Lighter than air itself - would that be hot air?? :)

Just teasing.

I think you are going at it from the wrong direction Spleen. No one saying that the audience is "culturally monocular", but there is something about familiarity that can make an audience relate. All in the Family became an iconic show because they created a character that shown a mirror to our own culture, and that in turn changed a lot. It would not have had the same effect if the Brit version was the only one we saw. Like I said before, we get the originals on PBS or BBC America, but there is nothing wrong with taking the same premise and trying it out with new characters in new locations.

Part of the problem with Kath & Kim is that the characters they created in the U.S. version are just one-joke wonders.