'Good Guys,' all
the cop cliches and fun
Fox series spoofs the genre, yanking bits from movies
By Tom Conroy
May 19, 2010
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a TV show is parodying a genre or stealing from it and hoping no one will notice.
The creators of Fox’s new series “The Good Guys” are clearly enjoying themselves playing around with the conventions of the action-comedy buddy-cop movies of the ’80s and ’90s. Virtually every character and plot twist comes from one or more of those films, but the series reminds us that clichés become clichés because they work. While keeping viewers at an ironic distance, “The Good Guys” allows them to get caught up in the action.
The premise is probably the hoariest one in action-comedy: A by-the-book, ambitious, slightly know-it-all young police detective is (mis)matched up with an old-school, shoot-from-the-hip veteran. And, yes, they learn that the combination of their different strengths makes them a pretty good team.
In the premiere, which is getting a preview tonight at 8, Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks), who wants to get promoted from investigating petty thefts, is instead partnered with Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford), a drunk who is still riding on the fact that 25 years ago he saved the life of the governor’s son.
In a nod to the artificial nature of this series, Stark brags about the fact that he and his partner became the subjects of a TV movie, which helps him score with the victim of the humidifier theft they’re investigating (Nia Vardalos).
Dan keeps reminding Jack of cases in which a small clue resulted in big busts. True to form, this crime leads them to a group of South American drug dealers and paid assassins.
Even the most hackneyed action moves are played straight, which, of course, makes them funnier. At one point, Dan jumps on the hood of a fleeing suspect’s car. Later, two hired killers square off, with a pistol in each hand, while a third character describes how this kind of standoff usually plays out.
One reason we actually care what happens is that the two stars play their roles so well. In a complete departure from his “West Wing” character, Josh, Whitford keeps us guessing whether his character is dedicated to his job, simply befuddled or completely in on the joke. “There are no small crimes,” he tells Jack. “There are only small cops. Put that in your computer circuit.”
Hanks is both physically and temperamentally perfect as Jack, the kind of role his father, Tom, would have nailed 25 years ago.
The villains in the premiere are of the Elmore Leonard-“Pulp Fiction” school, in which murderous thugs are always kind of cute. Checking into a hotel with his two hit men, the drug lord says he’s taking the room with cable TV. A crook trying to hide his identity tells a plastic surgeon he wants to look like Erik Estrada.
The premiere probably has more action sequences than this kind of show can afford to have every week. Plus, it goes through the entire mismatched-buddy-cop story arc. It’s unclear how many more times we can watch Dan and Jack achieve grudging respect for each other, or watch an angry supervisor dress them down for breaking so many rules and then thank them for solving the case.
But since the premiere itself breaks so many critics’ rules and still succeeds, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
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