Television sitcoms have fallen into one of two categories lately. They either push the boundary of serious situations and become dramedies, like Girls, or twist the standard sitcom format, like The Office and Parks and Recreation. Neither of these has any room for the kind of nonsensical and absurd humor that Steve and Nancy Carell have brought forth in Angie Tribeca. Here at SXSW, the married couple unveiled the pilot, along with episode two as a nice surprise.
It's a bit strange to see a TV show in a theater, but it was a joy to see a comedy this funny with a full audience to laugh hysterically with. Angie Tribeca actually felt like a movie comedy, which made perfect sense the moment Carell mentioned the influences for the show. They wanted to bring the type of humor we used to see in comedies like Airplane! or The Naked Gun. It's a kind of humor that appears to be in-jokes only on the surface, but is welcoming to anyone, even if you don't know how the Hollywood industry works.
The series centers on Angie Tribeca, played by Parks And Recreation veteran Rashida Jones, who is a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense cop in the LAPD. Like most new police shows, she is paired with an idealistic new partner, J. Giles (Hayes MacArthur). At first, she doesn't want to work with him, but when she starts opening up (even though he only asked her to open the window) she starts to like him. The case in the pilot deals with the LA mayor, who is being blackmailed by someone who has a picture of his insane tattoos. In episode two, they investigate the murder of a bakery chef, which is linked to a drug-dealing wedding planner.
Carell and team push the boundaries of jokes, keeping them running almost too long, until the payoff makes it all worth it. There's a genius moment in the pilot when MacArthur is chasing Gary Cole and it gets completely absurd. It gets so nuts that they don't even let MacArthur's stunt double leave the shot. In another scene, the camera gets too close to Jones and bashes her in the head. It's the stuff of bonus feature blooper reels, but it works perfectly in the flow of a show set in the center of the entertainment universe.
It also helps that Jones knows everyone in Hollywood, so she can recruit amazing guest stars for even the smallest roles. Lisa Kudrow has a brilliant spot in the pilot as a woman who wants to be the mayor's mistress. In episode 2, Jones' former Parks co-star Adam Scott plays a nurse who tells her that MacArhur is dead from his elevator fall. (Spoiler: he's not.)
During the Q&A session after the screening, Carell surprisingly said that his show was passed on by other networks because the show had "no heart." Indeed, there is no emotional center or cute moment that makes you want to tear up. It's just straightforward, self-depreciating humor. The Q&A also provided insight into how the show evolved. Initially, they planned on giving Angie a new partner every week, because he would be killed off at the end of each episode. But they liked MacArthur so much that they had to bring him back.
They also have some limits to the humor, which has to be "absurd but logical." Sure, there are some that are completely unrealistic - like the dog that can do literally everything a human can - but it does feel like the show runs on a set of rules. Every show has to have its own logic, even if it's illogical to everyone else's world.
Angie Tribeca might have some room to go, as some of the long jokes might get a bit cringeworthy (even Carell admitted that the clawmachine gag was only there because he loved it). But the performances so far are spot on. TBS hasn't given the series a premiere date, but it should air later this fall.