The cop-show parody “Angie Tribeca” has so many terrible jokes and awful puns and outright idiotic bits of random humor. That’s meant as high praise: Not since the halcyon days of “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun” (which itself was adapted from the cop-show parody “Police Squad!”) has there been a piece of entertainment this richly, knowingly moronic. Anchored by an inspired deadpan performance from Rashida Jones, this TBS comedy is launching with a 25-hour nonstop marathon of the first season starting Sunday night, advisable for a program in which repeat viewings may be necessary to soak in every wonderfully stupid throwaway gag.
Taking affectionate shots at everything from “CSI: Miami” to “The Shawshank Redemption” to “Casino Royale,” “Angie Tribeca” was created by Steve Carell and his wife Nancy, and indeed the 10-episode first season has some of the same sunny silliness that was apparent in the Oscar-nominated actor’s big-screen “Get Smart,” albeit with a much higher laugh-to-dud ratio than that so-so film.
Jones plays Angie Tribeca, a veteran LAPD detective who’s unhappy to be assigned a new partner, J Geils (Hayes MacArthur), since she prefers to work alone. (It may also be because she’s had 236 partners, fallen in love with each one, and they’ve all died.) Nonetheless, Angie and Geils team up to solve mysteries that range from a rash of murders that keep occurring on the same cross-country flight to a prostitution ring that may implicate some of L.A.’s top officials.
As you might imagine, deft plotting isn’t a crucial component to “Angie Tribeca,” but showrunner Ira Ungerleider does make sure that each episode has just enough twists to provide a reliable engine for nonstop jokes. On one level, “Angie Tribeca” is a rat-a-tat-tat spoof of cop procedurals, mocking their clichés and amplifying their absurdities. But it’s not just that Ungerleider and his writers make fun of the typically surly police captain (a terrifically intense Jere Burns) or the brilliant coroner (she’s played by Andree Vermeulen, and her character’s name is the exquisitely groan-worthy Dr. Scholls). It’s that “Angie Tribeca” keeps finding clever variations on the jokes that make them surprisingly pliable. Soon, some of them prove addictive: The show’s title sequence is ridiculous in the pilot, but it features a new wrinkle in each subsequent episode so that you keep watching its daffy, over-the-top lunacy each time.
With “Airplane!” and “Police Squad!,” creative partners Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker created a perfectly straight-faced brand of comedy that aped its targets by replicating them almost exactly, only with slight variations that called attention to the source material’s self-seriousness. That’s roughly the model “Angie Tribeca” follows, but what’s quietly remarkable here is how much joyfulness emerges from the humor.
The secret may very well be that, with a few exceptions, the cast isn’t encouraged to play their ramrod-dopey characters as complete idiots. Instead, Jones, MacArthur and the rest of the ensemble share the same slightly-dazed tone in which stray bits of inexplicability are left uncommented-on — like, for instance, why Deon Cole’s cop is partnered with a dog whom everyone at the precinct treats like it’s human. Jokes are rarely cruel or crude — characters are never jerks simply to get a laugh or advance the story — and some of the comedic bits are so blissfully sophomoric they possess an almost saintly glow. (In “Angie Tribeca,” you best fear killer pillows and painfully slow bomb-detonating robots.)
Jones, probably best known for her work on “Parks and Recreation,” exudes some of the same did-that-just-happen? confusion that made her Ann Perkins such a loyal, sympathetic best friend to Amy Poehler‘s hyperactive Leslie Knope. Jones doesn’t treat “Angie Tribeca” like a star vehicle, the entire cast getting their share of laughs and delightful moments. And although Angie is certainly a more assertive character than Ann was, they’re linked by the actress’s charming modesty and radiant likability. Despite her striking beauty, Jones has a winning, low-key normalness that allows her to work well alongside her cast mates — not to mention guest stars such as Bill Murray and Cecily Strong, who’s involved in a joke about plastic surgery so superb that there needn’t be another ever attempted.
This sitcom’s battering ram of madcap inanity can run aground when a particular episode doesn’t have an especially memorable storyline, and perhaps “Angie Tribeca” caters too much to an audience in thrall to the old “Airplane!” style of so-broad-it-hurts humor. From the 1980s’ “Sledge Hammer!” to the more recent “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” smart-aleck cop comedies are nothing new. But in its minute-to-minute pleasures, “Angie Tribeca” is one big goofy grin of a sitcom. Season 2 can’t come quickly enough.
“Angie Tribeca” premieres at 9 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 17 on TBS.
Scene at TCA 2016 Winter Press Tour (Updating Photos)
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EPs Brad Simpson, Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson, co-EP Anthony M. Hemingway, Consultant Jeffrey Toobin, and actors Sarah Paulson, John Travolta and Cuba Gooding Jr. on stage for FX's "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" panel on Jan. 16
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Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys on stage for FX's "The Americans" panel on Jan. 16
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Jay Baruchel and Eric Andre on stage for FX's "Man Seeking Woman" panel on Jan. 16
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Creator/star Donald Glover on stage for FX's "Atlanta" panel on Jan. 16
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Co-creators/EPs Zach Galifianakis and Louis C.K. for FX's "Baskets" panel on Jan. 16
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FX CEO John Landgraf on stage during his executive session on Jan. 16
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Actors Rebecca Liddiard, Micahel Weston, Stephen Mangan, Co-Creator/EP David Hoselton, EP David Shore and Co-Creator/EP David Titcher on stage for Fox's "Houdini & Doyle" panel on Jan. 15
Amber Grimes and Nick Cannon on stage for Oxygen's "Like a Boss" panel on Jan. 14
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EPs Philip D. Segal, Kevin Williams and investors Lauren Maillian, Randi Zuckerberg, Ido Leffler and Sarah Prevette on Oxygen's "Quit Your Day Job" panel on Jan. 14
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Actor Kieran Bew on stage for Esquire's "Beowulf" panel on Jan. 14
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Candis Cayne, Caitlyn Jenner and Ella Giselle on stage for E!'s "I Am Cait" panel on Jan. 14
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Nathan Phillips, Britne Oldford and Julian McMahon on stage for Syfy's "Hunters" panel on Jan. 14
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Stars Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleman, Arjun Gupta, Summer Bishil, Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve and EPs Michael London, Sera Gamble and John McNamara for Syfy's "The Magicians" panel on Jan. 14
EPs Ryan Condal and Carlton Cuse for USA's "Colony" on Jan. 14
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Jamie Kennedy, Maya Erskine and Joshua Leonard, Melissa George, Dave Annable and Co-EP Dr. Kathy Magliato on stage for NBC's "Heartbeat" panel on Jan. 13
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Executive producer and star Eva Longoria and actor Jencarlos Canela on stage for NBC's "Telenovela" panel on Jan. 13
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NBC's "Game of Silence" panel on stage on Jan. 13
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Executive producer Dick Wolf on stage for NBC's panel about "Chicago Med," "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago PD" on Jan. 13
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Actress Miranda Cosgrove on stage for NBC's "Crowded" panel on Jan. 13
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Jennifer Lopez on stage for NBC's "Shades of Blue" panel on Jan. 13
Mark McKinnon on stage for Showtime's "The Circus" panel on Jan. 12
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Luke Wilson, Carla Gugino and Imogene Poots on stage for Showtime's "Roadies" panel on Jan. 12
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EP Bill Lawrence, EP Blake McCormick, EP Steve Franks, and actors Wendie Malick, Page Kennedy, Justin Hires, Jon Foo, and Aimee Garcia for CBS's "Rush Hour" panel on Jan. 12
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Daniel Henney on stage for CBS's "Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders" panel on Jan. 12
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CBS News panel on Jan. 12
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Chairman CBS Sports Sean McManus, "The Super Bowl Today" host James Brown, analyst Phil Simms, announcer Jack Whitaker and announcer Jim Nantz on stage for CBS Sports panel on Jan. 12
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Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney for Amazon's "Catastrophe" panel on Jan. 11
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Director Alex Gibney and producer Kahane Cooperman for Amazon's "The New Yorker Presents" panel on Jan. 11
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Titus Welliver for Amazon's "Bosch" panel on Jan. 11
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Ben Chaplin for Amazon's "Mad Dogs" panel on Jan. 11
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Alycia Debnam-Carey on stage for CW's "The 100" panel on Jan. 10
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Actor David Gyasi on stage for CW's "Containment" panel on Jan. 10
Series creator Tom Rob Smith on stage for BBC America's "London Spy" panel on Jan. 8
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Creator Peter Moffat on BBC America's "Undercover" panel on Jan. 8
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Producer Huw Cordey on BBC America's "The Hunt" panel on Jan. 8
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Host Chris Evans for BBC America's "Top Gear" panel on Jan. 8
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Executive producer John Legend on stage for WGN America's "Underground" panel on Jan. 8
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Series creator Peter Mattei, EP Peter Tolan and stars Ryan Hurst, Gillian Alexy, David Morse, Kyle Gallner and Christina Jackson for WGN America's "Outsiders" panel on Jan. 8
Host Craig Ferguson and EP Brian Vok-Weiss speak on stage during History's "Join or Die" panel on Jan. 6
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Viceland creative director Spike Jonze introduces new network's panel on Jan. 6
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Viceland creative director Spike Jonze and the network's hosts speak on stage on Jan. 6
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John Rhys-Davies speaks on stage for MTV's "The Shannara Chronicles" on Jan. 6
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Nikki Glaser on stage for Comedy Central's "Not Safe With Nikki Glaser" on Jan. 6
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Stars Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff speak on stage during TV Land's "Younger" panel on Jan. 6
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Improv group The Katydids (Caitlin Barlow, Katy Colloton, Cate Freedman, Kate Lambert, Katie O'Brien, Kathryn Renee Thomas) and EPs Alison Brie and Jay Martel speak on stage during TV Land's "Teachers" panel on Jan. 6
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"Chasing Destiny" EP Jason Sands, host Kelly Rowland, creative director/choreographer Frank Gatson and EP Danny Rose speak on stage on Jan. 6
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Brandy Norwood speaks onstage during the BET "Zoe Ever After" panel on Jan. 6
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Connor Schell (left), senior vice president and executive producer for ESPN Films, and Ezra Edelman, director of "OJ: Made In America" on Jan. 5
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Vince Vaughn, executive producer of "The '85 Bears," speaks during the ESPN Films "30 for 30" panel on Jan. 5
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"Rough Draft" host Reza Aslan speaks alongside writer Norman Lear on Jan. 5
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TV stars and executives promote new and returning shows at the annual Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour