AMC Orders Kevin Can F**k Himself, Peter Moffat’s 61st Street

AMC has greenlit two new series: the thriller and courtroom drama 61st Street and the dramedy Kevin Can F**k Himself.

61st Street comes from BAFTA winner Peter Moffat (Criminal Justice, The Night Of, Your Honor) and is executive produced by Michael B. Jordan and Alana Mayo of Outlier Society (Just Mercy, David Makes Man). Ordered as a two-season television event series with eight episodes per season, the courtroom drama follows Moses Johnson, a promising black high school athlete, who is swept up into the infamously corrupt Chicago criminal justice system.

Kevin Can F**k Himself is from creator Valerie Armstrong (Lodge 49, SEAL Team) and executive producers Rashida Jones and Will McCormack through Le Train Train (Claws, A to Z) as well as Craig DiGregorio. The series probes the secret life of the sitcom wife. Kevin Can F**k Himself will alternate between single-camera realism and multi-camera comedy, as the formats will inform one another as we imagine what happens when the sitcom wife escapes her confines and forces the world to let her take the lead.

Both series are produced by AMC Studios.

Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios, said: “At AMC we believe in shows that have startling vision and fresh voice, with something to say. These two projects couldn’t be more in our sweet spot, as both have something big to say, and a genius way of saying it.

“Timely and audacious, 61st Street combines the irresistible form of a courtroom drama with a bracingly provocative take on race in America today. The scripts are truly un-put-downable, and the ambition of this series is breathtaking. With a dream team on board of Peter Moffat and the Outlier Society team of Michael B. Jordan and Alana Mayo, we think 61st Street will electrify viewers. We are approaching this series as a two-season television event and ordering both seasons from the outset, evidence of how excited we are by this team’s vision.

Barnett continued, “How has nobody already told the story of the rage of the sitcom wife? Like all of the best ideas, it’s simple and brilliant in concept, and Valerie Armstrong’s vision is ingenious in execution. This show has smarts, humor, attitude and ferocious creativity. We’re so happy to be working again with her, along with Rashida Jones and Will McCormack and Craig DiGregorio, as we finally get to hear from the woman who has been the foil to sitcom ‘Kevins’ for decades.”

“61st Street is an important commentary and observation of those impacted by the complicated history of race and the criminal legal system in America,” said Jordan and Mayo. “Our admiration of Peter’s prior work and his personal experience with this subject matter are reasons we’re honored to be a part bringing it to life. We are lucky to have found an equally passionate partner in AMC.”

Moffat said: “Having spent ten years at the criminal bar and the last two years researching deep inside the criminal justice system in Chicago, this is a story I’ve been waiting to write all my professional life. 61st Street is a thriller—supple plotting and dynamic storytelling are central to everything—but race, politics, history, jurisprudence, and police culture are all fundamental to what this project is about and broaden its scope into what I hope will be a story for our times. Working alongside Alana Mayo and Michael B. Jordan makes me happy and humble and I’m very grateful to AMC for their amazing support.”

Armstrong added: “I’m so thrilled that this weird little pilot I wrote in my pajamas is somehow going to be a weird little series. I’m forever grateful to AMC for seeing the potential in this character’s unconventional story, rather than being scared by it.”