TMC
09-24-2018, 09:14 PM
...with its refusal to engage in the issues of the day
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/21/17884274/good-cop-review-netflix-josh-groban-tony-danza
Some of the jokes on the show are genuinely funny. Whitlock fares the best with selling The Good Cop’s (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/good-cop-review-1145707) fluffy humor, including a running bit in which he refuses to ever run, even when in pursuit of a known criminal. However, none of the show’s humor manages to rise to the level of comedy contemporaries like Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
The Nine-Nine comparison in particular also makes The Good Cop’s (https://ew.com/tv/2018/09/17/the-good-cop-review) refusal to address its cultural context seem like a more major failing, as the place of law enforcement in the modern world is inherently thorny. (Even the recent Spider-Man video game drew attention for its supposed “copaganda.”) Brooklyn Nine-Nine walks the line by engaging with the political issues of the day, but The Good Cop (https://tv.avclub.com/the-good-cop-is-charmingly-simplistic-and-totally-forge-1829194488) does no such thing, choosing instead to send its characters on wild goose chases such as bringing a restaurant up to code. And that’s to say nothing of a strange extended visual gag in which a male suspect is dressed up as a woman in order to escape attention.
The best The Good Cop (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/arts/television/the-good-cop-netflix-josh-groban-tony-danza.html) can do in terms of existing in the current cultural moment is indulge in occasional subversion by way of its guest stars. One of the most interesting episodes features Bob Saget as a beloved TV personality, coasting on the goodwill of people who grew up watching him. Unfortunately, it’s not an act that the show manages to carry through, despite the caliber of talent involved. (John Carroll Lynch and C. Thomas Howell also pop up throughout the series.)
In the end, the show never quite proves its case as worth watching. It’s fine enough, but it will need to make a stronger case for itself going forward — just as Caruso Jr. needs to step out of his father’s shadow — in order to bring audiences back for a second season.
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/21/17884274/good-cop-review-netflix-josh-groban-tony-danza
Some of the jokes on the show are genuinely funny. Whitlock fares the best with selling The Good Cop’s (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/good-cop-review-1145707) fluffy humor, including a running bit in which he refuses to ever run, even when in pursuit of a known criminal. However, none of the show’s humor manages to rise to the level of comedy contemporaries like Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
The Nine-Nine comparison in particular also makes The Good Cop’s (https://ew.com/tv/2018/09/17/the-good-cop-review) refusal to address its cultural context seem like a more major failing, as the place of law enforcement in the modern world is inherently thorny. (Even the recent Spider-Man video game drew attention for its supposed “copaganda.”) Brooklyn Nine-Nine walks the line by engaging with the political issues of the day, but The Good Cop (https://tv.avclub.com/the-good-cop-is-charmingly-simplistic-and-totally-forge-1829194488) does no such thing, choosing instead to send its characters on wild goose chases such as bringing a restaurant up to code. And that’s to say nothing of a strange extended visual gag in which a male suspect is dressed up as a woman in order to escape attention.
The best The Good Cop (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/arts/television/the-good-cop-netflix-josh-groban-tony-danza.html) can do in terms of existing in the current cultural moment is indulge in occasional subversion by way of its guest stars. One of the most interesting episodes features Bob Saget as a beloved TV personality, coasting on the goodwill of people who grew up watching him. Unfortunately, it’s not an act that the show manages to carry through, despite the caliber of talent involved. (John Carroll Lynch and C. Thomas Howell also pop up throughout the series.)
In the end, the show never quite proves its case as worth watching. It’s fine enough, but it will need to make a stronger case for itself going forward — just as Caruso Jr. needs to step out of his father’s shadow — in order to bring audiences back for a second season.