TV Talk: ‘Loki’ time hops, AMC’s ‘Kevin Can…’ struggles

So far Marvel’s efforts for Disney+ have stretched from the genre-bending, clever “WandaVision” to the excessively violent, more routine “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”

The streaming service’s latest series, the six-episode “Loki,” falls somewhere in between, but leans closer to the creative freshness of “WandaVision” in the first two episodes made available for review.

Set in the offices of the Time Variance Authority, which benefits from a cool, retro-futuristic production design, the story begins with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) escaping with the Tesseract when the Avengers traveled back in time in “Avengers: Endgame,” the last time Marvel fans saw Loki.

Turns out Loki’s escape is considered a crime against “the sacred timeline.” The TVA and the “all-knowing Time-Keepers” protect the proper flow of time, whether someone veers off the path by starting an uprising or if a person is just late for work. The TVA steps in to set time back on its predetermined path. (Perhaps the Time Keepers are Calvinists?)

This Loki variant – and viewers watching – learn all about “nexus events” that could branch off and lead to a multiverse war even as “Loki” hints that the mysterious, unseen Time-Keepers may not be as well-meaning and benevolent as everyone in the TVA assumes they are.

Chaos-causing Loki teams up with buttoned-down TVA bureaucrat Mobius (Owen Wilson) to locate a more-evil-than-mischievous Loki variant who’s hopping through time wreaking destruction.

Loki became a fan-favorite largely through Hiddleston’s cheeky performance, putting a comedic spin on dialogue and situations that in lesser hands would not be nearly as endearing or entertaining.

Pairing Hiddleston with new-to-the-Marvel-Cinematic-Universe Wilson proves a stroke of perfect casting. Mobius gets into Loki’s head, analyzing him with Wilson playing off Hiddleston and vice versa, sometimes giving “Loki” a buddy cop show vibe.

“Loki,” now streaming, introduces several new characters, including TVA judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and rough-and-tumble TVA hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), who doesn’t always get along with Mobius.

Written by Michael Waldron (“Rick &Morty”) and directed by Kate Herron (“Sex Education”), “Loki” has a lot of rules to explain about how time travel and the TVA work, and that talky nature of early episodes may sour viewers who come expecting only action-packed scenes. But to its credit, “Loki” generally approaches these large swaths of explanation with a light touch – think: 1960s-era educational films – that makes the exposition go down easier than it otherwise would. That tone complements the look of “Loki” which mixes “Mad Men”-era office style with futuristic time travel abilities.

The overall vibe of “Loki” is, like “WandaVision,” more off the beaten Marvel path. Both the MCU as a whole and this individual series are the better for it.

Jojo Whilden/AMC

Annie Murphy stars as Allison in "Kevin Can F*** Himself."

‘Kevin Can…’

Actress Annie Murphy, the scene-stealing co-star of “Schitt’s Creek,” takes the lead in AMC’s high-concept “Kevin Can F**K Himself,” debuting Sunday on AMC+ and at 9 p.m. June 20 on linear AMC.

Billed as a dark comedy — but way more dramatic and rarely funny — the show is a hybrid that sometimes looks like a bright, multi-cam sitcom about a loutish guy, Kevin McRoberts (Eric Petersen), and his put-upon, prototypical sitcom wife, Allison (Murphy). Those scenes are played for broad sitcom-style laughs, just like on “According to Jim” or the 2016-18 Kevin James-starring CBS sitcom “Kevin Can Wait,” which was so uninterested in the wife character that producers killed her off.

In AMC’s “Kevin Can…” as soon as Allison exits the scene and it cuts to her in another room or outside the house, the laugh track disappears and the show takes on a muted, desaturated color palate and shifts into single-camera, dreary drama mode, often accompanied by an ominous, tinnitus-like tone.

It’s a great concept, a way to deconstruct the sitcom more radically than “WandaVision” did — but also much less playfully — and explore the inner life of a sitcom wife. But in execution, it left me wondering, to what end?

It’s clear pretty quickly Allison is miserable and hates her shlubby husband for how he takes her for granted, expects her to do all the housework, never thinks of her needs or dreams, etc. But when she starts to fantasize about Kevin’s demise, it creates a potential end game that the show seems destined to draw out for far too long. And while you can imagine a version of this show that’s darkly hilarious (imagine what fun “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry would have with the concept), through the first three episodes, “Kevin Can…” is mostly a morose slog.

Sure, there are tangents for “Kevin Can…” to explore, including a clean-cut guy (Raymond Lee) Allison knew in high school who’s returned to town. There are also hints of her attraction to a bad boy mechanic. But the main story feels limited and quickly stretched beyond a point where the concept ceases to be novel.

‘League’ seeks extras

Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming “A League of Their Own” series, filming in Western Pennsylvania from mid-July to October, seeks children, teens and adults of all ethnicities to play town locals, cops, churchgoers, diner patrons, factory workers and baseball fans in this 1940s period show.

Apply to be an extra at movieextraspittsburgh.com.

Kept/canceled

HBO Max renewed the excellent Jean Smart comedy “Hacks” for a second season.

Netflix renewed “Shadow and Bone” for season two but canceled “Jupiter’s Legacy” after a single season.

NBC canceled “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” after two seasons.

Channel surfing

When it rains Netflix releases, it pours: This week Netflix moved filmed-in-Pittsburgh limited series “The Chair” up a week to Aug. 20 where it now debuts on the same day as shot-in-Pittsburgh Jason Momoa Netflix movie “Sweet Girl.” … Pittsburgh native Billy Porter is developing “Fruits of thy Labor,” a multi-generational drama about a Black family with Hollywood ties, for Peacock. … Chris Harrison exited “The Bachelor” franchise permanently this week after a 19-year run. … Taraji P. Henson will play Miss Hannigan in NBC’s live broadcast of the musical “Annie” (Dec. 2). The production seeks young actors of any ethnicity to audition for the title role online at /castittalent.com/Annie_Live.