Before entering an ostrich enclosure, Frank, an animal control officer, sneaks something into his partner’s back pocket. It’s a stick of jerky, and within moments, Frank is openly guffawing as the flightless birds are chasing his hapless colleague.
That’s the general vibe of “Animal Control,” a new sitcom on Fox. Here, “Community” alumnus Joel McHale plays Frank, a former cop who got fired after trying to root out corruption. (This is a neat trick in sidestepping the ongoing national conversation about policing — our complicated protagonist got removed from the force for being too virtuous.) His partner, a Fred who goes by Shred (Michael Rowland), arrived on this particular force through an unconventional path as well; he’s a former pro snowboarder whose laid-back affect suggests that, inside, he never really left the slopes.
It’s their relationship that is the backbone of “Animal Control,” but that backbone could use some chiropractic help to straighten itself out. McHale is a performer who needs to be careful to land on the right side of the line dividing sardonic and caustic; here, he doesn’t quite nail it, and one finds oneself wondering whether his case to stay on the police force was weakened by his being such an annoying hang. A repeated device is Frank shouting at Fred to stop telling corny jokes before he’s had his coffee, and while the jokes are indeed silly, there’s an edge to Frank’s insistence that feels unpleasant, like the show is guilting us for wanting to have fun with it.
As Fred, Rowland is an appealing presence, and I also liked Vella Lovell as the pair’s boss. Much of what the animal control does is, in this show’s telling, low-stakes and charmingly offbeat, making room for workplace-comedy bits that could as easily be at an elementary school or a paper supplier. Which is why it feels urgent that the show recalibrate the Frank character. His pranks are a turn of the dial too mean-spirited, his dislike for Fred a touch too elaborately stated. We get it — these unlikely partners will come to love each other. But right now, with Fred in outer space, it seems like an asymmetrical fight, and one in which Frank’s dyspepsia runs a bit too wild. Maybe it’d be best to leave the loudest snarling for the creatures he’s helping.
“Animal Control” debuts Thursday, February 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
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