The Good Cop episode 1 review: Do Tony Danza, Josh Groban deliver?
The first thing we will say here is that we’re somewhat surprised the show isn’t getting more press, given that it stars an entertainment icon in Tony Danza alongside a modern-day singing star in Josh Groban. It comes via Monk creator Andy Breckman, and has much of what you would expect to see from a show within this genre — comedic timing, smart crime-solving, and many memorable characters.
The set up is fairly simple — Danza’s Tony is an old-school cop with a habit of breaking the rules and even the law. Meanwhile, his son TJ (Groban) is as clean of a cop as they come — he’s brilliant, a little bit neurotic, and generally very well-liked. He also may have a thing for Cora (Monica Barbaro, Chicago Justice), who just so happens to be Tony’s probation officer Cora Vasquez. She’s tough on Tony (she needs to be) and she and TJ have some fun chemistry — though they are not exactly at the point in which they are dating.
It’s funny that for the premiere episode, The Good Cop goes ahead and gets one big crime TV staple out of the way: The classic “main character gets accused of a crime they did not commit.” In this case, TJ was wrongfully accused of murder, largely because he was set up for it and at one point, Tony was ready and willing to take the fall. Yet, through TJ’s own investigative work and a little bit of help, he was able to figure out the truth. This was a fairly easy story to follow, with Tony showing through his sacrifice that, despite his faults (which includes sleeping with married women and getting a new TV via some very-questionable means), he does actually care considerably for his son. He also did raise him to be a good person.
CarterMatt Verdict
The premiere of The Good Cop goes by quickly (especially for a Netflix) series and is fairly entertaining to watch. Yet, at the same time it is also still needs to do some more work to build up the story and its characters. TJ doesn’t have enough defining characteristics other than reminding us that Groban looks like he could be Andy Samberg’s brother. Danza is the clear star here performance-wise, as he commands most of the scenes — he’s almost like what Voight from Chicago PD would be like if he had a sense of humor and wasn’t as consistently violent.
The Good Cop gets a recommendation from us if you loved Monk or similar cop shows — it doesn’t pop as much right away though, so it may take multiple episodes to determine whether or not the series is truly worthwhile.
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