FOX has been sneak-peeking The Good Guys all over town in recent days -- at the Lakewood Theater Sunday, at a cast-and-crew viewing party last night -- in advance of its early-look tomorrow night. Early reviews have been good: Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker gives it a B-, but writes "it could settle into a comfy cop series"; while the TV Squad today insists, repeatedly, that it's "fresh." (The Chicago Tribune sums up thusly: "This cop comedy is one long, extended, lovingly crafted meta-joke.") Hard to say at this point -- it's never wise to judge a series by its first episode, especially one based on a script creator Matt Nix had been trying to find a way to make for almost a decade before finally settling upon the tale of two Dallas detectives (one grizzled and hammered, the other eager and straight-laced) assigned the rinky-dink cases.
After tomorrow night's "Premiere Event" at 7, the show returns June 7; till fall, at least, it'll air Mondays at 8 p.m. The network clearly likes the show -- hence the seven more episodes ordered in recent days, and its summer run that now extends well into the fall. (Word is they'll break for a month after shooting the initial 13 episodes, then return to Dallas some time mid-summer.) Ah, but will you dig it? Surely, if only for the drinking game it'll spawn: Spot the Familiar. (Or, just take a shot every time they use the word "Dallas" in the pilot -- we were drunk 12 minutes in.) Nix clearly loves our look: As he told us in February, "This is a throwback to the classic cop shows, and Dallas has the look
of those shows. I kept saying to people, 'If we shoot this in the
suburbs, it'll look wrong. We need power cables.'"
Here, then, are seven sneak peeks offered by FOX -- I've ordered them as they appear in the show, which is why Clip No. 2 shows up first. And, why, yes, that is the star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Update at 3 p.m.: The Hollywood Report just weighed in with its review, which can be summed up in this one paragraph:
The show is a series of rapid-fire everything: gunfights, car chases and witticisms. The device of jumping backward and forward in time provides a jarring sense of raucous suspense while also keeping things light, and there's no lack of tossed-off lines and information handed out like candy. It all goes to provide fuel for this constantly revving engine of a show that gels nicely and bodes well as a potential summer breakout hit.
