STARS: Jane Turner, Gila Riley, Glenn Robbins, Peter Rowsthorn, Magda Szubanski

This great Aussie fly-on-the-wall reality TV send-up (in the tradition of the ground breaking Sylvania Waters) is a real creeper - I got sucked in at the first episode.

There are eight 30-minute corkers made in docudrama style. The characters seem so close to suburban reality that I was half way through the first episode before I knew it was a send up. Anyone who watched the Fast Forward team on TV will recognise the cast, and presumably like this series. In fact, I remember seeing the odd sketch with the same characters; I guess the idea for this series was conceived then. Full marks to the writers of this super tongue in cheek expose (Turner and Riley)

When being interviewed over the phenomenal success of this SHOW on the ABC, both Turner and Riley were careful not to say they were HAVING a swipe at suburbanites, but I’m sure they are! With kid gloves, maybe, but a swipe nonetheless.

Amazingly, ABC power brokers didn’t want to air Kath & Kim - they didn’t think it would wash with audiences. How wrong they were - their ratings soared. Surprise, surprise, a second series is now on the way. Don’t expect to laugh hilariously, it’s more a biting study of working class values, set appropriately in a new housing development in the burbs. You know the style - new, functional and boring, but plenty of lawn.

The cast are excellent, and I especially enjoy their treatment of our beloved Aussie lingo - it’s great - the clich?s and sayings fly thick and fast. You’ve probably heard them repeated everywhere lately. I love everything about this series - BIG TIME.

Let’s meet the family. Kath Day (Jane Turner) is a fortysomething empty nester who is just starting to enjoy her freedom and her newfound love affair with Kel Knight (Glenn Robbins), self described ‘purveyor of fine meats’. This idyllic picture is shattered when Kath’s daughter, Kim (Gina Riley) decides to leave her husband of two months, Brett Craig (Peter Rowsthorn) and moves back into the family home, convinced that Brett loves his Rottweiler Cujo more than her.

Kath’s not impressed, HAVING to give up her newly created pilates exercise room to house sulky couch potato Kim. The issues come thick and fast from this point on. Tension builds as Kath and Kel’s romance blossoms into a marriage proposal and the family becomes swept up in wedding preparations. It promises to be the tackiest wedding ever!

With the nuptials looming ever closer. With the help of Kim’s second best friend Sharon Strezlecki (Magda Szubanski), Kath embarks upon a crusade to reunite Kim and Brett, hoping to reclaim the peace and quiet she’s worked so hard to achieve. You can’t help but feel sorry for poor drama queen Kim even though she’s such a bitch - and that’s just the way she likes it.

THE EXTRAS

There are more extras than I would’ve expected somehow, running for about an hour in total. They are broken up over the two discs in the same format. I would’ve preferred them all on the one disc. There are lots of little sections which was a bit annoying, but worth the effort. I especially liked the bloopers - taping the series must’ve been such a drag - not!

Also included amongst the extras titles (which are so numerous that I won’t list them) are deleted scenes, including ones where only the audio tracks remained in the final cuts (as voiceovers), and the famous ‘wine time’ drinks on the back patio which conclude every episode.

A couple of scrapped episode intros and a press trailer get thrown in for good measure

CONCLUSION

A very good buy on DVD. Two discs, 16:9 (widescreen) format, amusing extras, Dolby Digital stereo is perfectly fine. A classic series which is more than meets the eye. Clever stuff, and it?s made in Melbourne. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie - oi oi oi says it all.