ICYMI: TBS’s Underrated Dark Comedy of The Detour Deserves Its Due

Since its premiere in the spring of 2016, The Detour has been one of the most fascinating comedies (dark or otherwise) on television. Co-created by real-life husband and wife Jason Jones and Samantha Bee—after their tenure on The Daily Show—the series originally followed the Parker family foursome as they embark on the worst family vacation known to man. At the time, the show was compared to the Vacation movie series, a point that was only amplified by the 2015 soft reboot starring fellow Daily Show alum Ed Helms. It’s also a point that Jason Jones has since stated that was never his personal intention for the series. In fact, while the series was billed as somewhat based on Jones and Bee’s real-life experiences with family vacations—which certainly makes sense for the first season, all things considered—by the end of the pilot, it was apparent that the series had loftier goals than just a family vacation story.

Jones stars as Parker patriarch Nate Parker Jr., alongside Natalie Zea as his “wife” (it’s a whole thing) Robin Randall, and the twin children who they ruin more and more with every passing episode: weirdo Delilah (Ashley Gerasimovich) and idiot Jared/Jareb (Liam Carroll). (Based on four seasons of getting to know these characters, I can say with complete certainty that “weirdo” and “idiot” have been the most sensitive ways to describe them.) The series begins with the Parkers on their way from Syracuse, NY to Fort Lauderdale, FL for a family vacation/work retreat for Nate, with a rather early reveal (at least to the audience) that Nate hasn’t been completely honest about the trip or the status of career. In his defense, his actions were based on what he thought was right (because “What’s right is right.”); in fact, he got fired because he challenged his boss Gene (Phil Reeves) and plans to blow the whistle on the company. But his actions are still fueled by lies, hotheaded decision making and a tendency to make the wrong choice at every turn, even when he’s technically in the right.

To say The Detour goes off the rails immediately is honestly redundant, given the series’ title. It’s not just in the case of the road trip’s unforeseen circumstances but the early reveal (this is a series of reveals, even though they can often be lost on the characters themselves) that whatever happened on the Parker family’s trip and beyond somehow led them down the path of multiple criminal and federal investigations. The Detour is fun for the whole family, depending on how old your family is. But it’s also kind of difficult to explain what the show really is past that first season, especially if you want to keep the twists a surprise. A raunchy family vacation is easy to explain, but the investigation is also a major part of the series—and where most of the series’ meta jokes come from, especially in terms of what may seem like plot holes or stretches in disbelief.

The Detour has never really been just about a family vacation (or other travels) as much as it has been the constant circumstances (usually of their own making, even when they try to avoid conflict) that cause the Parkers’ lives to drift so far off course, as well as the big question of whether or not Nate and Robin are bad parents. The latter is arguably the biggest point of the series and one that’s asked constantly from the pilot on. In the first season, there’s still an argument to be made that they are good-ish (albeit frank and blunt) parents, but the further the show goes along, there’s a more definitive answer: “bad parents” is a relative term. This is especially true when compared to Nate’s emotionally and verbally abusive mother (which translates to his own issues with handling emotions, as he is prone to crying all the time and denying it’s happening) or Robin’s criminal father.

In fact, The Detour essentially believes in the saying “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” even though if a character were to ever say that on a show, it would spark a debate from Robin (about how Hell isn’t real) until she “won.” While there are plenty of reasons why everything goes downhill for the Parkers, the biggest one is how both Nate and Robin have a compulsive need to be right, no matter how bad they look as a result or how much it just makes things worse for them and their family. That could easily get annoying to watch, but to keep it fresh, both characters latch onto different types of things when it comes to their rightness, which allows them to perfectly complement each other and the show by creating a balancing act of sorts. (They essentially never go overboard on the same issue at the same time, with the rare exceptions leading to reconciliatory, romantic moments.) Nate’s desire to be right and do the right thing is what drives the series at first, and in his case, he faces the brunt of the physical punishment when it comes to this. Jason Jones is absolutely unafraid to be the beaten-up butt of many a joke in the series, to sometimes uncomfortable levels. (This fourth season really ramps that up.) But it’s Robin’s soul—not that she believes souls exist—and emotional strength that are chipped away at, as she’s the one who is faced the most with questions of them (and her, specifically) being bad parents.

Ratings-wise, the show has a steady viewership for TBS, usually ranging anywhere from 750,000 to a little over 1,000,000 viewers, typically leaning closer to the latter (at least for the first three seasons). Its viewership is much higher than TBS’ critically-acclaimed Search Party and the recently-canceled Angie Tribeca (which always seemed destined to fail ratings-wise, with the marathon and binge full-season strategy for its premieres). And while it’s slightly lower than newer series like Miracle Workers, The Last O.G.—both of which also hit the critically-acclaimed mark for TBS—and The Guest Book, its ratings consistency is actually impressive considering it’s just begun its fourth season. TBS obviously isn’t a ratings juggernaut of a network (basic cable or otherwise), so while these numbers aren’t big compared to other networks, it’s all about perspective. And with this perspective, while The Detour might have possibly gotten bigger numbers on other networks, on TBS, it has the numbers to continue on—and to remain as weird as it is because of its TBS bubble.

Still, in discussing comedy on TBS, it’s worth noting how its “Very Funny”/”veryfunny” brand identity has had a hand in overshadowing its solid—and markedly different—original offerings. In fact, I imagine most people associate the tagline with Friends or Seinfeld reruns more that the channel’s originals. Especially since—and considering the joke, it doesn’t seem to be common knowledge—that tagline has been defunct for the network since 2015. (Despite it still fitting the bill for TBS’ brand, especially compared to its more serious sister network TNT, which similarly killed its own memorable tagline, “We Know Drama”… in favor of “Boom.”)