The format of Schitt’s Creek Alexis Rose actress Annie Murphy). Living in Worcester, Massachusetts, Alison slowly begins to realize that she is being manipulated by her husband, the titular Kevin (Eric Petersen) over the course of the first season’s eight episodes. To get her revenge, and to get out of her destructive and toxic marriage, Allison decides to murder Kevin and get away with it.
But, at first glance, Allison’s situation might not seem so dire. Kevin Can F**k Himself begins with a scene of Kevin goofing around with his father Pete (Brian Howe) and his neighbor Neil (Alex Bonifer). The trio is in the living room with Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden) when Allison walks in. Although she’s either ignored or teased by the other characters, Allison appears to take the situation in stride. She laughs with the laugh track, keeping the jovial mood afloat. Upon exiting the room, however, Kevin Can F**k Himself changes: The laugh track is gone, the vibrant colors are gone, and the series switches from a multi-camera format to a single-camera format. This is the central framing device of the show, occurring whenever Allison is away from Kevin and his companions. It indicates that the married couple leave in two vastly different worlds.
Kevin Can F**k Himself is essentially a riff on the sitcom trope of the smart and exceedingly patient wife that puts up with a self-centered and lazy husband. Armstrong, along with other writers on the AMC dramedy, criticizes this trope through Allison’s character. When she’s in the presence of Kevin, or even Pete and Neil, she’s seen through their eyes as this stereotype of a strict and unfunny spouse. She conforms to the stereotype of the multi-camera sitcom wife, in other words. It’s only when Allison is free of those three that viewers get to see her life in all of its messy and complicated fullness.
This shift is illustrated for the audience in how the two worlds are presented to the audience in divergent ways. The scenes featuring Kevin are bright and happy, with Allison playing a limited secondary role. Conversely, when Allison is by herself, the palette is more muted and the emotions expressed are more complicated than just simple joy. The sitcom format drives home Kevin’s self-centered qualities, making it clear that he doesn’t see his wife as much more than an extension of himself; as a character on a show where he’s the star. Armstrong noted to Vulture that the sitcom portion of Kevin Can F**k Himself highlights “the benefit of the doubt we’ve given to guys like Kevin forever.”
This isn’t to say that Allison’s world is completely dreary once Kevin isn’t around. On the contrary, she gets into her own adventures, in addition to striking up what appears to be an unlikely friendship. Allison’s also far from helpless in her marriage, as a character reminds her that she’s free to leave Kevin at any point rather than plot his elaborate murder. Allison has her own strengths and shortcomings. She has her good moments and her bad moments. Put differently, Allison is a complete person. That’s precisely the dignity that Kevin doesn’t afford her. Through its shifting format, Kevin Can F**k Himself cleverly dramatizes the divide.