kath & Kim scripts with their
now-ubiquitous one-liners, leaving it instead for the media to make a meal of
"noice, different, unusual", while the scripts remain sharp, fresh
and underplayed. It may well be the key to ensuring they keep delivering the
goods for a few seasons yet.
One
of the great strengths of this show is its extraordinary supporting cast. The
characters are brilliantly written and the performances are first class. Some
writer/performers demand ownership of the script's best lines, but Riley and
Turner seem generous in handing some episode-stealing moments to their
castmates. Of note are Glenn Robbins as the polyester-panted Kel, Peter
Rowsthorn as the perennially mistreated Brett, and Szubanski's dark and
tormented Sharon.
Marg
Downey, as marriage celebrant Marion, is particularly hilarious -
Having
shed her clothes in the last series, and turned something as simple as a mug of
Jarrah into champagne comedy,
Thankfully,
long-lost estranged husband Gary was dispatched within the episode and Kath and
Kel were left putting their marriage back together.
With
the discovery that Marion was unqualified to marry anyone, not to mention, as
Kath so delicately put it, "a boob", it would appear that Australia's
favourite suburban mum is single again, and living in sin with Kel. (And with
Kath & Kim is a real prize in television. Its characters, while
played for comedy, have a convincing depth. If the first episode is any
measure, then this series will be a winner.
Offline 
Send Email