Columnist zaps comedy’s hopes

This time it isn’t an “Aussie blogger backlash”, Selma. It’s a columnist at zap2it who is having a go.

‘TV Gal’ Amy Amatangelo doesn’t just think Kath & Kim will fail, she reckons it won’t even be aired by NBC. Ouch.

“I don’t care that NBC has set a premiere date of October 9.” she writes. “I don’t care that it stars Molly Shannon and Selma Blair. I’m ready to throw down on this one. I’m getting the same vibe from Kath & Kim than I got from that 2005 NBC comedy Thick & Thin that starred Jessica Capshaw, Sharon Gless and Martin Mull. NBC never aired that one either.

“I see the same fate for Kath & Kim.”

What is most significant in the lead-up to some of this year’s Fall season is that critics have not been privvy to completed episodes, as has been tradition. Meanwhile the NYPost reckons the success of the NBC’s Fall line-up is crucial to the security of executive Ben Silverman.

“After NBC airs the Beijing Olympics, it’s pinning its hopes on a new version of Knight Rider, Lipstick Jungle (which barely got renewed), My Own Worst Enemy starring Christian Slater and a US version of Australian sitcom Kath & Kim with Molly Shannon and Selma Blair,” it notes.

“‘If the fall is as bad as the summer, someone will have to take the blame, and it won’t be [NBC chairman and CEO] Jeff Zucker,’ said one network insider.”

If that comes to pass Silverman at least has a huge payout due for cancellation of contract. And that’s on top of the ker-ching he accrued for selling Reveille.