By Dean Robbins
Mismatched cops go for laughs in ‘The Good Guys’
We know Bradley Whitford can be funny because of his stint on “The West Wing.” But he’s miscast in “The Good Guys” (Monday, 8 p.m., Fox), a new series about an idiotic veteran detective paired with a young go-getter (Colin Hanks) on the lowly property-crimes beat. Whitford can’t find the humor in this dinosaur, who deplores the idea of running evidence through a newfangled computer and relies instead on old-fashioned hunches.
Meanwhile, the script can’t decide whether it wants to be a comedy or an action-packed crime drama. If we’re supposed to laugh, why are there so many meaningless shootouts and car chases? The producers could take lessons from USA cable series like “Burn Notice” and “Psych,” which effortlessly achieve this kind of balance.
I don’t need to run the evidence through a computer. I have a hunch “The Good Guys” will be a bust.
‘Smash His Camera’
Monday, 8 p.m. (HBO)
Ron Galella is a pioneering celebrity photographer who became a bit of a celebrity himself for his relentless pursuit of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Marlon Brando and other privacy-obsessed stars. The title of this Sundance-winning documentary comes from a command Jackie gave to her security team: “Smash his camera.” Brando broke his jaw, while most other celebrities simply ran away from him in horror.
One understands the impulse. Galella is the downside of the First Amendment: a goon who would lie, bribe, disguise himself and jump hedges to get his shot. The film finds its share of prominent defenders, including Andy Warhol and Chuck Close, who see artistic value in Galella’s work. Others call him “a leper,” “the worst kind of human being” and “money-grubbing scum.”
They may be right, but now he’s money-grubbing scum with his own prestigious documentary. CV
