The Good Guys

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FOX (ended 2010)
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Show Summary

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The Good Guys is an action comedy about two detectives stuck in small crimes, though their "routine investigations" (Code 58s) often lead them into bigger cases and even bigger trouble. Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks), a cop who follows the rules but has an annoying habit of making enemies higher up, is paired with Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford), an unpredictable old-school cop whose heroic rescue of the Governor's son 30 years ago keeps him employed. Even so, Dan's drinking and antics leave him stuck with Jack in the Property Crimes Division. Jack's only ally is his ex, Assistant District Attorney Liz Traynor (Jenny Wade), who must balance chastising the troublesome duo with standing up for their unconventional police prowess to their boss Lieutenant Ana Ruiz (Dianna Maria Riva). Creator and Executive Producer Matt Nix (Burn Notice) originally conceived the series 10 years ago as a feature film script Jack & Dan to reinvent the buddy-cop comedy-action drama. The Good Guys ended after one season.moreless
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Episode Guide

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S 1 :  Ep 20 Aired 12/10/10
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S 1 :  Ep 19 Aired 12/3/10
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S 1 :  Ep 18 Aired 11/19/10
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S 1 :  Ep 17 Aired 11/12/10
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S 1 :  Ep 16 Aired 11/5/10
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  • What's Renewed, What's Canceled, and What's Still In Between? (2011 Edition) 648

    What's Renewed, What's Canceled, and What's Still In Between? (2011 Edition)

    By Tim Surette, Apr 13, 2011

    In a perfect world, all your favorite shows would live long healthy lives and programs that rot brains would be sent to the scrap heap. But the world of TV is far from perfect, and sometimes bad things happen to… more

  • The Good Guys Are Goners 59

    The Good Guys Are Goners

    By Tim Surette, Dec 17, 2010

    ... Fox's buddy-cop comedy The Good Guys has been discharged. Fox has canceled the show, opting not to renew the program for a second season. After a quiet debut without much marketing, the show was re-slotted in a weird time… more

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Fan Reviews (15)

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  • Very good show, cut short on its way to being great.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By praeda, Mar 13, 2011 Report Abuse
    The Good Guys is fast-paced, funny, and very self-aware (although it might have benefited from a more interesting name). It knows its strengths and it always plays to them. Aside from the occasional romance drama between Jack and Liz, nothing gets in the way of the comedy on this show. It's a satire of buddy cop shows, particularly those from the 70's. The "loose cannon" cowboy cop archetype is brilliantly subverted with the barely functional Dan Stark. At the same time however, it is also reconstructed. Although the viewer is made to sympathize with those who disapprove of his not-exactly-by-the-book methods, we also see that he eventually gets the job done... usually... in a roundabout way. The guest parts in each episode are always hilarious and have real, developed personalities rather than being treated like throw-away's by the writers. Also, having the partners work in property crimes and be regarded with so little respect by everyone else keeps things fresh.

    Around halfway through the season, I decided I really only had two complaints about The Good Guys:
    1) Not enough funny parts for women.
    2) Though I love when Jack argues with him, I felt it would be nice to have a character who really admired Dan and thought he was like the greatest thing since sliced bread.
    Then they introduced Sam, a socially awkward female lab tech who always jumps at the chance to help Dan even if it puts her job at risk.

    This show was getting better with every episode and it's a shame it wasn't given time to grow.moreless

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  • Somethings are too good to last...

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By jena911, Jan 24, 2011 Report Abuse
    I loved this show for the short time it was on...
    putting it on a Friday made is totally forgettabl to watch but when it was on mOndays i could get thru school well enough.

    The Old guy was charming and lovable, the young guy was endearing- HELL i even liked the crooks most of the time!!!

    I am sad to see it's ending but will buy eps...DAMN! how can the Office continue with Steve Carrel gone and Bones drag on pointlessly for a lustless, mystery-less 6th season but this little gem is swept under the rug like a diamond ring in the messy diaster that is a livingroom of life....

    u guys made me laugh! u made friends laugh! I WILL LOVE U FOREVER!moreless

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    0 0

  • I absolutely LOVE this show! I've been watching the first/last season and it is hillarious! Please bring it back!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By PaulaExelbyA, Jan 18, 2011 Report Abuse
    Soooo funny! Please bring it back! I love, love, love this show! Dan Stark is one heck of a character, why is it that good shows like this always seem to get the shaft? I started watching this show in October and have loved every minute of it. Now I watch it whenever I am exercising, I don't care how many times I watch an episode, they are still funny every time! My husband is now a huge fan too, I don't think it got the publicity that it should have, I just happened to find it when clicking through the channels one night and laugh my butt off, I haven't laughed that hard at a tv show in a long time! Get it together people, and bring this show back.moreless

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  • Lemme make my strongest case he can for Fox's new cop show, The Good Guys.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By eastmav, Jan 02, 2011 Report Abuse
    Despite a terrible marketing campaign for The Good Guys (formerly known as Jack & Dan, then known as Code Five Eight) I had been so super excited for this show for both the casting and the way they hyped up Bradley Whitford's moustache. I don't know what it was about the 'stache that grabbed me - it was hypnotic. When the show made it to air, it was even more intense, the way the show blew by I had to lean in to make sure I didn't miss a trick.

    They set quite a precedent in breakneck storytelling with the pilot, leading me to think that maintaining the pace and density of the show is going to be a serious challenge. The pilot almost seemed like it was a two or even three hour episode crammed into 46 minutes. The plot was practically moving in three dimensions with subplots flying back in time, across town, and then back to the here & now, making like 6 things happen in the space of 2 minutes. It does all this without being crowded though. Things were just...efficient.

    The essence of the show is two Dallas cops enduring an open-ended punishment by being constantly saddled with inane routine investigations and mundane calls. Detective Stark (Bradley Whitford) is being punished for being a drunken mess (and the prototype for policing from an age long past), while Detective Bailey (Colin Hanks) is being made to suffer for being an incorrigible smart-ass. These frivolous cases are likely to blossom into something larger and more sinister (while still remaining funny).

    For instance, the pilot begins with a clumsy break-in where the hapless thief only manages to abscond with a humidifier which he takes back to the pawn shop he operates. Elsewhere in Dallas, a Mexican drug mule decides to turn on his boss and makes off with a whole pile of money and drugs and heads straight to the plastic surgeon to get cut to look like Erik Estrada. During the procedure, a freak accident causes the operating room to explode, killing the drug mule and his henchmen which leads the plastic surgeon to call his friend, the hapless criminal from the pawn shop to dispose of the bodies.

    Meanwhile Detectives Stark and Bailey are called in to investigate the humidifier case which leads them to the local pawn shop (yes, the thief's pawn shop). Unbeknownst to everyone, the drug kingpin who was stiffed by his mule has sent in his number 2 assassin to recover his money and drugs, with the hitman kidnapping the plastic surgeon who then spills his guts about the pawn shop guy, which leads him to the pawn shop and a gun battle with the detectives. Even more unbeknownst to everyone, it turns out that the traitorous drug mule didn't die in that freak accident and is still out for his money, looking less like Erik Estrada and more like a guy who was blown up and left for dead in a car for a few days. I think all of this only brings us to the halfway mark and there are still plenty of twists to come.

    I'm sure there's a high degree of skepticism (or Cynicism? Booyah!) at what a cop show at Fox of all places has offer that people haven't already seen. But there's a few twists in The Good Guys' presentation to help it stand apart from the herd. One of them being that it is stuff we've all seen before...back in the 70's. The retro look and style of the narrative seem to be in the spirit of Starsky & Hutch, yet not the least bit straight faced and completely self-aware. This kind of self-awareness is further demonstrated through some of the uncanny connections the actors have with the world outside the show. As a believer in the nature of pop-culture being a living, breathing and ever-expanding entity, I love this kind of interconnected stuff. Here's a few examples:

    When Detective Dan Stark (Bradley Whitford) first lays eyes on the Camaro I can only hope will be making a return appearance, on comes Billy Squire's The Stroke, much like when Billy Madison rolls up for his first day back in high school in his almost identical Camaro. And who played the bad guy in Billy Madison? None other than future West Wing star Bradley Whitford.

    As Detective Jack Bailey (Colin Hanks) is introduced to us, it becomes clear that he is a smartalec knowitall by the numbers cop, much in the same vein of Detective Joe Friday from Dragnet. And who played Joe Friday's partner in the feature film? The Man With One Red Shoe himself, Tom Hanks.

    And who should they choose as their guest star? Nia Vardalos, who rose to fame after writing and starring in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. And who was that film financed by? Colin Hanks' stepmother, Rita Wilson.

    What does all that mean? Absolutely nothing. It certainly has no bearing on the show itself, it's just really strange.

    The Good Guys begins its first season run this Monday night on Global - that's Fox to my American cousins.moreless

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    4 0

  • Incredibly hilarious!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Sami5118, Jan 02, 2011 Report Abuse
    This show was incredibly hilarious! I think that it was the funniest show on FOX. They made a big mistake in cancelling it. Anyway, I liked this show because it was funny from the beginning to the end and for an hour long show, that's quite a long time. What I liked the most about it was that there was nothing really inappropriate about it ( which might be why it got cancelled in the first place), and that the characters were really funny,( Especially Dan). I hope that this show gets picked up by another network because it is too funny to get rid of.moreless

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