Julie Hinds

Detroit Free Press Pop Culture Critic

On Tuesday night, "Detroiters" concludes its first season on Comedy Central with an episode that exemplifies its winning strategy: Embrace the ridiculous and the Detroit-specific.

Jason Sudeikis is returning for the main story line. It involves his Chrysler marketing executive character, who was last seen in the hospital after being accidentally run down by Sam and Tim, dragged into the woods and left unconscious with a Better Made potato chip bag shoved over his head.

In the subplot, Rick Mahorn, the Detroit Pistons basketball star from the Bad Boys era, guests as a car dealer. As Quick Rick Mahorn from Dearborn, he appears in a spoof of one of the best-known TV commercials in Detroit history, the Mel Farr, Superstar ads that featured the late Detroit Lions running back as a flying, red-caped character.

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"My parents were killed in an alley, so I became a superhero who can run fast," says Mahorn in the parody.

How goofy, how pure Motor City. No wonder "Detroiters" was able to break the Detroit-filmed TV series curse — the one that means shows set here and made here never get a chance at a second season.

For a decade now, the curse has persisted. A network pilot shot in 2008 for an automotive family drama, "The Prince of the Motor City," wasn't picked up to series. Two other shows made it through one season: ABC's "Detroit 1-8-7" in 2010-11 and AMC's "Low Winter Sun" in 2013. Both were sincere attempts to co-opt Detroit's grittiness, but they left critics and viewers lukewarm.

"Detroiters" creators and stars Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson have reversed the course. Their 30-minute comedy, renewed in March, is now in the writing process for season two. The production will film new episodes here this summer that are expected to debut in early 2018.

How did they succeed where others failed? Some of the credit goes to the D, the city that Comedy Central President Kent Alterman says adds a huge element to "Detroiters."

"There's so much character that comes through because Detroit has a lot of character," Alterman told the Free Press after the renewal was announced.

The ratings have been promising for a show that's a newcomer on a niche cable network. According to Comedy Central, "Detroiters" has averaged nearly 500,000 viewers per episode, a total that includes delayed viewing. As Alterman explained last month: "The ratings pretty much doubled in terms of playback, from live in comparison to the playback numbers, and that's always a good sign that it's resonating for people."

The series has passed muster with hometown viewers. The metro Detroit region is the No. 1 market for "Detroiters" among the key advertising demographic of adults 18-49. The credit for that should go to Richardson, who's from Detroit, and Robinson, who's from Clarkston.

The two became close friends while working at the now-defunct Second City Detroit and Planet Ant in Hamtramck before scoring high-profile jobs elsewhere. (Richardson costars on HBO's "Veep"; Robertson became a "Saturday Night Live" featured player and writer.) They consider the show a love letter to Detroit and lace the scripts with authentic nods to local people, places, snack foods and trends.

For instance, they recently poked fun at the Detroit-themed T-shirt craze by introducing their version with the awkward slogan "De2roiters" — pronounced "Dee-too-roiters" (and not even a near miss). Among the topics they've mined for laughs: the influx of high-tech companies from other cities, the vowel-bending weirdness of the Michigan accent, an old political spat between Monica Conyers and Ken Cockrel Jr., the Woodward Dream Cruise.

One of the best running gags is the reinvention of former WDIV-TV (Channel 4) anchor Mort Crim. The dignified broadcast journalist plays a wild-card anchor who's seen on TV spouting wrap-ups of bizarre crime stories and teasing a segment called "Chump of the Week."

Richardson and Robinson's brand of smart-dumb humor also has clicked with the majority of TV critics. A New York Times review called their show “ 'Dumb and Dumber' meets 'Mad Men' — if Don Draper was wildly goofy and handled accounts for D.U.I. lawyers and hot-tub shops." Variety's review summed it up as "a nice place to visit and stay awhile, to enjoy the world in a completely different headspace."

"Detroiters" has an 87% positive average at the Rotten Tomatoes website, which aggregates reviews to determine its rating. "That's a pretty good number. That's definitely in the upper tiers of premiering series," says Rotten Tomatoes editor-in-chief Matt Atchity. "The critics have definitely responded to that show. They really like it."

A score like that can help put a lesser-known show on people's radar, Atchity says. "If we get someone to take a chance on the show and then they decide, 'Hey, I'm glad I checked this show out,' ultimately, that's a big part of why we're around."

Allison Keene, senior editor and TV critic for Collider, is among those who like "Detroiters." She says she was pleasantly surprised at its renewal. "Not that it isn't great, but it's so hard to get noticed these days. It's so easy for a show like this to fly under the radar."

A small gem like "Detroiters" is up against a glut of viewing choices. According to research done by FX, there were 409 original scripted television series in 2015 when you add up broadcast, cable and online streaming platforms.

"Detroiters" packed a few attention-getting secret weapons, such as the star-studded friends and colleagues of Richardson and Robinson who dropped by for the first season.

Besides Mahorn and Sudeikis (who plays a recurring character and is also an executive producer), the list of guest stars includes Keegan-Michael Key, Cecily Strong and Michael Che of "Saturday Night Live," rapper Trick Trick, pro wrestling great Kevin Nash, "Tonight Show" announcer Steve Higgins, Marc Evan Jackson of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Home Improvement" costar Richard Karn and Larry Joe Campbell of "According to Jim."

But what resonated with critics was the bromance between Sam Duvet and Tim Cramblin, the longtime friends and partners in a struggling ad agency played by Richardson and Robinson. For all of their male obliviousness, Sam and Tim are actually quite progressive about their emotional bond as BFFs forever.

"It's really that brotherhood and friendship that Sam and Tim have on-screen and in real life," says Keene. "It's so sweet. I think what stands out is that their characters actually love each other."

Keene notes that there is also is a certain fatigue toward shows set in the location trifecta of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago (as in "Chicago P.D.," "Chicago Fire," "Chicago Med," and "Chicago Justice").

"('Detroiters') isn't afraid to be specific and to make a lot of references that people who live there would understand," says Keene, At the same time, "there's sort of a truth about an urban center that Detroit gets right."

Like "Atlanta," the cutting-edge FX comedy with a much different mood, "Detroiters" counts on fans to roll with the localized content. Take last week's scene in which Tim's dad, Big Hank Cramblin (played by Kevin Nash), reeled off a litany of places that were either closed or repurposed: the Lindell AC eatery, Boblo Island, the Pontiac Silverdome and so on

"Even though I didn't get the references to the particular bars and restaurants, I got the point of it," says Keene.

Local cast member Andre Belue, who plays Cramblin-Duvet agency assistant Tommy Pencils, thinks "Detroiters" is helping to improve the city's image nationally.

"People are really excited to see a different aspect of Detroit when they hear these references of the city," says Belue, who works in marketing for Carhartt, the clothing company headquartered in Dearborn. "It gets people more interested in something they (may have only) heard negatively about. They really haven't heard the story of the city revitalizing. I have friends calling me from out of state saying: 'I'm coming to get a coney dog. I want to see what this is all about.' "

The local sprinkles, however, don't overwhelm the creative recipe. Detroit actress Shawntay Dalon, who plays Tim's wife and Sam's sister, credits much of the show's success to its writing and its ability to create relatable slices of life.

The episode about a big birthday party for Sam's dad, for example, had a character who baked a bunch of pies for the gathering. "She reminded me of every cousin that comes to the family gathering and is like: 'My pies are the bomb.' You dare not speak against her pies in any way. It's things people can relate to," says Dalon with a laugh.

The thumbs-up response to "Detroiters" has been a relief, says Richardson during a brief break for a phone interview.

"You're working so hard on something, you're like, 'I hope I'm not the only one who likes it.' You're never sure if it's going to be well-received or if everybody is going to get the same things you were going for."

Richardson counts the birthday party episode and Tuesday's finale as among his favorites. Both capture the blend of silliness and real feeling that has begun to define the series.

"We were kind of playing around with tone in the first season," says Richardson. "I think moving forward, we're going to try to solidify that a little bit more."

This week, Richardson and Robinson attended a finale screening for the local cast and crew at the Madison Building in Detroit. Richardson said most of the first-season team is reuniting for the second. "We're getting back as many people as we can that we haven't lost to Atlanta (a filming hub) or other jobs. They're like family. It's a really fun working set, so I think and I hope and am pretty sure they're excited about coming back."

What about the big question. Will Mort Crim return for those deliciously absurd news clips?

"Mort Crim is in the script, so yes," says Richardson. "Chump of the Week" lives!

Contact Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.

'Detroiters'

Season finale

10:30 p.m. Tue.

Comedy Central