''Call Me Kat'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...

largely based on the British sitcom '' Miranda'' by

Miranda Hart Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke (born 14 December 1972) is an English actress and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in va ...

. The series is written by Darlene Hunt and stars

Mayim Bialik Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, game show host, and author. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on ...

in the title role, with

Cheyenne Jackson Cheyenne David Jackson (born July 12, 1975) is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings. After beginni ...

Kyla Pratt Kyla Amore Pratt (born September 16, 1986) is an American actress. She provided the voice of Penny Proud in the first animated series for Disney Channel called ''The Proud Family'', and Breanna Latrice Barnes in UPN's '' One on One''. After playi ...

, Julian Gant,

Leslie Jordan Leslie Allen Jordan (April 29, 1955 – October 24, 2022) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and singer. His television roles include Beverley Leslie on ''Will & Grace'' (2001–2006 and 2017–2020), several characters on television in ...

, and

Swoosie Kurtz Swoosie Kurtz ( ; born September 6, 1944) is an American actress. She is the recipient of an Emmy Award and two Tony Awards. Kurtz made her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of ''Ah, Wilderness''. She has received five Tony Award nominations, ...

in supporting roles. The series premiered on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

as a midseason entry in the 2020–21 television season on January 3, 2021. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on September 29, 2022.

Premise

''Call Me Kat'' follows a 39-year-old single woman named Kat, "who struggles every day against society and her mother to prove that you cannot have everything you want – and still be happy". After leaving her job as a professor at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

, she spends the money her parents set aside for her wedding to open a

cat café A cat café is a theme café whose attraction is cats who can be watched and played with. Patrons pay a cover fee, generally hourly, and thus cat cafés can be seen as a form of supervised indoor pet rental. "Cat café" has been officially reco ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Cast

Main

as Kat, a 39-year old single woman who runs a cat café in Louisville and struggles to find a balance between her fulfilling new career and her constant sense of loneliness *

as Sheila, Kat's overbearing mother who cannot understand why her daughter chooses to be single and constantly tries to get her to meet new men *

as Phil, a newly single gay man who works as the head baker at Kat's café. It was later revealed that he was actually named Philliam. As stated, his name was supposed to be William but his father was really drunk when he named him. After Jordan's death during production of season three, Phil was written out of the show by marrying Jalen and moving to Tahiti with him. *

as Randi, a waitress at the café who becomes Kat's business partner in the third season * Julian Gant as Carter, the owner of The Middle C, a piano bar next to Kat's café, and Randi's boyfriend *

as Max, Kat's friend and former college love interest who works at Carter's bar after returning home from years of traveling abroad * Christopher Rivas as Oscar (season 2; recurring season 1), a package delivery man and briefly Kat's fiancé

Recurring

Tim Bagley Timothy Hugh Bagley (born August 17, 1957) is an American actor and comedian, who has appeared in numerous films and television programs. He had recurring roles on the TV series ''Will & Grace'', '' Hope & Gloria'', ''Strip Mall'', '' According t ...

as Wyatt, a regular customer at Kat's café *

Lamorne Morris Lamorne Morris (born August 14, 1983) is an American actor, comedian and television personality. He is known for roles such as Winston Bishop in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011-2018), Darrin Morris in the National Geographic docudrama '' Vall ...

as Daniel (season 1), a customer at Kat's café who refuses to tip on social and political grounds and also had a relationship with Randi *

Vanessa Lachey Vanessa Joy Lachey (née Minnillo; born November 9, 1980) is an American actress, beauty pageant titleholder, fashion model, and television host. She was named Miss Teen USA in 1998. She has been a New York–based correspondent for ''Entertain ...

as Tara Barnett (season 1), Kat's best friend since childhood who is married with three kids * Schuyler Helford as Brigitte (season 1), Max's ex-girlfriend * Andy Favreau as Nick (season 2), owner of a sandwich shop near Kat's café who becomes Kat's landlord *

Laura Bell Bundy Laura Ashley Bell Bundy (born April 10, 1981) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for originating the Broadway roles of Amber Von Tussle in the musical version of ''Hairspray and'' Elle Woods in the musical version of ''Legally ...

as Nicole (season 2), Max's girlfriend * John Griffin as Jalen/Queen Dicktoria (season 3), a drag performer and Phil's love interest

Guests

Joey Lawrence Joseph Lawrence Mignogna Jr. (born April 20, 1976) is an American actor, musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and game show host. He got his start as a child star in the early 1980s and is best known for his role as Joey Russo in ''Blo ...

as himself ("Call Me Kerfuffled") *

Jenna von Oÿ Jennifer Jean "Jenna" von Oÿ (born May 2, 1977) is an American actress, singer and author. She played the role of Dorothy "Six" LeMeure in the NBC sitcom ''Blossom'' and Stevie Van Lowe in the UPN sitcom ''The Parkers'', the spin-off series o ...

as herself ("Call Me Kerfuffled") *

Michael Stoyanov Michael Edward Stoyanov (born December 14, 1966) is an American actor. Biography Stoyanov was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is of Bulgarian and Ukrainian descent. He is best known for his role in the situation comedy ''Blossom'' as eldest sibli ...

as himself ("Call Me Kerfuffled") *

Robin Thicke Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 hit single " Blurred Lines", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, he ...

as himself ("Call Me Flatch") * Chelsea Holmes as Kelly Mallet ("Call Me Flatch") * Sam Straley as Lloyd "Shrub" Mallet ("Call Me Flatch") *

Ted Wass Edward Wass (born October 27, 1952) is an American television director and former actor. He is best known for his roles as Danny Dallas on the series ''Soap'' (1977–1981) and as Nick Russo on the NBC sitcom ''Blossom'' (1991–1995). After ''B ...

as Harley, Kat's deceased father ("Call Me Shellfish", "Call Me Dame Booty Clench") *

Ken Jennings Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, author, and former game show contestant. He is the highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,70 ...

as himself ("Call Me Ken Jennings") *

Parker Young Parker Young (born August 16, 1988) is an American actor. He portrayed Ryan Shay on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC sitcom ''Suburgatory'', Randy Hill on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox sitcom ''Enlisted (TV series), Enlisted'' and Richar ...

as Donor 457/Brian ("Call Me Donor Four-Five-Seven") *

Kevin Sussman Kevin Sussman (born December 4, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He played Walter on the ABC comedy-drama ''Ugly Betty'' and Stuart Bloom on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''. Starting with the sixth season of ''The Big Bang Theory ...

as Zac ("Call Me Donor Four-Five-Seven", "Call Me Chrismukkah") *

George Takei George Takei (; ja, ジョージ・タケイ; born Hosato Takei (武井穂郷), April 20, 1937) is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the fictional starship USS ''Enterprise'' in the televis ...

as himself ("Call Me Chrismukkah") *

Vicki Lawrence Vicki Ann Lawrence ( Axelrad; born March 26, 1949), sometimes credited as Vicki Lawrence Schultz, is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She is best known for her character Mama (Thelma Harper). Lawrence originated multitudes of charact ...

as Lurlene 'Mama' Crumpler, Phil's mother ("Call Me Philliam") *

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album ...

as herself ("Call Me Philliam")

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Season 3 (2022–23)

Production

Development

On September 19, 2019, it was announced that

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and ...

had given a series commitment, based on the British

'' Miranda'' by

. The working title at this stage was ''Carla''. The series was to be executive produced by

and Darlene Hunt through Sad Clown Productions,

Jim Parsons James Joseph Parsons (born March 24, 1973) is an American actor. From 2007 to 2019, he played Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory''. He has received various awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead ...

(Bialik's former co-star on ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

'') and Todd Spiewak through That's Wonderful Productions, and Angie Stephenson and the original series creator and star

through

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

. That's Wonderful Productions' Eric Norsoph, and Sad Clown Productions' Mackenzie Gabriel-Vaught would serve as producers. Production companies named were

Fox Entertainment Fox Entertainment is an American production company owned by Fox Corporation. The company was formed in 2019 after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The programming is created for the Fox Broadcasting Company, MyNetwork ...

and

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

. On February 12, 2020, it was announced that the series title had been changed from ''Carla'' to ''Call Me Kat''. On May 11, 2020, it was announced that Fox had ordered the pilot to series. The series premiered on January 3, 2021. On May 10, 2021, Fox renewed the series for a second season. On June 16, 2021, Alissa Neubauer joined the series as the showrunner for the second season to replace Hunt. On May 16, 2022, Fox renewed the series for a third season. On June 9, 2022, Jim Patterson and Maria Ferrari were announced as the new showrunners for the third season, replacing Neubauer. During the show's development, Hunt decided to set the show in Louisville, near her hometown of

Lebanon Junction, Kentucky Lebanon Junction is a home rule-class city in Bullitt County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 1,813 as of the 2010 census. Geography Lebanon Junction is located in southern Bullitt County at (37.836197, -85.727127). It is o ...

, telling Kirby Yates of Louisville's daily newspaper, ''

The Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...

'', "Louisville just felt right." In the same interview, Hunt told Yates that Bialik approved of the setting: "She had been to Louisville recently and loved the city and told me she felt it was really unique and special. I gave her the option to set it in her hometown of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, but she doubled down on Louisville." Hunt is not the only Louisville-area native involved in the series' production; a co-executive producer and writer, Amy Hubbs, is from

Elizabethtown, Kentucky Elizabethtown is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Hardin County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 28,531 at the 2010 census, and was estimated at 30,289 by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2019, making it the 11th-largest city ...

. Hunt noted that she and Hubbs had "a big debate" over Kat's allegiance in the

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to ...

–

college rivalry Pairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry can extend to bo ...

, noting that "I grew up a big U of L fan, and Amy was a huge UK fan." Hunt chose not to reveal Kat's allegiance before the series premiere, but confirmed that the chosen university sent several items to be used in decorating the character's home. According to Yates, the series is "chock full of Louisville references", with the first three episodes alone making multiple references to Louisville cultural touchstones and locations such as the UK–U of L rivalry,

bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by B ...

, the Brown Hotel,

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was p ...

, and

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

. Yates added, "Although none of the show is actually filmed in Louisville, the show's art department works off photographs to recreate the references in Louisville on a production stage in Los Angeles." Hunt further added, "It does feel really special to be able to make so many shoutouts to people, places and things around Louisville and to be able to honor them in the show. A new hometown pride is coming out in me, so it's very special." Bialik confirmed that the show is filmed on a closed set without a studio audience due to COVID-19; a

laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...

is added during post-production. Tapings with a live studio audience began with the second season.

Casting

Upon series commitment, Bialik was also cast to star in the series. In February 2020,

and

had joined the cast in starring roles. On March 6, 2020,

was cast in a starring role. On April 2, 2020, it was announced that

joined the main cast. On April 28, 2020, it was reported that Julian Gant joined the cast as a series regular. In April 2022, it was reported

and Bialik, who both starred in the sitcom ''

Blossom In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as we ...

'' as father-and-daughter, would reunite in the second season's finale, playing father-and-daughter. Hunt added local color in casting of minor roles. She told Yates, "I cast one woman who mentioned she was from Louisville when she auditioned because her character works at a hotel, and I needed her to say 'Welcome to Louisville!' Anyone from Louisville knows how hard it is to get people from somewhere else to say that correctly!" The woman cast for that role grew up near Seneca Park in Louisville. On October 24, 2022, Leslie Jordan was killed in a car crash, and it was announced that production on the series had paused indefinitely in the wake of his death. Jordan had completed work on eight episodes of season three prior to his death, but did not complete his work on the ninth episode. The October 27 episode "Call Me Uncle Dad" included a tribute to him.

Animal safety

In an interview, Bialik said the cats used in filming are neither drugged nor tethered. Several trainers are on-set to supervise the cats.

Broadcast

''Call Me Kat'' premiered on January 3, 2021, at 8/7c on

. On January 7, 2021, the series moved to Thursdays at 9/8c, its regular Thursday timeslot, alongside '' Last Man Standing''. It can also be seen on

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

in Canada. The second season premiered on January 9, 2022. The third season premiered on September 29, 2022.

Reception

Critical response

The first season has received mostly negative reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, it holds an approval rating of 27% based on 15 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "More gimmick than sitcom, ''Call Me Kat'' buries a charming Mayim Bialik in a sandbox of toothless jokes and shallow characterizations." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc D ...

, season one has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ratings

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Accolades

The series was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography For A Multi-Camera Series at the

73rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2020, until May 31, 2021, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award ceremony was held live on September 19, 2021, ...

. and for Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series at the

74th Primetime Emmy Awards The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2021, until May 31, 2022, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). The awards ceremony was held live on September ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Production website
* {{FOXNetwork Shows (current and upcoming) 2020s American sitcoms 2020s American workplace comedy television series 2021 American television series debuts American television series based on British television series English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Metafictional television series Television series about cats Television series by BBC Studios Television series by Fox Entertainment Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series set in restaurants Television shows set in Kentucky American LGBT-related sitcoms