Review -- The Good Guys

The Good Guys
Pilot
Fox Mondays 9 p.m. (summer)

And now it's time for the first TV review for The Casualty Report! The Good Guys is currently five episodes in to its first season, and will continue to run throughout the summer at 9 on Mondays, before it moves to 9 on Fridays in the fall (and where it will likely be canceled quickly, unless the ratings improve during the fall season). I am starting off with the pilot episode, and will be working to catch up my rundowns with the show. But for now, the pilot!

The premise of The Good Guys is fairly simple: Colin Hanks plays an arrogant young detective, Jack Bailey, whose lack of tact gets him a crap assignment with Bradley Whitford's character, Dan Stark, a washed up cop with a distrust of the modern age who is only around because of his heroics back in 1985. They work small crimes, but their cases inevitably lead them to major illegal activity and a plethora of car chases and shootouts (As Dan says: "There are no small crimes, only small cops"). Creator Matt Nix (of Burn Notice fame) is clearly shooting for a rather unsubtle parody of 80s cop shows and buddy-cop flicks, but as someone not well-versed in either area, it's still accessible and fun without the background knowledge.

The pilot starts off with the simple theft of a humidifier, but quickly introduces assassins, gunplay, and chases to liven up the action. Accompanying the over-the-top action is a sly sense of humor, which is bolstered by fine performances by Hanks and Whitford, as well as an amusing guess stint by Andrew Divoff as "the second best assassin in the world." There aren't very many laugh-out-loud moments in the pilot, but the light and almost goofy tone seeps into every scene. Whitford's increasingly faltering ability to pronounce the word "humidifier" was a particularly funny gag, as well as Hanks bursting into a room and emptying two clips at Divoff's character, only to miss completely. A lot of the things that struck me as funny, I realize, have as much to do with the actors really selling it than they do with the actual material. This works fine when Hanks and Whitford are doing the heavy lifting, and Divoff provided ample support from a guest role, but it is a little worrisome for the future of the show. If other guest actors aren't as good or more material falls to the two female roles - who were used so minimally here I don't feel the need to talk about them - the humor might fall flat.

And this is a show that definitely needs to be funny. Matt Nix makes sure the action part of the show is fun (and the pilot contains a great car chase set to AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' - the only song of theirs I've ever really liked), but it's not enough to keep me coming back. Nor is the "dramatic"component of The Good Guys, which the pilot hints at a few times with Dan's guilt over his former partner's mental breakdown and the relationship between Jack and his ex-girlfriend, the Assistant District Attorney (played by Jenny Wade). Firstly, neither of those seems particularly compelling to me, and secondly, this is a show that should avoid serious topics like the plague. The pilot was fun enough, but if The Good Guys starts taking itself seriously, it'll become more laughable than Bradley Whitford's mustache.

I'll continue to cover the show for the summer, but unless it shows improvement in developing its ensemble cast and amping up the humor, I doubt I'll be sorry to see it canceled in the fall. Don't get me wrong; the pilot was good. The exposition was dealt with fairly easily, I liked the characters that were introduced, and it kept my attention with the action and humor. But it's just not the kind of show (thus far) where I'd ever go out of my way to watch it.

Grade: B

"If you see any sock monkeys in there, feel free to knife one for me"