Kath & Kim

Kath & Kim has been quietly earning a loyal audience, and right now it is all available in Australia on Netflix and ABC iview, and in the US on Netflix. Jane Turner leads a cast that brings something genuine to every episode. What sets Kath & Kim apart from the dozens of similar shows is hard to pin down in a single sentence — it is partly the writing, partly the performances, partly the way it commits to its premise without flinching. Genuinely funny in a way that holds up on rewatch: that is the shorthand, but it undersells how well Kath & Kim executes on it. An audience of 23 has voted with their time — and their score reflects a run without many weak episodes. The streaming access means you can form your own opinion tonight, without any barrier to entry.

Sharp writing and a well-matched ensemble are what separate Kath & Kim from the crowd. Kath & Kim is a character-driven Australian television situation comedy series. The series was created by, and is written by Jane Turner and Gina Riley who play the title characters: a suburban mother and daughter with a dysfunctional relationship. The series main characters consist of Kath Day-Knight, a cheerful 50-year-old woman, her self-indulgent daughter Kim Craig, Kath's boyfriend and second husband, the metrosexual Kel Knight, as well as Kim's estranged husband Brett Craig and her lonely, overweight "second best friend" Sharon Strzelecki. Jane Turner and Gina Riley lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. The series ran for 4 seasons (2002–2007), building a story that gave its audience time to invest properly. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages. The real test of any comedy is whether it is still funny once you know all the jokes, and Kath & Kim holds up on rewatch in a way that separates it from one-season curiosities.

If you need a comedy that actually makes you laugh rather than just smile politely, Kath & Kim is a strong candidate — fans of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Will recognise the sensibility immediately. The writing is sharp without being exhausting, and the jokes land because they are grounded in characters you have had time to understand. The run is exactly long enough to let the relationships develop without wearing out its welcome. Put it on on a weeknight when you need something that is not going to demand your full concentration, then find it demanding your full concentration. This is what good comedy does.