Pop Rocks: Why You Should Be Watching The Good Guys

​We're in the doldrums, people. Nothing but baseball until August, craptastic "blockbuster" movies for the next two months...hell, even the World Cup is a bore now unless you're lucky enough to have an ancestral connection to one of the remaining teams (go Germany!). What we need is a decent summer TV series to tide us over until hope returns with the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy.

The Good Guys debuted on Fox in May. A throwback to the thoroughly ridiculous TV cop shows of yore, it "boasts" little star power ("that guy from The West Wing" and Tom Hanks' kid), an unappealing location (Dallas), and a somewhat less than thrilling plot (detectives relegated to petty crimes duty). It's also the best new show out there right now, and here's why you should be watching it.

5. What Else Are You Going To Watch?

Ghost Hunters International? Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami? The return of Futurama, welcome as it might have been, was somewhat underwhelming, and Mad Men won't be back for another month.

Look, we already know you're going to be watching Jersey Shore, at least check out one show you won't be ashamed to admit watching in public.

4. Bradley Whitford Doesn't Play a Prick

This is a bit of an assumption, but I always figured the former Josh Lyman was tired of playing the asshole in Billy Madison, the asshole in Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise...and the asshole in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. In any event, he's obviously having a fantastic time as "old school" detective Dan Stark.

3. The TJ Hooker Factor

I admit some bias, for I grew up in the era of 80s cop shows, and I vividly remember my sister complaining one time (actually, it was a lot of times) during an episode of T.J. Hooker that something always had to blow up every week...like that was a bad thing. At least Good Guys creator Matt Nix understands that explosions are often an integral part of quality television programming.

2. Jenny Wade

Not only is "A.D.A. Liz Traynor" hotter than doughnut grease, she played Honey Pie in all three Feast movies. She's, like, the perfect woman.

1. It's Not The Wire

Look, I'm a white person, so I like The Wire. That was a truly great show, one of the finest ever aired, highlighting the limitations of bureaucracy and the inevitable decline of human institutions...but this is summer, goddammit. Crack a brew, crank up some Foghat, and go bust some punks with The Good Guys. It's what America needs.