Quick 'N Dirty Review: The Good Guys

Before we start, here's a quick look at the rating system that we use here at The Dirtywhirl:


100-95 - Classic Show; (In best Bill O'Reilly voice) "WE'LL DO IT LIVE!!"
94-85 - Upper Echelon Show; You Should DVR This And Watch It The Same Night
84-75 - Very, Very Good; You Should Make An Effort To Watch This Within A Few Days Of Airing
74-65 - Not Bad At All; Let These Shows Pile Up On Your DVR But Watch 'Em Eventually
64-55 - Fold The Laundry While You Watch These
54-0 - Don't Waste Your Time; You're Smarter Than This (Probably)


Now... onto the review:

The Good Guys | Season 1

 “The work we’re doing here could save someone’s life. Maybe a woman. Maybe even a hot one.”

The landscape of summer TV has undergone a sea change in recent years. For eons, summer had been a dumping ground for failed pilots and reruns of police procedurals. It’s still that, in large part, but the success of Survivor upon its debut in 2000 proved that first-run programming did have a place during the calendar’s hottest months. During the following half-decade, networks were content to air cheap (albeit fresh) reality shows in order to attract eyeballs during a time when viewership was traditionally down. This summer, however, Fox has taken the approach one step further and has begun airing The Good Guys (a series already given a place on the network's fall schedule) this summer in hopes of building an audience before the crucible of September commences.

From creator Matt Nix (Burn Notice), The Good Guys stars Bradley Whitford (The West Wing) and Colin Hanks (Orange County) as mismatched Dallas police detectives assigned to the property crimes unit who somehow always seem to stumble onto bigger cases. The series’ hook is that Hanks’s Jack Bailey is a by-the-book detective who hopes for some upward mobility but who’s saddled with Whitford’s Dan Stark, an old school cop perpetually stuck in the early 1980’s (read: Stark’s lack of tech knowledge leads him to scream at a computer, “Tell me where my partner is!!;” Stark infects his department issue laptop with a porn virus) who's stuck on his glory days with his old partner, Frank (who’s mentioned so many times that he’s surely going to pop up in a future episode in a key spot). Hilarity sometimes ensues.

The Good Guys is not deep television, but that’s about what you’d expect from the creator of Burn Notice, the television equivalent of a beach read. It has a very tongue-in-cheek summer sensibility and, while it’s currently airing on Monday nights, Fox has made the savvy decision to air it on Friday nights paired with Human Target (another lighthearted 80s throwback actioner) in the fall, so not only does it have a tonal partner but also lowered expectations when it comes to ratings. It will probably have to start drawing more than its current four million viewers if it’s to even make it to September because Fox probably has yet another cooking show where Gordon Ramsay screams at people in a kitchen just waiting in the wings somewhere.

That said, the concept of a modern detective saddled with a comedic relic does have its potential but the trick is to make sure that the Dan Stark character is not treated as a complete joke (see Michael Scott in The Office or Leslie Knope in Parks And Recreation – both of those series excelled when they decided to humanize their leads instead of treating them as total farces). It does seem (at least in the five episodes we’ve seen) that The Good Guys is heading in that direction, which is a good start. For example, Dan does seem to be a bit of a savant with the ladies, however inexplicable that may be.

On the downside, the series does subscribe to too many TV cop show tropes and its self-contained nature is limiting (basically, if you don’t buy into the case of the week there’s really nothing for you here) but the tangential approach to its storytelling that sees a scene play out only to have a title card appear, taking you chronologically back to a previous viewpoint that explains the future scene, all the while punctuated by a gunshot sound effect is different and mildly interesting. Early on at least, much of the comedy is not that funny and if the series wants to stick with that kind of lighter tone, it’s going to have to have more luck in finding its comedic voice. Also, the developing trend of Whitford and Hanks working a menial case that somehow ends up tying into a much larger one is already contrived and tired. The writers need to find a better way of tying the characters into the more important cases.

As far as the cast is concerned, Whitford, early on, seems to be struggling to find the right balance between comedy and pathos (he’s good in half of the episodes and less than good in the other half) even while clearly slumming on a show like this, while Hanks is more than competent playing the straight man. They do seem to be building a decent dynamic, for example the scene in “Broken Door Theory” where Whitford wildly tries to kick a door open only to have Hanks calmly open it since it’s unlocked is one of the funnier moments thus far. Dan’s cryogenic freezing in the 80s also allows the creative team to pack the soundtrack with late 70s/early 80s rock (“Rock You Like A Hurricane,” “Barracuda”) which adds to the fun of the series.

The Good Guys is much more lighthearted than what I normally go for, particularly in a cop series, but it often feels like there’s a good show in there somewhere that’s just struggling to get out once the writing staff finds its voice. It has Friday nights written all over it so, if it can strike the right tonal balance between its comedic elements and dramatic moments, it could ultimately prove to be a halfway decent way to cap off the week assuming its ratings allow it the chance.

What’s Good: Tangential storytelling; Potential of the Dan Stark character; Lighthearted nature; Soundtrack

What’s Not So Good: Self-contained storylines; Inorganic storytelling; Whitford’s balance thus far with the Dan Stark character

Dirty Rating: 57/100

The Good Guys airs Monday nights at 9PM on Fox before moving to Fridays at 9PM in the fall.