American TV critics have slammed the US version of Kath & Kim, labelling it "jaw-droppingly awful" and one of the worst remakes the country has ever produced.
The much-hyped NBC version of the popular Aussie show is due to premiere in the US on Thursday, and here on the Seven Network on Sunday.
But advance reviews have already given the show a big thumbs down.
In a scathing write-up in the San Francisco Chronicle, TV commentator Tim Goodman said Australia deserved an apology for the butchered remake.
"The first two episodes of Kath & Kim … were jaw-dropping in their awfulness," he said.
"(The show is) a fantastically funny Australian comedy that goes into the record books on these shores as a contender for worst remake ever.
"The American version misses the mark so badly that it's barely recognisable as a distant cousin to the original."
The main characters Kath, played by Molly Shannon, and Kim, played by Selma Blair, lacked the well-drawn humour of their original portrayals by Jane Turner and Gina Riley, Goodman said.
"Shannon is able to get down some of the tackiness, translated to American mall culture, but misses pretty much all the other Kathisms."
"Blair's Kim is merely stock poutiness and insincere anger, it all goes nowhere."
The New York Times' Bill Carter agrees.
"The title is the same, but not much else is in this Americanisation of Australia's biggest comedy," he said.
"What is here is a mother-daughter comedy, without the accents and the hugely heightened reality."
The remake fared no better amongst online bloggers.
"Surprisingly this is an American version of one of Australia’s most popular sitcoms … either Australian television viewers have shockingly lower IQs than Americans, or NBC butchered this adaptation," Glen Walker writes on his Welcome to Hell pop culture website.
"The three leads are at best uninteresting and at worst annoying and nerve-grating, I hated this."
Front page
Entertainment home
RSS Feed