I agreed with your take of the pilot, but as the season progressed, I was able to buy the premise. In the sitcom world, the men face no consequences, and the women exist in roles purely to serve the story. Kevin’s wife wants more, and the two worlds coexist and clash simultaneously. The pilot didn’t effectively demonstrate that premise, but it was used quite well in subsequent episodes.
On Wed, Jun 23, 2021 at 3:55 PM Doug Fields <[email protected]> wrote: > Imagine the most derivative, vanilla sitcom you’ve ever seen. Just your > basic “King of Queens”-style show about a husband and wife and the > struggles of daily life. “Everybody Loves Raymond”, but with less funny > jokes. > > > > And then imagine the most derivative daily-life-grind drama you’ve ever > seen, but with the least attractive aspects of some semi-popular shows > currently in the network lineups. “Blue Bloods” without the folksy charm > of the family dynamic and Sunday night dinner; “This Is Us” without the > tear-jerking melodrama; “The Equalizer” without…well, no..just like “The > Equalizer”. > > > > Now, flip back and forth between these two dissimilar styles, but in the > same show. Visually, it’s kind of interesting, as you watch the brightly > lit soundstage (the primary set is suspiciously similar to the living room > in “All in the Family”) with the requisite laugh track, typical wacky > neighbors and cheesy over-acted situations, all done in a standard > three-camera shot. And then you follow the main character as she walks > through a door and BAM! The soundtrack abruptly cuts off, the lighting > goes much darker and the view switches to a one-camera shot with dramatic > angles and cuts. > > > > That’s “Kevin Can F**k Himself”. Annie Murphy continues her quality work > from “Schitt’s Creek” and is the only bright spot in the show, as she > reaches an epiphany that she’s wasted the last 10 years of her life in a > loveless marriage to her complete waste-of-space husband, Kevin. The first > episode shows her finally reaching her breaking point and justifies what > seems to foreshadow Kevin’s eventual permanent departure from the show. A > former lover (now married and newly returned to the town that Murphy’s > character never left) is introduced as the obvious future romantic > entanglement, and the two-hour premier follows her as she sprirals down > into self-pity and loathing at her husband in particular and her life in > general. > > > > The visual gimmick is interesting, but it just can’t overcome the almost > complete lack of a fresh story. If it were either the sitcom or the drama > alone, it would be a bad show. Mashing the two versions together does > nothing to improve their separate deficiencies. > > > > Doug Fields > > Tampa, FL > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/BN6PR14MB1619CCE6BB484D4422CFC0C1C6089%40BN6PR14MB1619.namprd14.prod.outlook.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/BN6PR14MB1619CCE6BB484D4422CFC0C1C6089%40BN6PR14MB1619.namprd14.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4BkBnUuzQiAa4gEpS48ru0uR9_AHSxvpD3BdFpf_erM1A%40mail.gmail.com.
