Fox’s new hour long cop series The Good Guys starring Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks may not have garnered a huge amount of success this summer when it followed Lie to Me on Mondays. But Deadline reports apparently executives at the network like it enough that they are following through on their upfront agreement to give the show a slot next to Human Target this fall. Only nine out of the total eleven episodes aired this summer so the remaining two will be thrown together with nine more episodes for an eleven episode run this fall. Got it? Cool.
But when the series returns this fall, a couple changes will be made in order to boost ratings, improve viewer demographics and generally make the show a little better. Hit the jump for details on the changes and my take on The Good Guys.
With television shows, you have to give them a few episodes to grow and find their footing in tone, characters, style, etc. My allowance for a show to really hook me is five episodes and I’m sorry to say that The Good Guys just didn’t pack the punch that I was hoping and I left it behind. Apparently I’m not the only one who had troubles getting into the show since Fox is looking to snag more female viewers (which the series is apparently lacking) by adding a new recurring character, a young crime scene investigator who will not only inspire a bit of romance on the show, but also has a shot at becoming a series regular. Another recurring character will come in the form of RonReaco Lee, a bumbling criminal named Julius who appeared a few times this past summer. But are these changes enough to improve the show?
Personally, I think the show is already a lost cause. While marketed as a comedy, the genuinely funny moments are few and far between. And sadly, the crime/police elements of the show don’t take themselves seriously enough to warrant hour long episodes, especially when the action and impact of the crimes on the characters and story have little to no bearing on the series as a whole. It felt like the show was trying to be Tango & Cash meets Law & Order but it keeps tripping over itself.
I’d much rather see Bradley Whitford’s time, energy and stupendous talent put to use on a much better straight-up comedy if he feels the need to split from Aaron Sorkin’s intelligent, walk-and-talk series like The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In addition, the character he portrays on The Good Guys is a much less funnier version of a character that Whitford originally portrayed (badge, mustache and all) on a half-hour cop comedy series call Off-Duty where he was paired with Romany Malco (Weeds). Now that show was hilarious, knew what it wanted to be, nailed its characters in a short amount of time and should’ve been picked up for a series order (but was snubbed by NBC). But instead The Good Guys is what we they gave us, and I can’t see the show sticking around after its fall run later this year.
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