ICYMI: Why Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television* Is the Perfect Fit for YouTube Premium
Photo: YouTube Premium
“They’re giving everyone a show now.” —Ryan Hansen, Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television*
A spiritual sequel of sorts to CW Seed’s 2014 series Play It Again, Dick!—another show you probably missed—YouTube Red’s Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television* premiered in October 2017 to relatively little buzz, which seemed only smaller upon the monster success of another YouTube Red series, The Karate Kid spin-off/sequel Cobra Kai earlier this year. Then, following the premiere of Cobra Kai, YouTube Red rebranded as YouTube Premium, effectively making all of Ryan Hansen’s YouTube Red/YouPorn/RedTube jokes irrelevant. On the other hand, the streaming service’s name change may be the one true way to measure Ryan Hansen’s success.
Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television is, at the very least, eight 20-plus minute episodes of three shows rolled into one: It’s a failed attempt at a “famous YouTube channel,” as Ryan Hansen tries to appeal to millennials who regularly watch YouTube; it’s a single-camera fish-out-of-water procedural, which is also technically a mockumentary; and it’s a multi-camera family sitcom, with Aly Michalka playing Hansen’s wife and Jon Cryer (as himself) as the neighbor who’s always just around. The pilot even jokes about the series’ extreme tonal shifts and how the show’s producers obviously can’t figure out or agree on its format.
The second aspect—the fish-out-of-water procedural—is clearly the meat of the series, and it’s the part that’s front and center when it comes to explaining what Ryan Hansen even is. And the show within the show, Celebrity Vice Squad (CVS), explains why Ryan Hansen would solve crimes anywhere: Due to an uptick in crime in Hollywood, the mayor assigns a task force of “A-listers” to work as liaisons for the LAPD, using their connections and other actorly abilities to help solve cases. Ryan Hansen is the “A-lister celebrity” paired up with no-nonsense Cleveland transplant Det. Jessica Mathers (Samira Wiley, an actual big name). Buddy cop shenanigans ensue. So, not only is Ryan Hansen a fish-out-of-water procedural, it also actively dismantles that specific subgenre months before Carter and Take Two premiered to do the same thing much more earnestly.
Ryan Hansen plays on the fact that Hansen was one of the stars of Veronica Mars (as well another series with a cult following, Party Down), including an inevitable appearance by Kristen Bell. (Their onscreen dynamic has basically morphed into “I’m stuck with him for life” on Bell’s part.) But Ryan Hansen also recognizes that no one actually watched Veronica Mars. Seriously. Which is why it’s impressive how many times it’s been able to come back from the dead. Nor did they watch Party Down. And they definitely didn’t watch Bad Teacher or Bad Judge, two shows that didn’t have even the passionate niche audience behind them.
What people might find surprising about a series this self-deprecatingly, digitally small-time, though, is that Ryan Hansen was created by Rawson Marshall Thurber, the writer/director of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Central Intelligence and, more recently, Skyscraper, which is exactly the type of movie Ryan Hansen would absolutely (and probably will in the second season) turn into a never-ending joke. The press release announcing YouTube’s Season Two renewal of Ryan Hansen even pokes fun at this turn of events, and its own low status: “Created and executive produced by an A-list Hollywood director who would prefer to remain anonymous in order to protect his reputation, Season Two of Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television* will feature some of the same ‘hilarious’ hijinks that caused almost no one to watch Season One.”