Take Three: The Good Guys

The Good Guys: Season 1, Episode 3 “Broken Door Theory” (F)

There’s a limit to how much you can believe about a character. Granted, most everything on this show is played for laughs, be it Dan’s goofy mustache, the cartoonish villains, or anything else. Having every single person besides Jack come down with the flu after spending ten seconds with the very ill Dan is one thing I could let slide. But having Dan grab the guy who beat up the vending machine and give him a big smooch – with Jack’s encouragement – in order to have him get the flu as a punishment is way beyond the line. On many shows, there’s a sense of impossibility to how certain people remain in their jobs, like Michael Scott on “The Office.” This, however, is just plain ridiculous. Also, though I have not gone through the police academy, it would seem to be sensible that, if someone goes flying off a roof, at least one cop would head straight up there in order to catch the perpetrators before they flee the scene. Just a suggestion from a befuddled viewer. One plotline that isn’t as gratingly unbearable to me as the entire show is the continued awkward anti-romance between Jack and Liz. While Dan definitely inserts himself into that relationship way too much, as evidenced by Liz’s demand to never have him come into her office again, it’s fun to see Jack toying rather blatantly with the notion that Liz still likes him and would rather have him off the market so that she doesn’t regret having dumped him. I’m rooting for those two, and if both the show and I are still around when they finally get back together, I’ll be pleased.