Usually I give myself a period of mourning when I finish a show… That did not happen after the Big Bang Theory. I had known for a while that TBBT was ending and I decided to avoid it as much as possible. I searched immediately for something else to watch. I saw an interview with Mayim Bialik about a show she was doing… that was being produced by Jim Parsons and his husband Todd’s production company. I am not sure that I even cared what the show was about. But hell Kyla Pratt, and Leslie Jordan were also in it. There is no downside here. Luckily… Hulu had it. (I haven’t used Hulu in a long while.) So no extra effort on my part.

Usually, when choosing a new show… I try to do a bit of research beforehand but I was a slacker… So I knew nothing about the show before diving in. Call Me Kat is a television series largely based on the British sitcom Miranda by Miranda Hart. The series premiered on Fox as a midseason entry in the 2020–21 television season on January 3, 2021. In May 2021, the series was renewed for a second season. 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 can not have everything you want yet still be happy”. After leaving her job as a professor at the University of Louisville, she spends the money her parents set aside for her wedding to open a cat café in Louisville, Kentucky. I am not sure I saw anyone else playing this role. Mayim is a good fit here. (I am not sure I understand the cat cafe thing though… Mostly because I would not eat at a place where there are animals roaming about.)

I did not watch the British version that this show is based off of so I was flying in blind. I think this is a better thing though because I like to think I was more open minded… As a woman in her almost mid thirties, it is nice to get a show where the lead is woman is not obsessed with getting married or having children… no matter how they are pushed to do so. Right out the gate, her friend… is getting married… and for single woman, it is rough. “Who is your plus one?” “Oh is this a person you are dating? “Oh… you can’t bring a friend.” Kat remains optimistic throughout… Which is nice to watch. It is sad to watch the other people (her mom) rain on her parade… telling Kat she should not be happy with the life she has cultivated. Other people keep telling her that she is missing something. (I always wonder what other people’s obsession with trying to “fix” their single friends that have not asked for help.

The show is cute… I didn’t realize how much I have missed Kyla Pratt until seeing her here… Leslie Jordan brings his A game… but I am not sure how this character is supposed to be different from his previous characters. I am not sure it shows his range… but he is really funny to watch. I understood Kat’s need to start over and with something that actually brings her joy. Millennials know that feeling. I also know the feeling of coming back into contact with a person that you harbored a huge crush on in the past… People think that time helps with that sort of thing… but it usually makes things worse. I have only ever had that happen once. In the show, Kat doesn’t spend her time trying to push up on Max. She enjoys their friendship and keeps her daydreams to herself mostly. Max is intelligent and not off put by Kat’s clumsiness and penchant for getting into uncomfortable situations. Poor Kat has to sit back and listen to Max wax romantically about his ex. Been there girl. The good thing was that I actually believed their friendship. It wasn’t forced or too cheesy for me. Maybe because I can be a bit socially awkward myself… lots of people think that as you get older that just goes away. It doesn’t.

It did enjoy that the black man on the show is an active father and a business owner. He is active in trying to find ways to bring in more business. He also knows that his son needs a tutor and gets one for him. Etc etc. Great to see. There are He owns the bar next to Kat’s where she gets her take out lunch from. Kyla Pratt gets into a relationship with a lawyer… They are seen going on dates and I loved every moment of that. Black people do fall in love and go on dates. It was also interesting to see that she expected weird or toxic to occur in the relationship and thought it was weird when her new refused to display those traits. They had a great conversation about that and it really showed me that sometimes due to past experiences… we come to expect some not great things as part of life or relationships. And that is not the case at all.

For me, I am interested in seeing where the second season goes… It ended on a cliffhanger… and I am slightly annoyed. Not because of cliffhangers… (I do hate them… me waiting always sucks…) but it is something that is revealed that I was annoyed by. And I desperately want to see how that unfolds… Does it make Kat’s life better…? Is she going to make some sort of rash decision…? I would hope not. I usually do not care for first seasons…. There are some shows that I have enjoyed that had stellar first seasons… but for me that is few and far between. But I can say this was pretty entertaining… mostly because I see myself in Kat.

If you have seen it… Let me know your thoughts and feelings.