We need to talk about Kevin: not the boy of the harrowing book and movie of that name, but the star of a brand new animated comedy that’s coming to Prime Video. This Kevin is a cat, and it’s safe to say his show is likely to be a lot funnier.
According to Variety, the setup is simple enough: after spending most of his life as a house cat, Kevin decides he doesn’t want to live with real people – and that has hilarious consequences. It’s apparently partly based on a real cat caught up in the middle of a real-life break-up, which it makes it even more intriguing.
The upcoming Prime Video show also has quite the pedigree: it’s being written by Aubrey Plaza and Joe Wengert with Dan Murphy, co-writer of the kids’ book The Legend of the Christmas Witch and its sequel.
What do we know about Kevin the cat comedy?
According to Amazon MGM Studios’ head of animation Melissa Wolfe, the show is told through Kevin’s POV (point of view) and “hits on the extremely relatable theme of self-discovery and living your desired life”. And Plaza isn’t exactly new to making animated shows: she starred in and executive produced FXX’s series Little Demon with Dan (Rick and Morty) Harmon and Danny DeVito, and loaned her voice to Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim too.
Netflix remains the biggest streaming spender when it comes to animation but Amazon is catching up. And Prime Video’s animation division has been producing some great stuff lately, with smartly written, more adult-oriented shows including Fairfax, Hazbin Hotel, Undone and the huge hit Invincible, which is getting a third season.
Adult-themed animation is liked by streamers because it’s often extremely popular, with shows such as Bojack Horseman and Big Mouth reaching wide audiences, generating lots of positive word of mouth and sometimes opening up new revenue streams for merchandise and other branded content. The fact that animated comedies are often cheaper to make than live action ones doesn’t hurt either, and to some extent that means interesting and unusual shows are more likely to get greenlit – and less likely to be canceled – than their studio-based equivalents.