Call Me Kat, a US remake of BBC sitcom Miranda, has been called “tired” and “predictable” by critics.
Based on Miranda Hart’s self-titled series which ran from 2009 to 2015, the show follows The Big Bang Theory’s Mayim Bialik as Kat, a 39-year-old woman who spends the money set aside by her parents for her wedding to open a cat café.
As with Miranda, the show sees Kat directly break the fourth wall to address the camera throughout the show. The supporting cast includes Swoosie Kurtz, Leslie Jordan, Kyla Pratt, Julian Gant and Cheyenne Jackson.
Call Me Kat premiered in the US on Sunday (3 January) night, with the show facing generally poor reviews from critics.
CNN’s Brian Lowry called the show “tired and dated”, criticising its “predictable writing”.
“As for Call Me Kat, even the ‘cat cafe’ concept feels underutilised, given the TV theory that you can never go wrong with cute pets,” he wrote. “Granted, the image of ‘herding cats’ exists for a reason, but they’re an appropriate mascot for a sitcom that barely earns one life, much less nine.”
While Decider’s Joel Keller wrote that he “really wanted Call Me Kat to work” and praised the show’s “top notch” supporting cast, he described the programme as being “too reliant on the fourth-wall breaks and other gimmicky devices”.
“It’s so relied upon, that it seems like Bialik is talking to the audience as much as she talks to the other characters,” he wrote. “For all of Bialik’s myriad talents, you can feel her trying a bit too hard in the first episode.”
In The Hollywood Reporter, Robyn Bahr called Bialik’s performance a “return to form for the actress”, but added that the character’s charm “isn't enough to illuminate her bland surroundings”.
“Call Me Kat suffers from the very same weakness as Miranda: Only the main character keeps your attention and nothing else,” Bahr wrote.
USA Today’s Kelly Lawler meanwhile gave the show one-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it a “predictable, humourless sitcom that wastes Bialik’s talents, as well as that of the rest of the cast”.
