Properly, AMC’s new dramedy Kevin Can F**k Himself — premiering Sunday, June 20 at 9/8c — goals to explode that stereotype, promising a meta satire that demolishes these creaky outdated TV clichés. (The title even refers to a very notorious instance of the style: the Kevin James-Erinn Hayes CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait.) However after watching the primary 4 episodes, I’m pondering perhaps this was a greater concept than an precise collection, as a result of the result’s a grim, disagreeable mishmash that doesn’t actually work on both finish. The satire is suffocating… and we find yourself feeling suffocated, too.
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It’s a set-up wealthy with potential, to make certain, and the sitcom scenes are correct… however that simply means they’re terrible. Kevin is a grotesque, lazy-eyed lout (he’s a New England Patriots fan, simply to make him much more unbearable), and we by no means get rationalization as to why Allison can be married to him within the first place, or why she wouldn’t simply depart him. And there’s an excessive amount of of him: For some cause, Kevin insists on working a full-length sitcom plot into every episode, with all of the tacky punchlines you’d anticipate. It’s well-executed, all the way down to the overly vibrant lighting and broad performances, however as soon as we get the concept, why do we’ve got to maintain seeing it? That is Allison’s hell. Why do we’ve got to reside in it, too?
It’s simple to know why Murphy would take this function, simply primarily based on the premise, however the ample charms she confirmed on Schitt’s Creek are muted right here. (Her fleeting Bahstahn accent is a distraction, too.) Mary Hollis Inboden has some good moments as sarcastic neighbor Patty, who reluctantly befriends Allison and has secrets and techniques of her personal, however many of the forged outdoors of Murphy is both intentionally irritating or simply forgettable. It’s a disgrace, as a result of there’s TV present to be made a few sitcom spouse’s secret double life. (WandaVision explored related concepts with a lot higher success.) However right here, the idea turns bitter and curdled, and we find yourself as depressing as Allison is.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: AMC’s Kevin Can F**okay Himself wastes an intriguing idea by mixing hacky sitcom antics with a crushingly grim tone.