Earlier this year, Good Cop/Bad Cop premiered on The CW, and it didn’t draw much of an audience. However, its debut on Amazon Prime Video has propelled the show into the streamer’s top 10.
This offbeat police procedural is a homecoming for Leighton Meester, who starred on The CW’s Gossip Girl nearly two decades ago.
The sudden surge in popularity for Good Cop/Bad Cop suggests that Meester’s new series might get a nice long run.
For anyone who is on the fence, Watch With Us is sharing three reasons to watch Good Cop/Bad Cop on Prime Video.
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Leighton Meester Is Excellent in the Leading Role
Meester demonstrates a lot of range as Detective Lou Hickman, the woman at the center of this series. She is a big fish in a small pond who can’t carry the town’s entire police force by herself. But she’s got charisma, she’s funny and she’s a brilliant detective. Lou is the kind of character that Meester excels at playing.
Lou is also the most grounded member of her family, especially compared to her brother, Henry Hickman (Luke Cook). She’s got the people skills that Henry lacks, and her interplay with her brother is a highlight of the series.
The Hickman Family Gives the Show a Unique Dynamic
Good Cop/Bad Cop is primarily about the partnership between Lou and Henry when he returns to town to be her new partner. The siblings don’t always see eye-to-eye, and there is some lingering tension between them that gets explored during the show. There’s also a brother-and-sister bond that can’t be broken, no matter how annoyed they get with each other.
Clancy Brown costars as their father, Big Hank Hickman, who doubles as the chief of police. Brown is a very underrated comedic actor who usually plays villainous roles, including his recent stint on The Penguin. For this series, Brown displays a warmer side to his screen persona with Henry and Lou, as well as Hank’s girlfriend, Nadia Drozdova (Blazey Best). Bringing these four together often creates very funny moments of family dysfunction.
‘Good Cop/Bad Cop’ Strikes the Right Balance Between Comedy and Drama
When cop dramas are combined with comedy shows, they run a risk of veering too heavily towards one genre or another. If the show is too funny, it can become a Naked Gun-style spoof. And if it’s too dark, then the comedy wouldn’t work. Good Cop/Bad Cop threads the narrative needle with cases that have dramatic stakes with enough room for a few jokes.
This is the kind of show that was more prevalent in the ’90s, like Northern Exposure and Ally McBeal. Although similar series have fallen out of favor on network television, Good Cop/Bad Cop is showing some life in a genre mashup that’s been ignored for too long. Maybe this series can be a game changer for comedic dramas.
Good Cop/Bad Cop season 1 is now streaming on Prime Video.
