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Tacoma FD from Super Troopers team is likable but a pretty mediocre sitcom

  • Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme from the Broken Lizard troupe's new truTV comedy basically transmutes their biggest hit playing easygoing cops into a easygoing firefighters with a "lunkhead simple" premise -- firefighters working in the wettest part of the country, says Alex McLevy. "The comedy is delivered in a contemporary vernacular, but it’s often creaky to the point of calcified, due as much to the aesthetics of the show itself as to the dialogue," says McLevy. "Comedic beats are often emphasized by a score full of skronks and bass-drop sounds straight out of an ’80s comedy, just to let you know when you should be laughing. It’s shot in single-camera format but plays like a traditional multi-cam, right down to most of its scenes taking place in a few locations, usually within the firehouse. (The second episode has a few scenes in the nearby police station, which looks like a hastily repurposed version of the firehouse.) The show is overlit and badly staged; Heffernan helmed the first two episodes himself, and it probably wasn’t the wisest choice—his direction is pedestrian, to put it mildly, which doesn’t set a great tone for subsequent installments." ALSO: Super Trooper fans will especially love Tacoma FD.

    TOPICS: Tacoma FD, truTV, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Super Troopers