Thanks to the Law & Order, CSI and NCIS franchises, broadcast television has never really gone too long without a police procedural on the air. As for streaming outlets, however, most of their original programming has favored serialization over one-off episodes, presumably to encourage binge-watching. Enter The Good Cop, the latest series to hit Netflix. Here’s everything we know about The Good Cop.
What is The Good Cop about?
The Good Cop, the latest from Monk creator Andy Breckman, stars Tony Danza and Josh Groban as an odd couple-esque father and son pairing. The former plays Tony Caruso Sr., a corrupt police officer who spent time in jail for his crimes while on the force. The latter, meanwhile, plays Tony Caruso Jr., a by-the-book cop who is as thorough as he is annoying.
It’s a formula as old as the late Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, which has served as a template for practically every “buddy cop” film and television series during the past few decades. So yes, aside from the particulars of The Good Cop, Danza and Groban have little more to do that conform to Simon’s tried-and-true formula.
The thing is, Netflix subscribers used to heavily serialized shows that almost require binge-viewing may find Breckman’s latest to be a welcome reprieve. The two Tonys’ daily lives – personal, professional and otherwise – often revolve around the same story, which is Tony Sr.’s sordid past and Tony Jr.’s efforts to overcome his father’s unwelcome shadow. Yet each of the series’ 10 episodes stands on its own thanks to the procedural format, which helps it focus on a single case or story. As a result, The Good Cop viewers will find that, after watching a single episode, they won’t feel the urge to keep going – even if they enjoy it.
Anyone looking for a revolutionary take on the police procedural genre will be disappointed. What’s more, Groban and Danza’s performances are complementary to one another, but do little to stand out on their own.
But that doesn’t mean The Good Cop is a bad show. On the contrary, Breckman and his team have injected much of the same DNA that made “Monk” such a wonderful comedy into The Good Cop, albeit with the odd couple format instead of the USA Network classic’s character-driven entries, led by Tony Shalhoub’s phenomenal performance as the title character.
The Good Cop cast
The program also makes up for its more formulaic tendencies by amping up Danza and Groban’s familial rivalry with an excellent supporting cast. Monica Barbaro plays Tony Sr.’s parole officer, Cora Vasquez; The Wire veteran Isiah Whitlock Jr. turns in a wonderful performance as Tony Jr.’s partner, Burl Loomis, whose existential dread ahead of his coming retirement adds a dark flavor of humor to everything; and Bill Kottkamp as an odd CSI tech who assists Tony Jr. and Loomis on their cases.
The Good Cop release date
The Good Cop begins streaming this Friday, Sept. 21, on Netflix.
The Good Cop trailer
