Call Me Kat to Introduce Jack McBrayer as the Café’s New Baker — But Will He Stick Around? Watch Sneak Peek
Jack McBrayer makes quite the impression during his Call Me Kat debut.
TVLine has an exclusive sneak peek at Thursday’s episode (Fox, 9:30/8:30c), which welcomes the 30 Rock alum as new hire Gideon, the baker Kat has tapped to replace Leslie Jordan’s Phil — at least for now. In the clip, Kat brings the Amish man over to The Middle C so he can meet all her favorite people (and Sheila), but neglects to warn her friends that Gideon has no filter.
McBrayer’s guest stint doubles as a 30 Rock reunion with Cheyenne Jackson (aka Max), who recurred on the NBC sitcom as Danny Baker:
Gideon’s arrival comes three weeks after Call Me Kat bade the classiest of goodbyes to Phil. Following Jordan’s untimely passing last fall, the Fox comedy opted to keep Phil alive. The winter premiere revealed that he and boyfriend Jalen bought a bakery in Tahiti and wed in an off-screen ceremony attended by Kat, Max, Randi, Carter and Sheila. At the end of the episode, the ensemble — comprised of Jackson, Mayim Bialik, Kyla Pratt, Julian Gant and Swoosie Kurtz — broke character to pay their respects:
“What we’ve done here is given Phil a happy ending. What we’re really doing is mourning the loss of our dear friend, Leslie Jordan,” Bialik said. “He is irreplaceable. We will miss him very much.” Then, together with her costars, she concluded, “Love, light, Leslie.” You can watch their touching tribute here.
Fox is not revealing whether McBrayer will become Phil’s permanent successor, so we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, press PLAY on the video above, then hit the comments with your reactions to Gideon.
How is this show still on the air? Bialik has done better work.
This show is painful to watch… and the fake laugh track makes it worse. These are talented performers. They should find better material.
Agree!
They opted not to go back to shooting before a Studio Audience – made production easier.
They really did give Phil an awesome sendoff… with Dolly… very memorable.
Amazing how people who hate the show seem to know so much about it… just stop watching.
NO NO NO NO! He’s not talented enough!
Vicki Lawrence should be his replacement,she can bring the show to a better level
Hard pass. Jack does not compare to what Leslie had. The charisma and heart-warming vibe isn’t there.
If she wasn’t so loud and obnoxious..ppl will stop watching, who in the hell are the writers
Lucky mayim jas jeopardy to fall back on, I think it is the insults and name calling for them again it’s not funny
Jeopardy’s ratings will tank when she returns to the syndicated daily episodes as they did when she hosted them before.
I don’t watch this show (CMK) and have nothing against Bialik but I don’t want her to return to the daily Jeopardy show. I find her delivery so awkward. Hopefully she has improved (I don’t watch the primetime edition, so I’m not sure).
The prime time edition is not aimed toward the core Jeopardy fans. A. It’s an hour long with three boards rather than two.
B. It features quasi celebs who are often as obnoxious as MB.
C. The categories are so dumbed down most viewers can score pretty high if they play along.
I agree!!
No
Talk about a character the polar opposite!
Okay.
The show is almost unwatchable.
Even the talents of Swoosie Kurtz and Leslie Jordan can’t or couldn’t help it.
But I *adore* Jack McBrayer.
He simply makes me happy.
So I will tune in but I’m not expecting miracles.
I don’t want to see a dummy, into name calling, why did Phil need to be replaced. comedy is funny stupid is not
No offense to Jack, but I think the Amish/just fell off the turnip truck schtick would get old real quick. It might be funny for an episode or 2 but then the viewers would be like “We get it” when he is introduced to some modern convenience he’s unfamiliar with. I also don’t want Phil’s mom to recur. Her character would be difficult to stomach on a weekly basis. She’s fine for a cameo every now and then. I get that they need a new baker and that’s going to be a hard role to fill, but this just isn’t it for me.
What happened to the guy who owns Katz building?
Wow, Dawn, great point…what did happen to that guy and his whole storyline?
i watched the first episode when it originally aired and i hated her turning and talking to the audience. Did that ever stop? If so, I might try watching again.
She still does talk to the audience, but not much, I don’t think every episode. I agree I don’t like it.
And re: Jack McBrayer…felt like it was his same character from 30 Rock. I do love him though.
Simpsons “Peaches” song, him on the new Match Game, lol
I wish they could keep Vicki L.
I don’t think that he is good enough or funny enough to fill in for Phil on my name is Kat
I love this show but Gideon is bringing it down They need to go back to Vicki. Lawrence or someone of that caliber
I agree he really is if he doesn’t go I will
I really really hope that the Gideon character does not stick around or I won’t it’s just to stupid 😕