A majority of critical complaints bestowed upon “The Good Cop” seem to focus on one thing: that the show is too familiar. Too procedural. Too clichéd. Think of any synonym of “boring” or “unoriginal” and I suppose you could disguise yourself as a seasoned critic. Yet, this familiarity might be the exact reason why I adore the new Netflix series.

“The Good Cop” follows street-smart Anthony “Tony” Caruso Sr. (Tony Danza) and his straight-laced by the books son, Anthony “TJ” Caruso Jr (Josh Groban).

Tony is a crooked ex-cop who was wrapped up in a multitude of scandals, yet holds a commitment to proving his worth as a cop, whilst TJ is the exact opposite and prefers to play every single rule by the book, no matter how minute.

Josh Groban does a solid job with what he’s given. While watching some of the scenes that he’s in, I found myself wanting to hug TJ for how awfully socially inept yet well-meaning he was. Groban plays the part perfectly, his chemistry on screen with Danza is great, and I enjoyed the polar-opposites cliche the two implemented.

The only sloppy side of the two actors’ dynamic, however, was that Danza sometimes tends to outshine Groban. I don’t think this was necessarily purposeful, but instead the product of him being the biggest name actor cast. It also doesn’t help that

Danza harnesses a big personality from the get-go.  

The episode-to-episode plot basically follows the antics of Tony while TJ solves criminal cases, and not much else.

Although the A-line and B-line plots typically intertwine, there isn’t anything overarching. This is arguably atypical of most current shows, which feel the need to add more “depth” to the story they’re trying to tell.

The lack of a contained plot transforms “The Good Cop” to a clean-cut comedy, reminiscent of something out of the early 2000s. I love that part of the show. It’s not too deep, nor is it solely focused on forcing any laughs out of you.

I wouldn’t call “The Good Cop” the #1 comedy of 2018, but it still manages to have heart. It’s clean, nostalgic entertainment for the family, charmingly predictable, and not too taxing on the brain like most Netflix dramas.