Why So Blu?

Kevin Can F*** Himself: Season 1 (Blu-ray Review)

Allison McRoberts is the prototypical Sitcom Wife married to Kevin, her self-centered husband. When she learns that the perfect future she envisioned is impossible, she teams up with her neighbor Patty as she attempts to escape her confines and take control of her life. A completely original new dark comedy, Kevin Can F**K Himself shows what happens when you leave the brightly lit sitcom set and see the reality behind the laugh track. Created by Valerie Armstrong (“Lodge 49”), Kevin Can F**K Himself is directed by Anna Dokoza (“Up All Night,” “Flight of the Conchords”) and Oz Rodriguez (Vampires vs. the Bronx, “A.P. Bio”). The series stars Emmy winner Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”), Mary Hollis Inbodin (“The Righteous Gemstones”), Eric Peterson (“Kirstie”), Alex Bonifer (“Superstore”), Brian Howe (“Vice Principals”), and Raymond Lee (“Here and Now”).

 

The Series 

Kevin Can F*** Himself follows Allison (Annie Murphy) and her husband Kevin (Eric Petersen) as she cooks, cleans, and is a subservient housewife in the present day. It’s obviously a facade and the real world is nothing like it is in the sitcom world where everything is just peachy. It’s anything but peachy in Allison’s world.

I had no idea what this show was about until I watched the trailer. Of course, the comment section on YouTube would have you believe that shifting in and out of the sitcom into real world was something that WandaVision came up with. That plot device is not mutually exclusive, and I believe that Kevin Can F*** Himself does it to a much greater effect than the previously mentioned series.

Watching the sitcom portions of the show are downright hilarious, but then there’s the immediate shock of Allison in the real world. She’s in a one-sided loveless marriage, uses drugs every now and then, and has nothing to show for it all. She’s insignificant and meek. The irony being that even though the show focuses on Allison planning to murder Kevin, it segues into Allison not having friends let alone a support system for herself. Another cool mechanism of the show is that most of the characters in the sitcom portion of the show are never seen in Allison’s real-life point of view segments, outside her neighbor, Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden).

In another dreadful year of pandemics and whatnot, Kevin Can F*** Himself has risen above and made his presence known on home media. It’s laugh out funny but has a deeper meaning that meshes well with the whole prototypical setting of sitcom and variety shows. In review the marketing materials for this release I am happy to say that Kevin Can F*** Himself will be back for season 2. Season 1 is eight episodes long with a rough running time of 45-minutes each, so you get some bang for your hard-earned bucks!

Episodes:

Living the Dream

Living the Dream; New Tricks Part 2

We’re Selling Washing Machines

Live Free of Die

New Patty

The Grand Victorian

Broken

Fixed

 

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Clarity/Detail: As far as television on Blu-ray goes, Kevin Can F*** Himself looks terrific. The show has that sitcom/film look and does a great job balancing that out. The image is clear and detailed.

Depth: When the show switches into film mode, there’s a film quality to moving image. It’s like watching a mini film. Likewise, when we’re watching the sitcom portion of the show, it’s extremely vivid. I had to double check to make sure that my television settings were set properly due to how bright the image got in the sitcom sections.

Black Levels: Black levels are deep and inky — had no issues with crush anomalies.

Color Reproduction: The color wheel is where the show really shines. The colors are big and bold during the sitcom bits, but once we switch to the real worlds, the palette mutes itself a bit.

Flesh Tones: Everyone looks terrific — fleshy tones appear healthy and non-sickly.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean.

 

 

Audio

Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Dynamics: Kevin Can F*** Himself has been given the full DTS-HD MA 5.1 treatment. Does this type of show warrant that? Sure, it does, because it’s not a typical sitcom show. The sound channels have a lot of information to pass through and I think it was a well-mixed Blu-ray. The scenes taking place in the real world are what gives it that edge, because Allison live in a chaotic and lived in world.

Low Frequency Extension: The bass levels are steady — outside of musical cues and vehicles rumbling about, there is no low-end overkill present on this Blu-ray set.

Surround Sound Presentation: The surround sound channels reproduce the “live audience” track nicely making it seem that we’re also part of that audience. Once out of that sitcom, the surround sound channels keep the ambience effects going to a more realistic degree.

Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue levels are terrific. Everyone, in the chaos, can be heard loud, distinct, and clear.

 

Extras 

The extras are a bit on the light and fluffy side. They briefly cover the making of season one and go over of what the intentions were of capturing an audience. It’s fine but unsubstantial.

Bonus Features on the DVD and Blu-ray include:

●      A Look at the Series

●      Meet the Characters

●      Making of the Show

Summary 

I think Kevin Can F*** is one of the best new shows of 2021. It blends scathing humor well, while subverting the genre, and does so in a very creative way. Kevin Can F*** Himself: Season 1 on Blu-ray looks and sounds great. The special features could have been beefed up a little but best part of it all is that we’re getting a second season! Highly recommended!

 

 

 

Kevin Can F*** Himself : Season 1 is available on Blu-ray!

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