Last year, we learned that Schitt’s Creek star Annie Murphy would follow up her experience in the Emmy winning dramedy with a leading role in titled Kevin Can Go F*** Himself. AMC Studios has released the first trailer of the new original series, and it looks just as delightfully dark as we were promised. Goodbye, sweet Alexis Rose — hello, Allison.
AMC’s taking the title of the project quite literally. The plot of Kevin Can Go F*** Himself sees Murphy as Allison, a doting housewife to a soul-sucking narcissist named Kevin. Their life initially plays out like a typical multi-camera sitcom starring Kevin (Eric Peterson), with Allison being pigeonholed into corny plots that revolve around his shenanigans. In addition to waiting on him hand and foot, she also puts up with Kevin’s daily misogynistic jokes while literally fantasizing about his murder. It’s the opposite of a charmed life.
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“The world revolves around him,” Allison says of her husband resentfully in the trailer. “And if it doesn’t, he just blows it to hell. It has to stop.”
When Allison finally snaps, she decides to turn her life around in a major way, starting with Kevin. So our protagonist teams up with her friend (played by Mary Hollis Inboden) to dream up a plot of her liberation, and it’s not looking like a happy ending is in the cards for Kevin. Divorce isn’t an option; Allison wants him gone for good.
As chaotically comical as the trailer is, the point of the series is quite serious, aimed at picking apart the pervasive culture of misogyny in television. Murphy’s Allison is the picture perfect housewife until she’s not, breaking the fourth wall to expose years of pent up resentment and pure rage at her situation. With the character’s sudden mental shift, Kevin Can Go F*** Himself intends on exploring what happens when women have an opportunity to push back against problematic TV conventions and tropes. It’s a far cry from the role that brought put her on the map — would Alexis ever, like...kill someone on purpose? — but Murphy’s hoping that Allison’s rage against the machine will inspire some necessary introspection.
“In the sitcom world, so much sexism and misogyny and racism and homophobia and bigotry is cloaked by this laugh track,” Murphy explained in conversation with Vanity Fair. “[This show touches on] the impact that these ‘jokes’ have on human beings…. to take a step back and just be able to say: What have we been laughing at all of these years, and is it funny?”