^{Credit: Kevin (Amazon Prime Video)}

You know how Brian Griffin is a pet, and yet isn’t a pet? The same applies to the titular cat in Kevin (Jason Schwartzman), a new animated series from Aubrey Plaza and showrunner Joe Wengert. There are a few differences between Brian and Kevin. In Family Guy, some animals talk while others don’t. In Kevin, animals who talk and walk on their hind legs are the norm. Where Brian dates human women, sexual interspecies relationships aren’t common in Kevin. That doesn’t mean the animals don’t have relationships with humans. 

In the pilot, Kevin learns that his owners (who are more like human roommates) are breaking up. Although Plaza’s Dana wishes to take Kevin with her, the house cat decides to set out in search of a new owner. It’s basically a pet equivalent of a breakup. Ditching the collar, Kevin seeks a fresh start at Furrever Friends, a pet rescue run by Gil Ozeri’s Seth. In addition to the names above, Kevin assembles an impressive lineup of voice talent, which includes John Waters veteran theatre cat Armando, Whoopi Goldberg as feral cat Cupcake, and Aparna Nancherla as the grotesquely cute/cutely grotesque kitten Judy. The standout is the underrated Amy Sedaris as Seth’s unfiltered dog Brandi, who’s really running the show. 

Although Sedaris is great as always, it’s hard not to think of her role in another animated sitcom where humans and talking animals co-exist: BoJack Horseman. What’s more, there’s a subplot throughout the season about Armando staging a production of “Mame” starring a horse named Patti LuPony. The pun is pretty funny, and the fact that they got Patti LuPone to voice her is a nice touch. Still, the gag is BoJack-coded. The character even resembles BoJack’s mother, Beatrice. This isn’t to say that Kevin is a BoJack knockoff, as these are the only direct parallels. Stylistically and tonally, though, Kevin does feel a little too much like every other adult animated sitcom of the past several years. 

While the character designs aren’t bad, there’s nothing particularly distinct about them. They blend in with the characters from HouseBroken, another animated sitcom centered on chatty animals living under one roof. Bob’s Burgers, Inside Job, Hoops, Paradise PD, Solar Opposites, and Velma are just some of the other shows that Kevin aesthetically resembles. In terms of writing, Kevin falls somewhere in the middle of the aforementioned shows. There aren’t any groaners per se, but the laughs throughout the season are sporadic. Although there’s clearly talent behind the scripts, the jokes come off as overwritten to the point that they’re not as clever as the writers think. There’s also a fair deal of gross-out humor, which isn’t as excessive as Big Mouth, but a running gag involving Judy’s eye goop gets old fast. It doesn’t help that the Big Mouth spinoff Mating Season was just announced. 

As derivative as Kevin can feel, there is a unique idea at its core. Many people love their pets so much that they treat them like humans. In some cases, it’s a parent-child dynamic. In others, it’s as if they’re married. The Christopher Guest comedy Best in Show brilliantly depicted this. Being animated, Kevin can take the premise even further. It doesn’t take full advantage of the idea, however. Rather than the human-pet dynamic, most of the focus is on the foul-mouthed animals, who are amusing, but not especially engaging. 

At one point during the season, Kevin mentions that he’s going through an identity crisis. Something similar can be said about the show itself, which struggles to set itself apart from various adult cartoons. Even if this season didn’t win me over entirely, a part of me still wants to see Kevin get renewed. The strong voice work, solid setup, and an occasionally inspired one-liner give me hope that with some polishing, it may find its footing. For now, the animals may be able to talk, but Kevin hasn’t found its voice yet. 

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!