Funny, Smart, and Slightly Too Restrained

Read Time:5 Minute, 52 Second

TV SERIES REVIEW
Kevin
–

Genre: Animation, Comedy
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 8 x 24m episodes
Writer(s): Aubrey Plaza, Joe Wengert, Dan Murphy
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza, Whoopi Goldberg, John Waters, Aparna Nancherla, Gil Ozeri, Amy Sedaris
Where to Watch: all eight episodes of season one premiere on April 20, 2026

RAVING REVIEW: KEVIN should get a lot messier than it does. A very self-aware housecat has decided he’s done with human ownership and wants to build a new life on his own (until he finds a home away from home). It opens the door to something much stranger, meaner, and more warped than the series ultimately becomes. What KEVIN delivers instead is an entertaining adult animated comedy with a strong voice cast, a solid emotional hook, and a sense of personality that keeps it watchable, even when it feels like it’s pulling back from its most chaotic instincts.

That push-and-pull defines the show from early on. There’s enough bite here to justify calling it adult animation, and the world it builds is filled with neurotic energy, oddball personalities, and the kind of low-stakes existential spiraling that can make stories about animals hit harder than expected, and a surprising amount of conversation about Kevin’s anus. Kevin isn’t just reacting to a breakup between his humans. He’s having a full-on identity crisis, trying to figure out whether attachment, comfort, and routine are worth the limitations that come with them. That’s a funny setup, but it’s also one that gives the series a little more emotional substance than the average talking-animal comedy.

Jason Schwartzman is a big reason this all works. His voice performance gives Kevin the exact kind of anxious self-importance the character needs. He doesn’t play him as a generic caricature so much as a deeply specific mess, an animal convinced his problems are unique and profound even when he’s being ridiculous about it. That self-seriousness makes the comedy work because the show never needs to force the joke too hard. Kevin is funny because he takes his own drama so seriously.

The supporting cast helps build a world with enough eccentricity to stay lively. Aubrey Plaza’s involvement behind and “in front” of the camera makes sense because the show carries some of that dry, off-center comedic sensibility in its bones. Whoopi Goldberg, John Waters, Aparna Nancherla, Amy Sedaris, and Gil Ozeri all feel like perfect fits for a series built around oddball interactions and abrasive charm. Even when individual bits don’t hit as hard as they could, the ensemble gives the series a reliable comic texture.

The pet rescue that Kevin ends up in gives the show a built-in collection of personalities, clashing habits, and sad emotional backstories to play with. The series can bounce between relationship comedy, identity-crisis comedy, workplace-adjacent animal-ensemble comedy, and the occasional emotion about loneliness and belonging. For a show with this setup and this list of names working on it, I kept waiting for it to become a little more fearless. Not just focused, but more willing to embrace how bizarre and unhinged it could be. The writing often hints at something meaner, more absurd, or more emotionally feral, then settles into something safer. It’s not bland, and it’s not watered down, but it does feel like a series that occasionally recoils right when it’s on the verge of becoming truly memorable.

That said, there’s value in the fact that it doesn’t rely entirely on the chaos and noise. A lot of adult animation mistakes loud amplification for personality, throwing everything at the wall in the hope that chaos alone will create momentum. KEVIN is more measured than that, which helps it maintain a consistent tone. The emotion lands better because the show doesn’t drown them in nonstop aggression, and there’s a genuine sweetness under the sarcasm that keeps the characters from becoming exhausting. The problem isn’t that the show is measured. The problem is that it sometimes feels too aware of its own limits.

What I did appreciate is that the series seems interested in more than just randomness. Kevin’s situation, silly as it is, comes from a real rupture. The show keeps returning to that instability, the weird loss that comes from having your entire sense of home tied to people who suddenly aren’t there anymore. That gives the series a little extra weight, even when it’s being ridiculous. It understands that comedy built around displacement can hit harder when the confusion feels real underneath the bit.

So while this first season didn’t hit the level of insanity I'd hoped it would, I still had a good time with it. It’s smart enough to be engaging, funny enough to justify the binge (such an easy one), and emotionally tuned in enough to avoid feeling disposable. It just never quite becomes as wild, fearless, or committed as it seems capable of being. That leaves KEVIN in an interesting place, working on this on its own terms but also feeling like a warm-up for the bolder version that could come next.

As a first season, it’s easy to like. As a showcase for what this team could really do if they stop holding back, it’s a tease. And honestly, that’s part of why I want another season. The foundation is here. The cast is here. The world is here. Now it just needs to trust that going further would be the right move.

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