In Kevin From Work, the ABC Family workplace sitcom debuting Wednesday at 8 p.m., Noah Reid stars as Kevin, who professes his love to his coworker Audrey (Paige Spara) before accepting another job, only for that job to be rescinded. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.
“Yes, there are awful caricatures among the male characters too, but at this moment it’s the female ones who really grate. Images of women like the ones served up by this show (which, incidentally, was created by a woman, Barbie Adler) are what lodge in the heads of men who make remarks like Mr. Trump’s. It’s all supposed to be mindless fun, but the jokes are too unsophisticated and unoriginal to justify the damage.”
— Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
“In other words, a gentle sendup of every workplace comedy you've ever seen. Either that or an example of every workplace you've never seen. It's difficult to tell, which is the show's biggest problem.”
— Mary McNamara, LA Times
“At its core is a sweet (if unrequited) romance, about a young guy who secretly pines for the gal who sits in the adjacent cubicle. And that’s enveloped, chaotically, by a wacky, over-the-top, frequently lewd comedy, derived from all the strange characters that surround them. The two tastes — sweet and silly — don’t always mesh, but there’s enough here to like to put this ABC Family comedy in the ‘recommended’ column, with the understanding that keeping its balance might be a bigger job than Kevin can handle.”
— Brian Lowry, Variety
“ABC Family made only one episode available for review, but while that’s rarely enough to judge a show, that’s not the case with Kevin. You know exactly what you’ll get from creator Barbara Adler within five minutes, and that’s not bad at all.”
— David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle
“It's a moving program when it's in rom-com mode, but the series is weak as a workplace story, with too many stock characters and lame jokes. Critics were given access to the first two episodes that all but resolve the story line over the letter. It's difficult to guess where the plot will take us. Hopefully, the budding love story between Kevin and Audrey can carry the series and make up for the weaker parts.”
— Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer
