Commentary

Show Called 'Intelligence' Has Very Little Of It

Some of the gripes and observations that will be made here about this new Peacock comedy series will seem familiar to those who have read these TV blogs over the last few days.

That is because this show, titled “Intelligence,” shares various characteristics with some of the other shows reviewed here recently -- and not in a good way.

For example, Tuesday's review of the new ABC sitcom called “United We Fall” encompassed two issues -- the show’s vague, meaningless title and its resort to childish wordplay about genitalia (a common feature of sitcoms that I am at pains to understand or explain).

The title of “Intelligence” -- one of the new shows that will inaugurate NBCUniversal’s new Peacock streaming service on Wednesday -- is being singled out here because it is one of those show names that are so tantalizing to TV reviewers and their editors.

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The show gets its name from its subject matter. It is a workplace comedy that takes place within a government intelligence unit. Thus, the name “Intelligence.”

But a cheeky reviewer cannot help but use that very word against the show. For example, he might write: “A new comedy called ‘Intelligence’ shows no intelligence at all in its depiction of a national security agency in which everyone employed there is an idiot.”

Taking up that theme, an editor might write a headline like this: ‘Intelligence’? Very Little Evidence Of That In New Sitcom.”

As mentioned in Tuesday's blog, “United We Fall” at least waited until five-plus minutes into the second episode before its first penis joke.

In “Intelligence,” it took all of 10 seconds at the start of Episode One for three of its characters to embark on an involved discussion about vaginas. As always, this piece of dialogue lacked that one ingredient that is so essential for comedy on television -- namely, comedy.

Moreover, its inclusion in what is basically a workplace comedy makes no sense because there is practically no workplace on the planet where this conversation would be deemed appropriate. In the real world, these three participants would have been fired before day's end.

As if this discussion of a woman's private parts was not juvenile enough, an elaborate and lengthy sequence arises later in Episode One that has to do with one man’s struggle to find a bathroom before he has an accident.

While watching this, I wrote in my notes: Who wrote this show? A room full of five-year-olds?

For the record, that man was an uptight agent of the United States National Security Agency (NSA) played by David Schwimmer.

The character is written to be purposely obnoxious and as such, he makes no friends on his new assignment as an American liaison working out of this obscure branch of British intelligence in the U.K.

“Intelligence” is the third new scripted show produced for Peacock that the TV Blog has reviewed here since last week. Inexplicably, all three are made in England.

And once again, as mentioned the other day in a review of the new made-in-England Peacock thriller “The Capture,” American viewers whose ears are not in tune with the many dialects of English that are spoken in Great Britain will have to strain themselves to understand much of the dialogue in “Intelligence.”

Fortunately, very little of it is worth understanding anyway.

“Intelligence” premieres Wednesday (July 15) on NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service.

1 comment about "Show Called 'Intelligence' Has Very Little Of It".
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  1. Craig Mcdaniel from Sweepstakes Today LLC, July 15, 2020 at 1:45 p.m.

    What the public really wants is fun and excitement in their entertainment. Not political satire, discussion about other people's problems and forcing views onto others.  The public wants an escape for outside world. This is a big reason why the game shows are on the raise.

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