While I don’t watch much television as it’s actually being broadcast, I was anticipating the pilot of the Australian-import Kath & Kim. Starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair respectively in the title roles, it seemingly has everything it needs for zany, kooky, madcap, Ab Fab-esque scenarios.

The premise goes something like this: Kath is the newly divorced mother of Kim and trying to “get out there again” when Kim’s relationship fails and she rebounds home. There’s lots of tacky clothes and general nutball-ism with a smidge of out-of-touchedness thrown in for good measure. It’s assumed that Kath and Kim will cramp each other’s style and generally not see eye-to-eye but will always have each other’s back before the ending credits roll.

iTunes has been offering a free download of tonight’s pilot (in Standard HD). I’m assuming they will be offering a Season Pass as well, but that hasn’t been posted. I watched my downloaded preview last night.

It was nice to see Shannon not reprising a crazy SNL character for a change. I’m glad Blair gets to step up to the plate in a leading role after playing supporting roles for such a long time.

But the problem is that it’s just not funny. You can see where the abrupt airheaded observations are meant to be funny, but it’s just not. I don’t know if it’s the timing or the direction but it’s a little disappointing. Maybe it’s one of those shows that takes a few episodes to hit its stride? I’m hoping so.