The Good Guys: The Complete First Season

A tongue-in-cheek comedy-action series, The Good Guys stars Colin Hanks as Jack Bailey, a meek, self-righteous, by-the-book detective who has alienated the entire department and is stuck in the dead-end property crimes division. Bradley Whitford costars as Dan Stark, a one-time hero who seems to have stepped out of a 1970s police show where rules are broken and heads are busted without worrying about procedure, evidence, or the law. Needless to say, even when they solve cases, the pair leave property damage, angry officials, and potential lawsuits in their wake, thus frustrating any hope for promotion. Creator Matt Nix, who made the colorful Burn Notice for USA, here pushes the lighthearted humor of that series into an outright parody of cop-TV clichés. Whitford seems to relish the role of a bull-headed idiot whose words of wisdom have little grounding in reality, and he's the best thing in a show that unfortunately never really finds its balance. Sometimes fun, but more absurd than clever, The Good Guys was a flop, lasting only a single season. Compiling all 13 episodes from 2010 as part of 20th Century Fox Cinema Archive's manufacture-on-demand line, this is optional, at best. (S. Axmaker)