Mayim Bialik’s Call Me Kat Is a Refreshing Take on Dating in Your 40s

There are many reasons why Mayim Bialik and Jim Parsons were so beloved as Amy and Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. But the main one: As a couple in their mid-to-late 30s, they proved there really is someone out there for everyone, even if it takes you a little longer to find.

But Bialik's new sitcom, Fox's Call Me Kat (where she and Parsons are executive producers), takes that notion even further. Based on the critically-acclaimed BBC UK original series, Miranda, Bialik stars as Kat Silver, a math professor who quits her job at the University of Louisville to open a cat cafe after her father passes away. Kat, 39 and approaching her 40th, is done with being unfulfilled in life. But being “unfulfilled” on Call Me Kat doesn't mean being single. (Plus, as we've all learned over the last year, is there anything more fulfilling then spending your days with animals?)

Being single is treated like no big deal to Kat, though her mother Sheila (Swoosie Kurtz) would give her left arm to see her daughter fall in love and get married. It's a tired trope, but one plenty of single 30- and 40-somethings still have to deal with. 

What is refreshing, however, is the way in which Kat handles this pressure, which is to not give it a second thought. She wants to fall in love and have companionship with someone because it feels good, not because there's some sort of timeline she missed. She doesn't care when it happens, as long as it's worth it. As she tells her mother, the only label that matters to her is rad cat lady, not sad cat lady.

In the first episode, which aired on Sunday, January 3, Kat attended her best friend's wedding, which was as awkward as it was enjoyable. She invited a plus one, but then learned she could only bring a date if she was in a serious relationship (sigh). So she spent the rest of the 22 minutes trying to keep the ruse going. 

In the latest episode—which airs January 7, after which the show will permanently remain on Thursday nights—Kat finds her footing, even if the situations she finds herself in are a bit unstable. There's the crush (Cheyenne Jackson) who doesn't quite return her feelings and the potential date who's already married. But Kat accepts the uncomfortableness for what it is, preferring instead to focus on what's ahead. 

“We are showing a character who's not lonely," Mayim Bialik tells Glamour. “It's a show about a woman trying to be happy seeing what happens along the way.”

That is what Call Me Kat gets refreshingly right. “It's not so much that she's uncomfortable with dating,” Bialik says. “She's uncomfortable with the expectations that have been laid out for her. I think a lot of people will resonate with that.”

Kat isn't Emily Cooper traipsing through Paris in high fashion or Daphne Bridgerton, the season's incomparable, preparing to meet the Queen. It's fine if she did, of course, but it's also nice to see a comedy starring someone that better resembles my real life.

“We are showing a very nonconventional female, and I miss seeing women like this on television,” Bialik says. “I grew up admiring quirky, multifaceted women and comediennes who weren't afraid to be silly and sloppy and do pratfalls. So, I'm really grateful that we are showing a woman who is owning all of herself.”

Especially one with a friendly feline by her side. 

Jessica Radloff is the west coast editor of Glamour. You can follow her on Instagram at @jessicaradloff14.

Originally Appeared on Glamour