Casting

Molly Shannon was cast as Kath,^[11] and Selma Blair as Kim.^[12] Even though they are playing mother and daughter, Shannon is actually only eight years older than Blair: Shannon was born in 1964, Blair in 1972. Similarly, in the Australian version, Jane Turner (Kath) is only five months older than Gina Riley (Kim).

Several names have been changed for the US version. While Kath has retained her full name from the Australian series (in which she was known as Kath Day until her marriage to Kel at the end of Season 1) and Kim has retained her first name, Kim is known as Kim Day (rather than Kim Craig née Day) although in one episode Kath calls her by her full name in which Kim's original middle name of Diane was replaced with Crystal. The two other characters have different first names: Craig Baker (replacing Brett Craig) and Phil Knight (replacing Kel Knight), while the character of Sharon is entirely absent from the series, as Magda Szubanski objected to the casting.^[13]

Maya Rudolph made the show's first guest appearance as Athena Scooberman in episode 8, "Sacrifice".^[14] Pamela Anderson made the show's second guest appearance in episode 9, "Friends".^[15]

Location settings

Originally, the series setting was supposed to be set in Fountain Valley, a fictitious suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. There were suggestions of using the San Fernando Valley portion of Los Angeles, California, as the setting, after they started shooting episodes on June 13, 2008, in Los Angeles' West Hills neighborhood. Throughout the series there were references to the geographical setting as Central Florida; characters sometimes referenced short, sunny, afternoon rain downpours as are typical of Central Florida's climate.

Critical response

The show received negative criticism from viewers and television critics,^[33] especially in the casting,^[34] adjusting of the tone of the show^[35] and even the show's costume design,^[36] which has led to Blair firing back over the claims that it ruins the creativity of the original.^[37] Early reviews of the pilot were poor, with the San Francisco Chronicle calling it "a contender for worst remake ever".^[38]

Ratings

Despite negative reviews, the series debut's ratings were strong. The show finished third overall with a total of 7.5 million viewers. In the 18- to 49- and 18- to 34-year-old demographics it placed second and first respectively.^[39] By its third episode, viewers had dropped to 4.99 million viewers, two thirds of the viewers from the pilot.^[40]