‘Animal Control’ Pokes Fun at Policing Problems

When your colony of pet rabbits by accident eats magic mushrooms, who you gonna name? Hopefully not the characters on Animal Management, the brand new sitcom that debuted on Fox in February. Responding to that state of affairs in a single early episode, the officers finally corral the tripping bunnies, then resolve to confiscate the remainder of the unlucky proprietor’s shroom stash for his or her private use.

Asset forfeiture isn’t any laughing matter. However the present makes use of the low-stakes atmosphere of animal management obligation to poke enjoyable at the actual issues of self-interested cops and the unaccountable public techniques that shield them. Principal character Frank Shaw (Joel McHale) is a former policeman who acquired drummed out of the power for attempting to report corruption. He is understandably bitter about it.

Having McHale’s overqualified and grumpy character surrounded by a bunch of goofballs and underachievers looks like a deliberate try to copy the system of Group, the brilliantly ingenious sitcom that starred McHale and was a springboard for Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong, Dan Harmon, and the Russo brothers. Animal Management appears unlikely to soar as excessive, but it surely’s good for just a few laughs on the expense of incompetent and negligent public officers.