What is it? Angie Tribeca, Season 1, 10 episodes on two discs from Warner Bros. Home Video
When? Now
How much? $24.98
Who is Angie Tribeca? A tough-as-nails detective (Rashida Jones) with the Los Angeles Police Department. She always gets her man, but she prefers to do it alone.
That's why she's not happy when her boss, Lt. Chet Atkins (Jere Burns), assigns Detective Jay Geils (Hayes MacArthur) to be her new partner.
But, while the start is rocky, they do make a good team, investigating a series of nefarious crimes with help from fellow detectives D.J. Tanner (Deon Cole) and David Hoffman (Jagger) and scientists Dr. Edelweiss (Alfred Molina) and Dr. Scholls (Andree Vermeulen).
Sounds like a straightforward police procedural. It does, doesn't it? But it's not. Take a look at those character names again. And you should know that David Hoffman is a German shepherd.
In the grand tradition of Airplane!, The Naked Gun and Police Squad, Angie Tribeca is a parody. An utterly ridiculous, hilarious parody of those ultra-serious police procedurals.
What does that mean? It means over-the-top product placement. Silly, pointless dialogue. Puns galore. Jokes so obvious they're brilliant.
It's one of those shows where it's a good idea to pay close attention to details, like the motto on the LAPD squad cars ("To protect and secure and to help with other things") or the name of a bank (Tied for First).
As for the cases they're solving, they involve things like the murder of a ventriloquist, an illegal pet ferret trade and a gang of bank-robbing, faux-Cockney chimney sweeps.
And no matter how out-of-this-world wacky things get, everything is played with a straight face.
Is it good? Yes. If you like this kind of parody, then yes, it's very funny. Of course, if you don't have much tolerance for silliness, it might get on your nerves. And the more familiar you are with police procedurals (think the various CSI and Law & Order series), the funnier it is.
Just don't even bother to try making sense of it.
Extras? Each episode has a brief "inside the episode" feature with interviews. There are also additional cast and crew interviews and the eight-minute "Inside Angie Tribeca." They're more serious than the series itself, but that's not saying much.
Next week: Arabian Nights, miniseries; Detectorists, Season 2; Duck Dynasty, Season 9; Kroll Show, Season 3; Rick and Morty, Season 2; Rizzoli & Isles, Season 6; Roots, mini-series 40th anniversary; The Shannara Chronicles, Season 1; Vinyl, Season 1.
Next month: Back to the Future, Season 1; Ballers, Season 1; Dark Matter, Season 1; Grantchester, Season 2; The League, Season 7 and complete series; Maude, Season 5; Star Trek, complete series; Star Trek: The Next Generation, complete series; Suspects, Seasons 1-2; Underground, Season 1; The X-Files, event series.
Style on 06/05/2016