Kath & Kim

9 p.m, Wednesday December 7
Sundance Channel

"Kath & Kim" obviously wants very badly to be the second coming of "Absolutely Fabulous," and the surprise is how much the Aussie comedy succeeds. The top-rated comedy Down Under, it rolls out the premiere of Season 3 (I must have entirely missed the first two seasons) on Sundance Channel and from the get-go serves up a gleeful potpourri of boldly sexist, deliriously fashion-challenged outrage that takes social chaos to fresh comedic depths. This is to say it's often pretty funny and occasionally shocking, if not quite hilarious. It stars Jane Turner and Gina Riley -- who created the series and also write and produce -- as Kath Day and her daughter Kim, respectively.

Kath is a fortysomething empty-nester with a doting new husband, Kel (Glenn Robbins). She specializes in inappropriate clothing and an overall cluelessness. Kim is a surly princess who dresses like a slut despite a bulging body (think scandalous midriff exposure and who enjoys torturing her whipped hubby Brett (Peter Rowsthorn) and her obese/pathetic pal Sharon (Magda Szubanski). In the opener, Kath fears she'll have to go to jail for bigamy when she learns her first divorce was never finalized, though it turns out her second marriage is instead invalid. Episode 2 finds Rachel Griffiths ("Six Feet Under") in a cameo during which she gets vomited upon by Kath. That's really all you need to know about a show that is agreeably naughty and uncouth, positioning it as "Ab Fab" for the next generation.