You should be geeking The Good Guys

When a cop is bad enough to be punished but not bad enough to be fired they get out on the worst details, routine investigations.  These are not the best cases and these cops are not the best cops, but sometimes excitement can find you no matter what you do.

Matt Nix returns with his second created show in the form of a comedic buddy-cop show.  Bradley Whitford (the evil businessman from Happy Gilmore) stars as Dan Stark, a former big-shot detective who once saved the governor’s son but is now all but washed up and spends most of his time reliving his glory days.  Dan Stark was the best 1981 cop but he just hasn’t moved along with the time. He doesn’t believe in DNA, thinks all computers are out to get him and treats CSI like black magic.  His partner is Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks) a by the book detective who attitude and impulsive need to correct people (told the chief of police that there was no such thing as a statue of limitation) has given him few friends in the precinct and landed him as Stark’s babysitter.  The two of them begin each episode investigating smaller cases, like a stolen humidifier or broken candy machine, and through a comedic series of random events end up in the middle of a bigger crime like combating a drug cartel or stopping a prostitution ring.

Why Care?

This show takes the tired procedural cop format and spins it.  The quirky spin makes for fun viewing and the slapstick is great.  The frequent uses of flashback, going from as short as 10 seconds earlier to 38 years earlier, often expand on a joke or show the random event by showing us a scene, sometimes one we just saw, from a different angle or perspective.  This technique is often used with the ‘complete-opposite of what I just said just happened’ method of comedy.

Where the show really shines is in the original characterizations of the villains and side characters.  They expand on a villain of the week in ways not seen before and gives each a unique and memorable personality.  These include the cold British car thief who is insecure about his relationship, a pair of redneck thief who thinks foreigners are stealing all of their jobs and that American cars should only be stolen by Americans, the second best assassin who helps a character learn Spanish, and the crying vigilante.  The show also likes to have a gag-a-week theme like flu passing from Stark to all the guest stars, or the world’s worst first date.

The new show, which airs its fifth episode this week, has come out strong with its guest stars in the opening episodes.  Nia Vardalos, Charles Baker from Walker, Texas Ranger, Steve Valentine (Chuck and Mars Attack), Ramon Franco (MacGyver) and even Lauren Stamile the seductive actress of Charlie’s Angel Kate Jackson.

The new summer show, which after the summer will be paired with Human Target, started with a hilarious and stunning premier.  This show is one of the best of the summer premiers and shows the potential to become the successful follow up to Burn Notice.  Now Geek This!!

If you like this:

• White Collar
• Covert Affairs
• The Good Guys
• Castle
• Burn Notice