Categories: Film FestivalsReviewsSXSWTV Review

TV Review: ‘ANGIE TRIBECA’ – Calcium for Your Funny Bone

James Cole Clay // Film Critic

ANGIE TRIBECA is already the must-see show of the year. Created and produced by Steve and Nancy Carell, the sit-com is a irreverent send-up of procedural crime shows.

The show focuses on our titular hero, Angie Tribeca (Rashida Jones), an insanely badass cop in the LAPD’s RHCU: Really Heinous Crime Unite. Carell has once again re-invented the American sitcom with a silly slapstick demeanor that has everything from running gags, intended spoof, and the tropes of contemporary network television to hotdog carts clouding up the scenery.

Make no mistake, the husband and wife team both have their creative hand in this batter, “we came up with the idea while we were sitting at home and thought the last name Tribeca would be funny,” said Carell during their SXSW Q&A last year.

Lisa Kudrow is one of the many familiar faces to pop up in ANGIE TRIBECA.

In only the first two episodes, the show is filled with many familiar faces, including Lisa Kudrow, James Franco and Adam Scott. Carell also mentioned that the titan of comedy, Bill Murray, is also slated to make a guest appearance in Season One.

It was easy to see how the show quickly found it’s identity in the crowded “golden age” of television. It takes the same sensibilities that made hits like AIRPLANE and THE NAKED GUN series hits back in heyday of spoof comedy and heightens them into a style that’s modern, relevant and nothing short of hilarious.

Jones, who’s writing the latest TOY STORY installment for Pixar, says she didn’t think there would be a project that would have have gotten her back into acting so quickly after leaving PARKS & RECREATION. “I received an email from Steve and thought to myself, ‘how can I not do this show?,’” said Jones.

Some may think this is bold, but a year from now ANGIE TRIBECA could be among the most beloved sitcoms on cable television. This laffer has got the cast (Jones, Hayes MacArthur, Deon Cole and Jere Burns), the writing and perfect timing for something completely different from any comedy on television.

The 10-episode season is premiering tonight for a special 25-hour event.

Preston Barta

I have been working as a film journalist since 2010, dividing the first four years between radio broadcasting and entertainment writing in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. In 2014, I entered Fresh Fiction (FreshFiction.tv) as the features editor. The following year, I stepped into the film critic position at the Denton Record-Chronicle, a daily North Texas print publication. My time is dedicated to writing theatrical film reviews, at-home entertainment columns, and conducting interviews with on-screen talent and filmmakers, as well as hosting a podcast devoted to genre filmmaking (called My Bloody Podcast). I've been married for ten happy years, and I have one son who is all about dinosaurs just like his dad.