The final day of the ATX Television Festival Season 10 kicked off with another live episode of The Daily. Festival co-founders Caitlin & Emily were first joined by festival directors Jennifer Morgan and Laura Kincaid to talk about the past 9 days and some of their favorite panels, and then they were joined by their own fathers to talk about TV, since it is Father’s Day.
Channel Changers: A Conversation with TV’s Leaders
In the first panel of the day, a group of female network and streaming execs discussed their how their professional and personal lives have changed with the events of the past year, and the challenges of their roles and balance home/work life, the shows they’re most proud of on their own networks, shows they’re enjoying on other networks, and more. The panel was moderated by Jessica Radloff, Glamour’s West Coast Editor, and featured Sarah Aubrey (Head of Original Content, HBO Max), Lisa Katz (President, Entertainment Scripted Content, NBCU Television and Streaming), Tina Perry (President, OWN), Karey Burke (President, 20th Television), Christina Davis (President, Original Programming, Starz) & Jana Winograde (President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.).
Kevin Can F**k Himself
Festival attendees got an early look at the first half of tonight’s 2-hour premiere of the new AMC series Kevin Can F**k Himself. The series uses a unique blend of multi-cam sitcom and dark single camera dramedy to tell the story of Allison (Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek), an unhappy housewife who has grown tired of putting on a fake smile and dealing with her husband Kevin’s (Eric Petersen) antics, and starts to dream of killing her husband.
Series creator/executive producer Valerie Armstrong and stars Annie Murphy (“Allison”) & Mary Hollis Inboden (“Patty”) discussed the AMC series in a panel moderated by Danielle Turchiano of Variety.
Valerie said that the show’s title is meant to be said in its entirety, and that the network had no issues with it. The women talked about making two shows at once, the sitcom and the single-cam verite, and how this idea came about. Valerie said she imagined a husband making a joke at his wife’s expense with a big laugh track to support him, and then a close-up on the woman, the make-up being her mask, and her saying “I F-ing hate my husband”. Annie Murphy talked about why she wanted to do this character, and how different it was from her role on Schitt’s Creek. She also said it was surprisingly easy for her to tap into her anger when playing Allison, and how therapeutic the smashes and punches were, adding that that everyone should have access to break-away glass. Mary talked about how she almost talked herself out of auditioning for this character who is so different from herself, and how she hoped people in Boston don’t hate her accent. She also discussed how shooting the sitcom stuff was new for her, and how it was tough for her to just sit there watching Allison get made fun of by the guys, but that this helped her fuel Patty’s anger.
Valerie said that their goal was not to make fun of these sitcoms, but to take issue with some of the behavior. In order to comment on it, they needed to make their sitcom genuinely good and true. Annie talked about how there is a scene where a character sits on Allison over and over again, and how at least she had the single cam to fall back on, but other actresses’ have done this type of degrading scene and didn’t have that. They also talked about how everything looks better in the multi-cam world—you don’t see the roaches in the sitcom world, but do in the single cam. The actresses said the multi-cam shoots were easier for them since they really didn’t have a lot of lines and didn’t have to do much preparation. The single-cam scenes required a lot more work and preparation.
As to the setting of the series, Valerie said that she doesn’t see a lot of people like those who she grew up with on TV, i.e. the repressed New Englander. So, she wanted it set in New England, but her hometown is in CT, which people think of as a richer area. She didn’t want to set it in Boston because that was too generic. And then she remembered that her brother’s college roommate was from Worcester, MA, and how to him, the words “career” and “Korea” are indistinguishable. The actresses talked about finding the accent, Mary said that 8 episodes in, they still don’t have it, but they did have a dialect coach to help them. Annie said there is a distinct possibility they won’t be welcome in Massachusetts after this. She also added that she has a knack for picking up other people’s accents, and so she would often pick up Mary’s southern drawl over lunch, and have issues when they’d start shooting again. Valerie claimed that the local crew told her how good the accents were, but the actresses doubted the truth of that statement. Mary said the accent was helpful to get her into character, and she used it to get the attitude of her character. Both actresses said they tried to audition with a Brooklyn access instead of a Boston one.
Annie said that she and Mary became good friends almost immediately and so that carried over into their characters. However, one of the challenges was that they had to dial it back a bit as their characters needed to grow into that on screen. Initially Patty can’t stand Allison’s dreamer attitude.
Valerie talked about discovering two key things to making the show work. First was realizing that the format wasn’t just a visual thing, but a metaphor for the benefit of the doubt the Kevins have gotten all their lives—people laugh at everything they say and they get away with everything—and the rage women feel about every perceived flaw about themselves. And secondly, realizing that the show was not about a women in a bad marriage, but rather a story about women helping women. The panelists talked about how Patty and Mary could never react to a shared look in the sitcom world, because that’s not what the sitcom would do. The sitcom is never about them. However, as the series goes along, the single-cam world does start to bleed into the sitcom world as they start to no longer play the game. Annie said they couldn’t really improv in the sitcom world since it is not about their characters and they’re not supposed to stick out. But they subtly deliver some lines more seriously rather than the schticky delivery of a typical sitcom. They also discussed Allison’s thought’s of killing her husband. Mary jokingly said “divorce on TV is sad, murder is funny”. Valerie added that it’s not about whether or not Kevin dies, but how Allison lives. This is the first time she is doing something for herself and tapping into her agency for the first time in her life.
When asked if working on this series had made them watch things differently, Annie said definitely, and that she can’t watch multi-cam shows the same way—there’s so much awful behavior shrouded under a laugh track— jokingly adding “Valerie has ruined the sitcom for me.” Mary said that women are set-up machines in sitcoms, and that the women face the consequences of their own actions well as those of them men in Kevin’s word. Mary said she will think twice about auditioning for multi-cams in the future, but hopefully by then this kind of behavior on those shows will no longer be there.
SurrealEstate First Look
Festival attendees got an early look at the first two episodes of the upcoming Syfy series SurrealEstate, which premieres on July 16. The series follows real estate agent Luke Roman (Tim Rozon, Wynonna Earp), owner of The Roman Agency, which takes on unique, hard-to-sell listings. Luke and his elite team of specialists research, investigate, and “fix” haunted and possessed homes so that instead of buyers running from them, they will flock to these listings. At the same time, they are all dealing with demons of their own. As the series opens, agent Susan Ireland (Sarah Levy, Schitt’s Creek) joins the team. She is a great real-estate agent, but had recently been fired from her old agency after having an affair with her married boss. At first glance, it looks like she may be out of her league with this new niche firm, but she has some secrets in her past that make her more than qualified. However, Susan’s pursuit of perfection and very specific way of doing things initially gets her off to a rocky start with the rest of the team, which includes fallen priest Father Phil Orley (Adam Korson), who is the researcher, looking into each property’s past for any clues as to what may be haunting it; IT guy August Ripley (Maurice Dean Wint), who invents all the unique tech the team uses to identify and neutralize paranormal threats; and office manager Zooey L’Enfant (Savannah Basley). The series is a fun mix of humor and spookiness, with some interesting and entertaining characters and cases. Each episode finds the team dealing with some new haunted listing of the week, while also exploring some ongoing storylines, and further developing and exploring the backstories of the main characters. I look forward to checking out more of the series next month!
Syfy hosted a first-look conversation with the stars of its upcoming 10-episode series, Tim Rozon (“Luke Roman”) & Sarah Levy (“Susan Ireland”), which was moderated by Jeannine Amber of Essence.
The actors started off talking about filming in Newfoundland during COVID. Tim said the East Coast was still good at that time, and they could even occasionally go out for brunch at times. However, he didn’t know what half the crew looked like due to the masks. Sarah said that it was nice to be home in Canada and also get away from the crazier pandemic times in L.A.. Tim gave a quick rundown on the premise of the series. He also said that it took him four days to learn his monologues with all the acronyms and technical jargon—Luke talks a lot more than his previous characters. When asked how they got into these very different characters for them, Sarah said that hair and make-up always helps to transform her into her characters. She also noted that Susan has a more chic look and better hair, makeup and wardrobe than Twyla had. Tim said that he was drawn to the character because it was an exciting challenge, and as to getting into the character, the wardrobe and new fresh face helped.
Sarah said she likes horror films in theory, but once she starts watching one, she decides it’s not a good idea and plugs her ears the whole time. She admitted that cried while watching Paranormal Activity with her brother. Tim said that Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer are about the extent for him. For family movie nights when he was younger, his brother would pick movies with zombies eating brains, and he was out after 10 min.
Sarah said the biggest divas on set were the animals. She also mentioned all the warnings and instructions she got about working with the crow in episode two, and then it did nothing it was supposed to do after all that. She joked that she should have had Catherine O’Hara give her some insight into what working with crows was like. When asked about filming the paranormal scenes, they said in the first episode when books and things are flying across the room, that was done with two people on either side throwing things to each other and catching them. In-between shots, they needed to clean all the items that were thrown due to COVID restrictions. Tim also said they needed to use a tuna steak to throw to the dog in the first episode because on camera it looks more like a pork chop than a pork chop does.
Both actors talked about how they get involved with project and texted each other as they found out they’d be working together. All Sarah knew about the show was what was in the first episode script, and just recorded herself on video and submitted it. Tim had a longer audition process, and with each zoom reading, he got different feedback and insights into the character. They never had a chemistry test or interacted with other actors during the audition process, meeting many of their costars the day before filming. However, the chemistry among the cast ended up being great. When asked about the sexual tension between their characters, Sarah insisted that at least for the first season they are business partners, with a platonic friendship, and fun banter back and forth. They can razz each other and be vulnerable without this romantic undertone. Sarah liked that the series was not rushing into a romantic relationship, and Tim agreed.
We will see Susan’s past come come into play throughout the season, and she grows to no longer be afraid of her past by the end of the season. Tim said that each member of the team will deal with their own personal demons, which in some ways are scarier than the supernatural demons in the show. Each house they deal with is a different issue, so each is like a movie.
They closed out by talking about Tim’s restaurants in Montreal, which Sarah said are incredible and can’t be missed.
Walker Music Showcase
The CW presented this Music Showcase for the series Walker, which was hosted by stars Odette Annable (“Geri Broussard”) and Lindsey Morgan (“Micki Ramirez”). There was also a chance for attendees to ask questions.
The ladies talked about living in Texas and working on Walker. Then the actresses introduced some clips from the series and live musical sets from Mobley, Erika Wennerstrom (from Heartless Bastards), and Kalu & JT (from Kalu and the Electric Joint), and took some audience questions between musical acts.
There were only a few small technical glitches and scheduling hiccups over the course of the massive 10-day festival, and overall I think the ATX organizers did a spectacular job of bringing the same feeling, community and content that we are used to having at the in-person event. The one thing I certainly did not miss about being there in Austin was that insane Texas summer heat! However, I look forward to returning to Austin in person next year for season 11, and I will be glad to have it just be for four packed days…while in some ways it was great to have this extended event, ten days was a huge time commitment, especially when you’re trying to cover it all!
I hope folks enjoyed our coverage, and will join us in Austin next summer for the festival.
