By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --You could make a dandy drinking game out of "Angie Tribeca" : a tequila shot for every silly gag. Except you'd never make it past the first commercial break.
Consider: An unofficial count of sight gags and silly wordplay in the season premiere (airing on TBS Monday at 9 p.m. EDT) tops four dozen in its 22 minutes.
But "Angie Tribeca" is more than incessant funny business.
This is a show that stands on the shoulders of such comedy treasures as Monty Python, "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun." And that can also stand beside them. Which might seem like a physical impossibility. But not for "Angie Tribeca."
Rashida Jones plays the title character — a feisty, no-nonsense LAPD detective — on a show that is equal parts police procedural and Warner Bros. cartoon.
Detective Tribeca works out of a precinct also populated with high-decibel Lt. Chet Atkins (played by Jere Burns), silky-smooth Detective D.J. Tanner (Deon Cole), dashing Jay Geils (Hayes MacArthur) — who is Tribeca's partner and romantic squeeze — and Dr. Scholls, the bookish but sexy blonde who serves as medical examiner (Andree Vermeulen).
Part of what makes the series brilliant is the cast's commitment to playing things straight — as straight as on any conventional cop drama — while also staying true to the singular absurdity of the alternate world they inhabit.
"We really do function like an actual procedural," says Jones. "We tell the story without referring to the comedy, and let the comedy speak for itself."
The stories are tangled whodunits, while the comedy speaks loud and clear in brilliant bursts that mine the trove of crime-show cliches. (When a cop says, "We turned the apartment upside down and we didn't find anything," the apartment has literally been turned upside down.)
This sort of hijinks differs markedly from Jones' previous comedies — "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation" — with their looser, mockumentary style.
"This is highly staged, highly choreographed. You have to be on your mark," says Jones. "A lot of our jokes are visual, and they require details and concentration from every department across the board — wardrobe, lighting, special effects, stunts, animal trainers, makeup, hair. Everybody's challenged every single week!"
Steve Carell, star of "The Office," and his comedian wife, Nancy Walls Carell, created "Angie Tribeca." The first 10 episodes premiered earlier this year. With another 10 now awaiting them, fans who worried the concept wouldn't wear well can relax. Law-and-order shows are abundant and enduring, not to mention overflowing with tropes and time-tested formulas. "Angie Tribeca," firmly planted in this ethos while giving full rein to its own native foolishness, could run for years.
"It's the kind of show that can reinvent itself," Jones says. "It's surreal: We can take it anywhere."
This season explores what she dubs the "artful procedure," with nods to "True Detective," ''Fargo" and even "Mr. Robot."
"There's a moodier vibe, where our detectives are struggling with their own pasts," she says.
Not only will Tribeca continue to struggle with visions of her vanished fiance and former partner, Sgt. Pepper (played by James Franco), but she will awaken from a nine-month coma to learn she has given birth to a child with Geils, who is now raising the infant with Dr. Scholls, his substitute girlfriend. (Geils tells the distraught Tribeca, "I THINK about YOU when I make love to her. What ELSE do you want?")
Jones — the daughter of 1960s "Mod Squad" heartthrob Peggy Lipton and music legend Quincy Jones — has an arresting comic manner, but she brings something else to the job: actual experience in a bona fide police procedural, a short-lived TNT series called "Wanted" a decade ago.
"It was basically like the show I'm making fun of now," she says with a laugh. "I was a tough cop chasing bad guys through the streets of L.A. The character on that drama and the character I play now aren't that different. The difference is, I have to be up for the gags. Like where I have really hairy legs because I've been in a coma for months, or when I'm having an animal poop on me."
One of the two-dozen bits of free-range zaniness in the premiere has Tribeca erupting with a sneeze that makes her eyes bug out, cartoon-like.
"It took 35 minutes to put the eyes on, 20 to take them off," says Jones. All that, for a piece of physical humor that lasts a half-second. "Everything is so time-consuming to prepare. But it's so worth it!"
And it's the sort of blink-and-you-might-miss-it brand of daffiness that rewards repeated viewings.
"Everyone on the show has a shared sense of humor, but also a shared taste level," says Jones. "We want to make something artful, but still keep the jokes dumb. That's a skill: to match the high-and-low. And we take the job VERY seriously."
And if you don't watch? As TV cops are often heard to say, they're sorry for your loss.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More