‘Call Me Kat’s Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik break down 'Fleabag' comparisons

Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik obviously had such a great time filming The Big Bang Theory (watch on CTV.ca now) that they couldn’t wait to work together again. That’s the takeaway from the fact that she’s starring in a brand new comedy that he produces, Call Me Kat (premieres Jan 3 at 8pET on CTV). 

The workplace comedy, which is based on a British series called Miranda, stars Bialik as Kat—a 39-year-old woman who sinks all the money her parents put aside for her wedding into a cat café in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s not that she isn’t into dating, it’s that she wants to prove happiness can exist even when you don’t get everything you want. When Parsons first saw the project come across his fancy producorial desk, he knew Bialik had to star. 

About those Fleabag comparisons 

As some early fans have noted, there are a few similarities between Kat and the award-winning series Fleabag. No, there are no Hot Priests like there were in everybody’s 2019 Phoebe Waller-Bridge obsession, but Kat does break the fourth wall à la Fleabag to let the audience in on the joke. She also runs a café involving animals, her personal life isn’t exactly together, and she has a mother (played by Swoosie Kurtz, Mike & Molly) who is more than a little judgmental about her decisions. Still, both Bialik and Parsons are quick to remind everyone that Miranda had all of those things too. And that show debuted pre-Fleabag. 

“We like to point that out, with all due respect to Fleabag,” Bialik revealed during a Television Critics Association (TCA) press panel. “Breaking the fourth wall and having this dynamic, exceedingly eccentric and really life‑loving kind of woman absolutely existed in Miranda, which is why we are doing this and why Jim brought this project to me.”

Bialik also points out that Fleabag has a totally different vibe (Call Me Kat is a sitcom, for one). And as for those who are wondering about Bialik’s curly brown hair in this show, which is very reminiscent of Waller-Bridge in Fleabag? “I was tired of straightening my hair all of those years,” she added. “I just decided to let it do its natural thing!”

“On paper, it’s easier to make these comparisons, but it's just completely its own beast. It's its own machine,” Parsons added. “And so much of that has to do with the way [showrunner] Darlene Hunt has taken the source material and turned it into something that speaks very deeply from her own heart, but also is very much being built around Mayim. And Mayim is so distinct as an actor but also as a human being. To build the show around somebody like that, it doesn't matter how many similarities there are or aren't to any other show. It's going to be its own thing. I understand the comparisons, but I don't feel them when I'm watching this show at all.”

Breaking down that fourth wall

Bialik is surrounded by a pretty impressive cast on Call Me Kat, including Kurtz, Cheyenne Jackson, Kyla Pratt, Julian Gant and Leslie Jordan. And with so many talented actors also playing larger-than-life parts, the story can get a little… overwhelming. It’s during those occasions when Bialik is the most likely to break down that fourth wall and talk to the audience directly. However, it’s a relationship that she says is very strategic and purposeful. 

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“We are showing a character who—she's not lonely, but she does spend a lot of her time in the way that we don't see a lot of women spend their time on television or really in life,” Bialik explains. “She is alone. She's alone sometimes with her thoughts and with her fantasies. It's not like ‘Oh, let's break the fourth wall because it's cute and it's catchy.’ What we've created is a woman who includes everyone in her world because that's what makes her world interesting and colourful. Sometimes those are people that exist, and sometimes they are people that don't exist. And sometimes it's people who exist in different ways than they actually exist so that it fits better with her world view. But we really see that we are including the audience.  They are in on her jokes.”

Sorry, don't expect Parsons onscreen any time soon

Parsons has quite the busy year planned out for himself, what with producing this series, continuing to produce and narrate his other series, Young Sheldon (Thursdays at 8pET on CTV), and getting ready to shoot and produce his latest movie, So Much, which is based on So Much I Want to Tell You: Letters to My Little Sister by Anna Akana. So he isn’t planning on appearing onscreen for Call Me Kat just yet, even though he knows how much Big Bang Theory fans would love to see “Sheldon and Amy” reunite. 

“I say, ‘never say never about a cameo,’” Parsons teased before admitting that production is actually going really well without him and he wants to keep it that way. “I still don't fully understand how it's possible that things seem to be running as smoothly as they are. I should knock on wood,” he added. “I’m watching the rehearsals, I’m watching the tapings and I’m watching the shows and I’m like ‘this works.’ I don’t know if thousands of other people will like it, but it’s good.”

Viewers will get a chance to see for themselves when Call Me Kat debuts Sunday, January 3 at 8 pET on CTV, before moving to its regular Thursday timeslot at 9pET on January 7.

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