'Angie Tribeca' Brings Parody Back to Television

by Julian Spivey
I saw a review of TBS’ new comedy “Angie Tribeca” last week that basically said, “You’re either going to love this show or hate it.”
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After catching the bulk of the first season thanks to TBS uniquely marathoning it on Sunday, Jan. 17 by showing all 10 episodes on repeat for 25 straight hours, I can say I don’t necessarily agree with that statement, but can see how many would.

“Angie Tribeca,” from the minds of Steve and Nancy Carell, is bringing the comedic art-form of parody back to television a la “Airplane” and the ‘Naked Gun’ movies, with a bit of Mel Brooks’ ‘60s sitcom “Get Smart” thrown in for measure.

I understand the “you’re going to love it or hate” review, because most people are either going to enjoy the joke-a-second, sight gags – many of them rather obvious if you think about them for a second – while others are going to find the show one of the dumbest things they’ve ever seen. It really comes down to the fact of whether or not you like this particular style of humor.

After watching much of the first season, though, I don’t find myself loving or hating the show, but mostly indifferent to it.

It’s not the dumbest thing on television, as many have said on social media (note the overall critics consensus is actually pretty high on the show). It’s just that those people aren’t fans of the show’s style of comedy and that’s perfectly fine. But, as someone who enjoyed the lunacy of “Airplane” I can tell you some of the gags are actually pretty great and can occasionally induce laugh out loud moments.

But, like with anything that’s reliant on parody, particularly a high amount of sight gags, some of the moments are going to prove to be eye-rollingly annoying, as well. One moment I tired of quickly was the rookie police officer who vomits at every crime scene.

The performances from leads Rashida Jones as the title character and Hayes MacArthur as her partner Jay Geils (yes, almost all of the character names are jokes in themselves like everything else about this show) are solid, but my favorite performance comes from Jere Burns as Chet Atkins, the commander of the LAPD’s Really Heinous Crimes Unit, as Burns really plays up the part of a hard-nosed precinct captain to perfection. In a show that completely lampoons crime show dramas, his performance rings the truest.

The aspect of “Angie Tribeca” that I hate the most is the casting of Deon Cole in the supporting role of Det. DJ Tanner. I must point out that this has nothing to do with the actual show, though. Cole is supremely hilarious and I feel his talents are being wasted here. Cole was bust-a-gut hilarious in his supporting role as Charlie through the first season-and-a-half of the ABC sitcom “black-ish” and left the show at midseason this year to appear in “Angie Tribeca.” Essentially he left a better character and show for a seemingly lesser role on an inferior show.

Ultimately, “Angie Tribeca” is a harmless watch that should give you a few laughs per episode, unless you’re just absolutely annoyed by the parody genre.

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