Good News Becomes Bad News for American TV Viewers

First, the good news - NBC, who did a good job of adapting Britain's "The Office" into a hit (and good) American comedy, are going to try the same with "Kath and Kim." "Kath and Kim" is an iconic Aussie comedy about a mother & daughter (called Kath and Kim, it may not surprise you) who live together (with their respective husbands and Kim's baby) in Kath's house in suburban Melbourne. They are not what they think they are - declasse, not classy. Fat and a bit piggish in Kim's case, not beautiful. Prone to hilarious mispronunciations and plugging the wrong words into the wrong place.

It's hilarious. But it definitely is NOT American-style comedy - and like most Australian (and British) series, there are only about 8 episodes per season, not the 15-25 for a typical American show. So NBC will do an American version, with the stars and creators of "Kath & Kim" (Gina Riley and Jane Turner) serving as executive producers a la Ricky Gervais for "The Office."

Okay, now the bad news. NBC has cast somebody in the role of the mother, Kath.

It is Molly Shannon.

Well, so much for THAT show. Molly Shannon was lame on "Saturday Night Live," and has pretty much stunk up the place in everything she has been in since. Putting Molly Shannon's name on a movie or TV show pretty much guarantees it will be much less funny than hoped for or advertised. Kind of like a male Rob Schneider. But I'm sure NBC wanted a "name" to head its line-up. I await with trepidation their casting choice for the daughter Kim.

My prediction - you will be better off getting "Kath and Kim" from Netflix and watching the originals than watching Molly Shannon do anything.