SHOW OF THE WEEK: Call Me Kat (Jan. 3, 8 p.m., Fox, CTV)

Mayim Bialik stars as the titular cat lover in “Call Me Kat.” PHOTO CREDIT: Fox/Bell Media

It’s a real-life story you could make a TV show about: young actor has a hit TV series when she’s still a teenager, quits full-time acting at 19 to get a PhD and have a family, snags a small role on a sitcom in her 30s that turns into nine more seasons as a lead on one of the most popular shows on TV and now, at 45, is starring in her own series.

That’s the story of Mayim Bialik, the “Big Bang Theory” mainstay and neuroscientist who stars in new sitcom “Call Me Kat” as a 39-year-old single woman who owns a cat cafe.

Will TV lightning strike three times (counting “Blossom”) for Bialik? Having watched four episodes I can tell you I was charmed by smart, witty, klutzy, eternally optimistic Kat and I say that as someone who doesn’t generally like sitcoms.

Bialik, who also gets to show off a bit of her singing and dancing talent here, carries the lead with aplomb, but she also has a great team around her.

Darlene Hunt, known for writing and producing credits like “The Big C,” “Roseanne” and “The Conners,” shepherded this U.S. version of the British sitcom “Miranda” into being. One of the “Kat” executive producers, alongside Bialik, is the man who played her boyfriend/husband on “Big Bang,” Jim Parsons. And Bialik’s cast mates include talents like Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson as her crush, bartender Max; TV vet Swoosie Kurtz as her overprotective mother, Sheila; and Kyla Pratt (“One on One”) and Leslie Jordan (“Will & Grace”) as her employees Randi and Phil. 

The actors work well together, well enough that you buy into the relationships between them from the get-go. And there’s a sense of joyfulness to the overall production, not least because Kat is so unapologetically her quirky, sometimes awkward self — occasionally breaking the fourth wall to confide in the audience.

That joy was also palpable during a Zoom panel with Hunt, Parsons and the cast for the Television Critics Association in December. Bialik called “Kat” “the best playground ever” for the actors.

“I can absolutely say that my time on ‘Big Bang Theory’ was fantastic and life-changjng, and my time on ‘Blossom’ was fantastic and life-changing. But the way that we get to work and these actors that you see, and our writers and just this whole team has made this, for me personally, the greatest job I’ve ever had.”

She added: “What I love is that this is not a show about a woman trying to find someone. It’s a show about a woman trying to be happy finding herself and seeing what happens along the way.” 

I second that. As much as having a comedy built around a single woman is not new, it’s still refreshing to see a series about a woman of a certain age and body type (i.e. not a size zero) who’s proud of herself and her choices, including her singlehood.

And if you like “Call Me Kat,” know that it switches to its regular time slot on Jan. 7 at 9 p.m.

Elizabeth Is Missing (Jan. 3, 9 p.m., PBS)

Glenda Jackson stars as Maud in “Elizabeth Is Missing.” PHOTO CREDIT: STV Productions

Speaking of things that it’s refreshing to see on TV, you can add a film in which the main character is a woman and a senior citizen to the list.

Glenda Jackson, a two-time Oscar winner (in 1971 for “Women in Love” and 1974 for “A Touch of Class”) and a double Emmy winner for the TV series “Elizabeth R,” plays Maud, a woman with early-stage Alzheimer’s who doggedly tries to solve the disappearance of her friend Elizabeth (Maggie Steed), despite her failing memory and the indifference of others to her quest.

Along the way, Maud is also haunted by memories of her sister, Sukey (Sophie Rundle), who disappeared in 1949 and whose absence was never explained.

It’s a wonderful performance from Jackson who, at 84, is in virtually every scene of the TV movie, adapted from a 2014 novel by Emma Healey. This was Jackson’s first acting project since 1992, when she first won a seat as a British member of parliament. 

She very movingly portrays the indignities and frustrations of growing old, of feeling betrayed by mind and body alike, of being ignored and patronized. “Am I invisible or something?” Maud yells at one point. “I want to scream!”

And yet, Maud is determined and resourceful, refusing to give up on either her sister or her friend to the point that she can’t be ignored anymore.

If you’d like to watch another story about a resourceful older woman, check out “Laura Ingalls Wilder: From Prairie to Page” on  “American Masters” (Dec. 29, 9:30 p.m., PBS), about the author of the “Little House on the Prairie” novels. Ingalls Wilder was in her 60s when her memories of growing up in an American pioneer family in the late 1800s were translated into the beloved children’s books, which are still being read almost 90 years after they were first published, while the “Little House on the Prairie” TV series has never gone off the air.

The documentary deals with harsh realities of pioneer life that were left out of the books — not least the fact her family’s various homestead were built on land stolen from Native Americans — as well as the books’ racism and the unacknowledged role of her daughter Rose in getting them published. Nonetheless, it’s still an interesting slice of history.

A Perfect Planet (Jan. 3, 8 p.m., BBC Earth)

Lesser flamingoes and weeks-old chicks at Lake Natron in Tanzania in “A Perfect Planet.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of BBC Earth

Speaking of senior citizens, how about sparing some admiration for David Attenborough, still lending his voice to nature documentaries at the age of 94 in a bid to convince humans to save the planet.

This latest series looks at the forces of nature that have kept Earth in perfect balance for thousands upon thousands of years, including volcanoes, sunlight, weather and oceans, while the fifth and final episode will examine human impact on the planet — spoiler alert, it’s not good — and what we can do to restore its balance.

Despite that underlying message, the episode I screened about volcanoes was far from preachy; it didn’t need to be. The species it highlighted were so fascinating and inspiring in their single-minded drive to perpetuate themselves it seemed impossible not to be seized with the idea that life on Earth is worth preserving.

Consider the lesser flamingo chicks that run three miles over the exposed bed of Lake Natron in Tanzania, in perilous conditions, to reach the freshwater springs where they can feed; or the pregnant female iguanas that risk death to descend into a volcanic crater on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos to lay their eggs in warm volcanic ash; or the finches that adapted to harsh conditions on Wolf Island by becoming vampires and feeding on the blood of Nazca boobies.

The photography, as you would expect, is stunning. Bonus “behind the scenes” segments at the ends of episodes recount just what lengths the camera people and other crew members went to, to get those beautiful shots.

Odds and Ends

Captain Jack Harkness, a.k.a. John Barrowman, is back in the “Doctor Who” holiday special “Revolution of the Daleks.” PHOTO CREDIT: James Pardon/BBC Studios

Daleks and Captain Jack Harkness are two names likely to gladden the hearts of Whovians. They both make appearances in the annual “Doctor Who” holiday special, “Revolution of the Daleks” (Jan. 1, 8 p.m., CTV Sci-Fi Channel). I didn’t get a sneak peek, but Barrowman’s appearances are usually fun and I’m a fan of Jodie Whittaker’s take on the Doctor. Other guests in the cast include Chris Noth (“Sex and the City”) and Dame Harriet Walter (“Killing Eve,” “The Crown”).

I also didn’t get an advance look at the new episodes of “Vikings” (Jan. 1, 9 p.m., History), but these are the final 10 of the series so fans will undoubtedly want to tune in.  Look for Ivar the Boneless (Alex Høgh Andersen) to again face Alfred the Great (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) in battle as the Irish-Canadian co-production concludes.

If you want some Canadian content to ring in the new year, CBC and CBC Gem have “Canada’s New Year’s Eve — A Countdown to 2021” Dec. 31 at 11 p.m. no matter what time zone you’re in across the country. Rick Mercer hosts and there is music from Canadians like Brett Kissel, Tyler Shaw, Neon Dreams, Alan Doyle, the Jerry Cans and more.

Canadian fans of the beloved TV comedy “Friends” take note: all 10 seasons land on Crave on Dec. 31, which will forthwith become the exclusive streaming home for the series. Crave is also where you can find Season 13 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as of Jan. 1 at 9:30 p.m.

“Five Bedrooms” (Jan. 3, 10 p.m., W Network), is about five friends who decide to buy a house together to beat rising real estate prices, which makes it sound like an HGTV docuseries , except it’s actually a dramedy set in Australia.