Big Screen Little Screen

Not a network to shy away from import comedies, NBC has another in the pipeline with their own version of Australian hit Kath and Kim, and they plan to give the new show some choice primetime space as the final piece to their Thursday night comedy block, following both The Office and the Amy Poehler vehicle that’s not a spinoff. The Kath redo stars Selma Blair, Molly Shannon, and Christopher Guest fave, John Michael Higgins.

NBC’s put a lot of money and hope behind the show, but contrasting views can be read on Australian Defamer, obvious K&K purists.  You’d think they were wielding voodoo stickpins and praying for an early burial of the successor series (via Pop Candy), citing media analysis that has it ranked as a “weak performer” amongst the fall debuts, and pointing out early preview clips that paint it as looking “like it’s going to be about as funny as the Nuremberg Trials.”  The down under deathwatch is already underway.  (video tip: Mr. Weatherbee’s)