The Good Guys... not so good...

When I first heard that Matt Nix, showrunner and creative genius behind Burn Notice (which is back on June 3rd, mark your calendars), had a new show, I was over the moon. Now that I've actually seen the fruits of his labor? Not so much...

Nix's new pet project The Good Guys (formerly called Code 58) premiered last night on Fox, and while I did enjoy certain aspects of show and could appreciated that it was decently made, at the end of the day, I am most certainly not in love. I'd like to think that my disappointment was based on assumptions that I would be instantly smitten (as I was with Nix's stellar Burn Notice pilot), but ultimately, I think the vintage buddy cop show just might not be my kind of show... on second thought, make that "think" a "pretty damn certain"...

Now, you know I try not to judge an entire show based solely on the pilot, so I'll give The Good Guys a couple of more episodes to find its feet, but I'm not optimistic. The pilot started off well enough, but by halfway through, I was bored and disinterested, and by the end, good god I was glad it was the end. That makes it sound much worse than it was, but for whatever reasons, I just couldn't connect with this show. It was honestly a decently made pilot with panache and a very specific goal, but unfortunately, neither of those things happen to jive with my television sensibilities. (Of course, on paper there's nothing about Southland or Justified that jive with my sensibilities either, but I quite enjoy both of those shows, so I can't excuse The Good Guys based solely on genre incompatibilities. I can enjoy any genre, when done in just the right way, but this is not one of those situations.)

The Good Guys is an obvious and intentional throwback to old school cop shows and relishes in embracing all the trappings therein. Bradley Whitford stars as Dan Stark, the grizzled has-been cop who is constantly spouting off about the good old days to straight-as-an-arrow new partner Jack, played by Colin Hanks. It's a concept we've all seen before, but Nix doesn't pretend to be reinventing the wheel here. It's abundantly clear that he wanted to make a tongue-in-cheek homage to 70s style detective work and that's exactly what he's done. It felt a little like when Quentin Tarantino picks a genre and makes a concerted effort to display all the cliches you'd expect in a very self-conscious way. Tarantino is considerably more successful at this than Nix was here, but I can appreciate the effort and what Nix was trying to do. By all accounts, he succeeded. But, just as I don't Netflix old episodes of vintage cop shows, I don't think I'll be sticking with The Good Guys for very long. In all honesty, I think the show is going to have a hell of a time finding an audience. Vintage can be done in a way that brings it back into vogue, but I don't think that's what's happening here, although not for lack of effort. The entire approach was very bald-faced and honest with itself. Indeed, even calling the show "The Good Guys" points to exactly what creative angle they're taking. This is not going to be a deep, psychological look into the inner-workings of hard-boiled detectives. As near as I can tell, this is a very unambiguous nod to an older style where good guys were good guys and bad guys were bad guys. Its aim is fun escapism, and for what it's worth, they don't pretend to be doing anything else.

The pilot actually started out well enough. After the first ten minutes, I honestly had some hope for the series as a whole, but things ultimately unraveled for me. The initial set-up of the two leads had a certain charm and Matt Nixiness that I rather enjoyed. What better way to establish Hanks character as a clean-cut, anal-retentive cop than with grammar. As it turns out, the primary reason he was assigned to Whitford as a partner was for correcting his superiors. I couldn't help but to chuckle as he defended his actions, saying, "I'm sorry, but there's no such thing as a 'statue of limitations!'" Heh. What can I say? The way to this girl's heart is with geeky, linguistic-based humor. You had me a "statue," or so I thought... Whitford is likewise presented in typical fashion as the washed up, aging detective who's a loose cannon, blah, blah, blah, but after the initial introduction, I just didn't really care about him all that much--which is a shame and a surprise because I love Bradley Whitford (less so with the mustache...). The two did admirable jobs with the roles they were given, but it just didn't gel for me. I guess it might just take some time for the chemistry between them to really start to work, but after the pilot alone? I was wholly uninvested (yeah, I know it's not a word) in the two main characters. This may come as a shock, but that's generally not a good sign...

It's not always immediate that I fall in love with main characters, so as long as the base concept is sound, I can usually hold out until they grow on me. It took a good 4 or 5 episodes of In Plain Sight for me to really invest in the whole package, but I knew the idea was solid, so I was happy to give it some time. The base concept of The Good Guys isn't quite as sound, to say the least... While I was quite charmed at the knowledge that these two cops were the Property Crimes beat (heh), I'm not sure how that's going to play out in the long run. It was pretty funny to see the title card shoot across the screen (a nice nod to Burn Notice) with "Case 42013: Stolen Humidifier" (complete with gunshot sound effects), I'm not sure it's a conceit I would be able to care about in the long run. Or, actually, the short run, as it seems. Don't get me wrong, by the end of the episode things had gotten quite a bit more intense (never seen so many shoot-ups and car chases in one pilot before), but I'm not sure that's a good thing... It's hard to know exactly where the show plans to go with things week-to-week, but I get the impression that Whitford and Hanks will start off each week with a seemingly mundane property crime to investigate that will invariably lead to drug smugglers and assassins. In all honesty, and for as dull as property crimes generally are, I think that's what I'd rather see. What can I say? The thought of not having a corpse at the center of a crime procedural appealed to me. A funny, tongue-in-cheek look at cops who do what most cops do: investigate random, minor offenses. If they had really taken that concept and run with it, I think it could have been pretty awesome. If the writing is solid, I don't need twenty minutes of car chases and stylized shooting.

As with most aspects of the pilot, the ideas may have been good, but the execution foundered for me (I keep saying "for me" because I can absolutely see where people who love this genre would have adored this pilot, but I ain't one of them). I really did appreciate a more unique, stylized approach to the action and storytelling. I just wish it had worked better. For instance, and again, reminded me of Tarantino, the show uses non-linear storytelling which adds a less common narrative approach, which is generally appreciated. Unfortunately, once again, it kind of falls flat. On a show like How I Met Your Mother, non-linear narrative structure is employed to great effect (you know, except for the current season, which is... yeah...). I love it when characters start out in one place, with the audience not knowing how everyone got there, and then have the pieces filled in by flashbacks, flashforwards, and asides. HIMYM does this with tremendous aplomb which leads to satisfying reveals. In The Good Guys, however, not only did I not really care where the characters started off, but I definitely didn't care how they got there. I'm fairly certain that if I cared more about the cast, I'd have enjoyed the structure much more, but when you're not invested in the people, you can't be invested in what's happening to them or why. Good idea, stylishly done, but ultimately, a failure.

Like I said, the pilot started off okay and then devolved as it went along. The supporting players (who are very few and far between--seriously, there's Hanks' ex-girlfriend who works for the DA's office and the chief of police and that's about it) didn't get much screen time and didn't really have time to be actual characters and felt more like placeholders... and yet somehow, they proved to be some of the best parts of the pilot. For what little set-up they got, they actually had more charm and interested me more than the fellas. They make for a dynamic that could work really well, but so far, simply didn't. The show focused most of its time on campy, intentionally over-stylized shoot-ups and car chases to really establish characters that I could care about. That may be just what some people are looking for, but I have to have a strong character base or I mentally tune out. I'm not saying there isn't a chance that the characters could grow on me over time, but based solely on the pilot, I'm not sure I want to give this show another second.

I think this show is going to struggle. As with Human Target (which I actually enjoyed more than this pilot--ouch), throwbacks to vintage styles don't necessarily work. Sure Human Target eeked out a pick-up for next season, but in the back of my mind, I keep thinking, "Yeah, maybe this style went out of style for a reason..." Neither of these shows is proving to be my particular cup of tea, and it's not just because these are shows aimed at men. I quite enjoy a number of shows that aren't aiming for my demographic. To boot, their ratings indicate that I'm not alone in being underwhelmed. I think the problem with both of these shows lies at the character level. It really doesn't matter how awesome or badass the action is if you don't care who lives or dies and are just as comfortable seeing the character succeed or fail. The audience needs to be on the edge of their seats desperate for things to go a certain way and that can only be achieved when you truly care about the people in question. It's the only way there's enough gravity to make the show matter.

Bottom line? I'm not in love. I wouldn't say I'm in total hate necessarily either, but I'm going to have a hard time giving this show another episode to grab me. Looking at the creative team and the acting talent, I wanted to like this show, I really did. It's incredibly disappointing that it fell so spectacularly flat. Everyone just seemed to be trying way too hard and succeeding way too little--which isn't exactly a recipe for success. I suspect this show is going to struggle and quite frankly, I'm kind of hoping it just gets the axe so all the awesome people associated with it can move onto better things. But, what do I know, maybe other people totally loved this. My cup of tea, however, it is not.

Pilot Grade: D+