The main wrinkle of the presentation – and Lord knows it’s not new – means that Kat regularly breaks down the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience, expressing her insecurities and discomfort. Bialik was very good at this in “Big Bang,” but thanks to the predictable writing here, it’s mostly a big boredom.
As for the story, the new development of Kat’s life focuses on the return of Max (Cheyenne Jackson), a boy with whom she had a great love affair in college. He is kind and single, but his discomfort around him and the literal collisions they produce begins to get tedious even before the pilot episode ends.
Fox made available four episodes, and there is a modest serialized progression in Kat’s story, but not enough to plant a big hook for her. There are moments of sweetness and vulnerability, but the most beautiful thing that can be said is that everyone throws everything into the silliest aspects, with closing credits in which the cast bids playfully, making a call for the show that they just mounted. you.
Keep the bouquets, but as “Friends”, the stars of “Big Bang” returning to television will be an occasion and the chain offers “Kat” (whose producers include Bialik and former co-star Jim Parsons) an enthusiastic release. The series will premiere after NFL football along with a preview of an animated show by the producers of “Bob’s Burgers,” “The Great North,” about an Alaska family. The latter is almost exactly what you might expect, down to the moose jokes, with Nick Offerman providing the voice of the raw, single father raising an eccentric offspring.
As for “Call Me Kat,” even the concept of “coffee cat” feels underused, given the TV theory that you can never go wrong with cute pets. It is true that the image of “cat shepherd” exists for a reason, but they are a suitable pet for a comedy that hardly earns a living, much less a new one.
“Call Me Kat” and “The Great North” premiere Jan. 3 at 8 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox.