Line #113 Series/TheGoodGuys


1	[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goodguys_4991.jpeg]]
2
3	-> ''"The bad guys are a bunch of guys running around with guns. The good guys are a ''team'' of guys running around with guns."''
4	-->--'''Dan Stark''', "$3.52"
5
6	''The Good Guys'' is a 2010 summer BuddyCopShow starring Creator/BradleyWhitford and Creator/ColinHanks, from the creator of ''Series/BurnNotice''. The {{Pilot}} aired as a sneak-peek on May 19th of that year, and the series began its first season on June 7. Unfortunately, the show struggled with low ratings via something of a cult audience, and was cancelled after [[http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2010/12/its_official_the_good_guys_are.php one season]].
7
8	Dan Stark (Whitford) is a former brilliant detective who still works as if life were in TheEighties, while Jack Bailey (Hanks) is his ByTheBookCop partner. The show's tone is very much like ''Series/BurnNotice'', but unlike ''Series/BurnNotice's'', The Good Guys runs on distilled RuleOfCool. Over-the-top shootouts and car chases are a regular occurrence, and in general, the show's writers seem to plan the plot purely around what's ''fun''.
9
10	Not related to the TheNineties British show or 1968 [[Series/GilligansIsland Bob Denver]] sitcom of the same name.
11
12	!! Tropes:
13	* AffablyEvil: Almost every bad guy there was.
14	* AIIsACrapshoot: One of Dan's more irrational ideas about computers.
15	--> '''Dan''': Computers. I can't get used to 'em. Aren't you worried they're gonna, you know, turn on you?
16	--> '''Jack''': I'm not particularly worried my computer's going to attack me, no.
17	--> '''Dan''': Sometimes I just...I look at the one in the office. It's like it's thinking, you know, making plans.
18	--> '''Jack''': Well, until it decides to rise up and overthrow humanity, it's a pretty good tool for police work.
19	* TheAlcoholic: Dan
20	* AnachronicOrder: [[OnceAnEpisode Every episode!]] A rewind effect is used to go back and explain things.
21	* AntiVillain: Nearly all the villains on the show are AffablyEvil and/or not fully comfortable with some or all crimes they commit. [[spoiler:Which of course makes the main exceptions,Kyle (and identity thief Vic, seem even worse.]]
22	* ArmedAltruism: Jack does this in the pilot, despite being ''specifically told by his superior'' not to.
23	* ArsonMurderAndLifeSaving: [[spoiler:Jack and Dan clearly expect this after they complete their first case. Then, DaChief tells them they [[OhCrap caused over a million dollars in property damage and violated over 30 procedural rules]], and [[SubvertedTrope they're lucky they still have their jobs.]]]]
24	* BackForTheFinale: Frank Savage.
25	* BatmanGambit: The villain's plan in "Hunches and Heists", using a bank heist as a feint by setting up one inept, unarmed crew so he can get the cops on the wrong side of the river. Then he detonates explosives on the bridge and sends his real crew after a jewelry store. It works perfectly except that Dan and Jack get there and scare the jewel thieves off, but they still don't manage to catch them.
26	** Though it ends up working against them, when the jewel thieves see Bailey and Stark at the site of their intended crime they believe that their boss had an even MORE twisted and brilliant scheme that involved throwing them under the bus too. It doesn't go well for any of the bad guys.
27	* BerserkButton: As Dr. Laviolette found out, Stark hates it when another man sits in his desk.
28	* BestFriendsInLaw: In ''The Getaway'' one criminal used to work with his girlfriends brother. Even after he betrayed and abandoned them, the guy still likes him (his sister on the other hand, wants her ex dead).
29	* BettyAndVeronica / TomboyAndGirlyGirl - Samantha and Liz.
30	* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Julius and Skeeter in episode 3]].
31	** Also, [[spoiler:the Strike Force in "Supercops."]]
32	* BigNo: Dan lets out [[RuleOfThree three]] of these when [[spoiler:his trailer blows up]].
33	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Kyle
34	* BittersweetEnding - Episode 7. Stark & Bailey foil a heist but fail to catch the crooks, and no one believes them. Willie, the bumbling getaway driver who helped them, is sent back to prison for his involvement and breaks his promise to his daughter to go straight.
35	* BlandNameProduct: In the show, the local paper is called the ''Dallas Daily News''. The ''actual'' local papers in Dallas are the ''Dallas Observer'' and the ''Dallas Morning News''.
36	* BlatantLies: In 1x03, [[spoiler:Dan is forced to put a toy gun to Gemini's head since his is in the car. Gemini holds up his hands, then looks in the anti-theft mirror.]]
37	-->'''Gemini:''' [[spoiler:That's a toy gun.]]
38	-->'''Dan:''' [[spoiler:It's not! It's an '''orange gun'''!]]
39	* BrickJoke:
40	** Played straight... and literally, in the episode "$3.52". At the start of the episode Dan vows to take down the drug smuggling ring with the $3.52 in his pocket. Fast-forward to [[spoiler:the last minute of the episode, when everyone believes that the brick of Heroin is long gone. In comes Dan with a flashback to where he buys a brick for three bucks and a nougat bar for fifty cents, loses the two pennies somewhere along the line, and swaps the bricks.]]
41	** A subtle one in "Old Dogs" when they tell one of the police officers that his "party clothes" make him look like a waiter. When he enters the building people start handing him dirty dishes to take away.
42	** The Murderin' Jane's drawn in a nurse uniform.
43	* BrilliantButLazy: Dan has showed he is quite the competent cop and usually plays up his ObfuscatingStupidity to get close to a suspect, but he would rather do police work the way he did in the 80's rather than the more by the book way of the current time.
44	* TheBrute: Sasha, the Georgians' muscle.
45	* BuddyCopShow: Either an {{Homage}}, a parody, or [[AffectionateParody both.]]
46	* BuffySpeak: A lot like in episode 4.
47	-->''"So the dog poisoner is actually a meth-lab-exploder-man?"''
48	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Dan, despite his CloudCuckooLander nature, is still good at his job.
49	** The Duke, a hitman who lives in his mother's basement, is skilled enough to outwit and overpower two U.S. Marshals [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and Dan]].
50	* ButtMonkey:
51	** Julius, especially in the first few episodes.
52	** Perry, played by Wayne Knight, spends his appearance getting verbally abused by cops, criminals and even children, as well as having his stuff destroyed and facing the loss of his job and criminal charges.
53	* ByTheBookCop: Jack. [[CharacterDevelopment Initially]], anyway - the longer he spends with Dan, the more he bends the rules. He's still way more by-the-book than his partner.
54	* CarFu: When in doubt, [[CarMeetsHouse drive a car through a building]].
55	* CatchPhrase: "Let's go bust some punks!"
56	* CharacterFilibuster: Dan spends the last two minutes of the final episode calling [[TakeThat all CSI techs stupid]] and how his method is more fun. Bittersweet when you realize this show is getting canceled while the forensic genre of cop shows still is going strong.
57	* ChekhovsSkill:
58	** Inverted in "The Whistle-Blower" with the ''lack'' of skill a CorruptCorporateExecutive displays playing golf. His lousy stance also causes him to be a poor shot with a gun in the climax.
59	** One of the explosive smugglers from "Cop Killer" recently learned how to fix air conditioners in prison. During a JanitorImpersonationInfiltration, he uses this knowledge to correctly answer a CoverIdentityAnomaly test question.
60	* CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds: Double subverted in "Whistle-blower", to excellent effect.
61	* ChronicVillainy: Walter [=DiParco=].
62	* ClearMyName
63	* CloudCuckooLander: Dan has his moments; see the quote under AIIsACrapshoot, above.
64	* CombatStilettos: The ProfessionalKiller in "The Whistleblower" wears a pair of prominent stiletto heels while trying to gun down the heroes.
65	* CoolCar: Dan and his old partner Frank had a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am back in the day, according to Dan. By the end of the pilot, Dan and Jack have one.
66	** Lots more show up in the second episode.
67	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Dan is a master of it.
68	-->''Jack'': I read your book. It was boring and repetitive!
69	-->''Dan'': And repetitive!
70	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Special mention has to go to [[spoiler:Kyle, Liz's (currently ex-) boyfriend.]]
71	* CovertPervert: Samantha was going to draw the Murderin' Jane next in a leather cat suit.
72	* CowboyCop: Dan is one of the ultimate examples.
73	** Also played with, Dan clearly knows the rules inside and out and can twist them to suit whatever he wants to do.
74	*** Cowboy cops are often loners but Dan is the one who often reminds Jack that they're a team.
75	* CrazyJealousGuy: Nigel.
76	* CurseCutShort
77	--->''Dan'': Crime is like women. When they demand attention, you just gotta whip out your gun and- (car peels away)
78	* DaChief: While not technically an actual chief, Ruiz fits most of the conventions of the trope.
79	* DarkActionGirl: The "Murderin' Jane".
80	* DeconstructedTrope: While alot of Dan's outdated Cowboy cop methods are surprisingly effective, they're hardly approved in the modern day. Such as when evidence he found must be thrown out due to him having coerced it out of a suspect under(false) threat of harm.
81	** Jack dramatically unloads two pistols at a guy at point blank, only to miss every shot. As the criminal calmy points out "its harder than it looks".
82	* DeconstructiveParody: To the idea of the CowboyCop. See trope entry.
83	* DescriptionCut / IronicEchoCut
84	* DocumentaryEpisode: Episode 11.
85	* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:Kyle, complete with instant loss of all audience sympathy. It didn't help that he blamed all of his cowardice on Jack. This later bites him in the butt when Liz realizes that Jack would have never acted in such a cowardly way and breaks up with Kyle]]
86	* DrunkenMaster: Dan can take on the world's second best assassin in a gunfight while heavily drunk. Which is handy, because he's heavily drunk at all times.
87	* DynamicEntry: Dan tries to kick down a door in 1x03, "Broken Door Theory". His technique is ''horrible''; he keeps kicking the door too high, on the hinge side of the door instead of the handle. [[spoiler:And then, of course, Jack just ''pushes'' the door open.]]
88	** And, of course, any time they drive a car through a wall.
89	** Lt. Ruiz gets one in "The Whistleblower". She appears from behind a tree and clotheslines a guy hard enough to flip him over.
90	* EpicFail: Jack empties two pistol magazines at his opponent at point blank range and manages to miss every shot[[note]]Close examination of the scene reveals that he ''has his eyes closed'', which is an EpicFail of its own[[/note]]. The assassin shrugs and comments, "It's harder than it looks."
91	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The Duke again.
92	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: George, Jack's ex-partner, who was TheMole. He believes Jack would also become a mole solely for extra money and a promotion.
93	* EvilVegetarian: The BigBad of episode 7 is a vegan.
94	* EvenEvilHasStandards: When Pedro has a gun to Jack's head, Jack states he is only interested in saving a female hostage that has nothing to do with this situation. After a brief pause Pedro not only allows him to live, but covers him as Jack makes his escape. Pedro later writes to him and tells him he admired his bravery and told his kids about him.
95	* EveryCarIsAPinto: [[spoiler:Subverted hilariously when we find out the guy who was in the trunk of a car pushed off a cliff was not blown up. But he ''was'' pissed. What was his MadnessMantra again?]]
96	** Justified in one episode when Dan shoots at a van full of explosives using his [[HandCannon "Sunday]] [[RevolversAreJustBetter Gun"]].
97	* ExactWords: After being told not to get within a mile of a case, Dan and Jack wait at a drugstore exactly 1.01 miles from the criminals house.
98	* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: After a hostage situation where [[spoiler:it is revealed that Jack's former partner is a DirtyCop and took him hostage]] Jack beats him while venting out his pent-up frustrations until Dan and Frank pull him off. [[RetiredBadass Frank]] gives him one more kick while he's down.
99	* FanDisservice: Dan wearing nothing but lime-green underpants for a sizable portion of "Silvio's Way".
100	** Liz doing the same only in a lacy nightgown in "The Getaway", however, is not.
101	%%* FiringOneHanded
102	* FluffyTheTerrible: The Georgians' muscle, Sasha, is treated like he's a cherished pet.
103	* FriendToAllChildren: Dan. He has kids doing exercises and pushups as part of a community outreach program, and they love him for it. They apparently join the police force at a rate that Lt. Ruiz can only describe as "Alarming."
104	* FunWithSubtitles: Similar to ''Series/BurnNotice'', it features rather snarky informational subtitles. As with ''Series/BurnNotice'', later episodes start to have more fun with them such as making them a part of the scene they show up in and interact with objects.
105	* GambitPileUp: In Episode 5, [[spoiler:Paco arranges to double cross Young to their buyer, Young arranges to do the same to Paco, but the buyer decides to kill them both and steal their drugs]].
106	* GenkiGirl: Sam's habit of skipping around the Dallas PD and waving her arms around, not to mention her "getting into the moment" and greeting Liz like a best friend, definitely qualifies her as this.
107	* GentlemanThief: The Tech Bandit who just does that for a living to support his real love, blogging about food.
108	* GilliganCut: at least once an episode, usually more often - and all too often involving the equivalent of someone saying "Even Stark wouldn't do X".
109	* GloryDays: The '80s, for Dan.
110	* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: What makes Hodges a terrible cop. He seems to see using an informant as "working with the enemy" and doesn't even consider the robbery to be an inside job because said owner is a doctor. Even after finding out the man insured it three times, he still is completely oblivious.
111	* GoodCopBadCop: Or as Dan likes to call it: Good Cop, Sick Cop. He means this literally.
112	* GoodOldWays: Dan's philosophy, which is perpetually stuck in TheEighties.
113	* GoldDigger: The Doctors girlfriend in "Silence of the Dan". Who only uses said Doctor to max out his credit cards and offers him sex whenever he complains.
114	* GrammarNazi: Apparently, Jack got partnered up with Dan because he couldn't resist informing the captain that there's no "statue of limitations" while in front of the Chief.
115	* GunsAkimbo: Pedro is highly trained and very good at trick shots so he can pull this off, [[GunsDontWorkThatWay at least according to Hollywood]]. When Jack tries this it results in the [[EpicFail Epic Fail]] of missing with every round from only a few meters.
116	--> '''Jack:''' Not even one?
117	--> '''Pedro:''' It's not as easy as it looks.
118	* HelloAttorney: Jack's ex-girlfriend Liz is an assistant D.A. with a pretty face and skirts that rarely fail to subject to her MaleGaze scenes.
119	* HeroOfAnotherStory: Most of the cases Jack and Dan take on. They stop something big happening but get no respect or recognition for their actions. However Dan is completely fine with this as all he wants to do is stop bad guys.
120	* HideousHangoverCure: Dan's cure for hangovers is a "Guacamonut" (a cinnamon donut dipped in guacamole).
121	* HitmanWithAHeart: Pedro, the world's second best assassin. He's got two kids and is a pretty nice guy who frequently tells people that he doesn't want to have to kill them.
122	** That's most likely why he's the world's ''second'' best assassin.
123	*** [[spoiler:[[KlingonPromotion Not anymore.]]]]
124	* HoYay: Some believe there's some of this between Jack and Dan.
125	** Invoked (sort of) in "Silence of the Dan", after Jack tells Dan [[spoiler:[[ItMakesSenseInContext he loves him]]]]:
126	---> Dan: You realize this is Texas, right?
127	%% * HookerWithAHeartOfGold: The one from episode 3.
128	%% * HotBlooded: Stark.
129	%% * HowWeGotHere
130	* HypocriticalHumor: In 1x03, [[spoiler:Jack and Dan are in a store when the suspect walks in. Dan asks where Jack's gun is; in the car. Dan chews him out for it, then is asked where ''his'' gun is. It's in the car.]]
131	* ICallItVera: Frank Savage's gun, which he has named Stella.
132	* IdiosyncraticWipes: Normal visually, but accompanied by the sound of a revolver spinning. Occasional variations, such as a Taser sound effect in episode 9.
133	%% * IJustWantToHaveFriends: The loan shark from episode 10.
134	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Walter, the worst getaway driver in the business. Also a MinionWithAnFInEvil. He is such a bad getaway driver his favorite getaway car is a station wagon.
135	* ImprobableAimingSkills: In ''Small Rooms'', Dan shoots out the tire of an escaping vehicle with one shot while he's also doing the driving.
136	* IsItSomethingYouEat: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in episode 18 when a Middle Eastern restaurant being used as a front for diamond smuggling is robbed and the owner tries to cover it up.
137	-->'''smuggler/restaurateur''': It's a Middle Eastern restaurant. What's there to steal, falafel?
138	-->'''Dan''': Depends. What exactly is falafel? Is it a drug, 'cause if it is you're under arrest-
139	-->'''Jack''': It's a food, Dan. It's fried chickpeas. It's safe to say no one was here to steal that.
140	* ItsAllAboutMe:
141	%% ** Gemini the pimp.
142	%% ** Also Vic the identity thief.
143	%% ** The Doctor's girlfriend in "Silence of the Dan".
144	* {{Jerkass}}: Assistant Chief Guthrie of Internal Affairs is this full stop, since his PetTheDog moment at the end of the episode in which he first appeared occurs rather begrudgingly and up until that point he was a completely unlikeable SmugSnake.
145	%% ** A.D.D. Gordon and Dr. Laviolette.
146	* KarmaHoudini: Liz's BF Kyle in the whistle-blower episode. [[spoiler:He does get dumped by Liz for lying to make himself good (and Jack look bad), though, so he doesn't go ''completely'' unpunished.]]
147	* KarmicDeath: In one episode, the villains get away because Jack and Dan's ride is totaled, but then they kill each other in a shootout.
148	* KavorkaMan: Dan.
149	** Well, he ''is'' [[Series/TheWestWing Josh Lyman]]. The ladies, they can sense it.
150	* LampshadeHanging: The show is ''very'' self aware.
151	--> "And there was a giant explosion, which, as far as I can tell, is a recurring motif in a ''staggering'' number of your cases."
152	* LargeHam: Brad Whitford.
153	* LeParkour: Done by a graffiti tagger who Jack and Dan are [[strike:chasing]] [[EpicFail attempting to chase]] in the opening sequence of "The Getaway".
154	* LetThemDieHappy: A variant in ''Little Things'', where no deception is involved. The AffablyEvil villains of the episode give a man who smuggle them across the border a very large wad of cash, then shoot him seconds later for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]] and retrieve the money from his body. It's stated that they gave him the money before killing him (as opposed to just shooting him before giving him the money) so that he would have that moment of happiness first.
155	* MagicPlasticSurgery: Played with in the pilot. Escalante demands that the plastic surgeon make him look exactly like [[Series/CHiPs Erik Estrada]]. The surgeon is somewhat afraid to tell him that it doesn't work like that.
156	* {{Malaproper}}: Dan. In the first episode, he manages to mispronounce 'humidifier' in several different ways, and he gets worse from there.
157	* MaleGaze: Liz as a hooker and US Marshal Justine Marino.
158	* ManChild: The Governor's son. Doesn't help that Dan still sees him as the child he saved all those years ago.
159	* MementoMacguffin: When trying to convince Frank, who had tossed everything from his and Dan's partner days away, to help him save the governor's son, Dan notes there's one thing he didn't get rid of... his mustache. This is what convince him to help.
160	* MexicanStandoff: [[spoiler:With actual Mexicans!]]
161	* MeaningfulEcho: Much of the scenes in "Silence of the Dan" between Jack and Hodges mirror the first few episodes of the series. You have the uptight, fastidious, by the book cop (Hodges) with a more senior partner (Jack) who reminisces about stuff their old partner did.
162	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: The higher-ups paired Dan with Jack and send them to [[ReassignedToAntarctica investigate minor crimes to keep them out of trouble]], but they [[ReassignmentBackfire always stumble across something much bigger.]]
163	* MistakenForBadass: Maxson from episode 4 who was blowing up every meth lab in Dallas was just a concerned father, who cries a lot.
164	* MistakenForDying: Stark turned out to have gotten a toxic reaction from his indigestion meds which have been out of circulation for 20 years.
165	* MistakenForGay: In episode 18, when Dan and Jack track down the stolen diamonds to a strip mall jewelry shop and the owner blows them off.
166	--> '''soon-to-be-AssholeVictim, on the phone''': All right, yeah, sorry, uh, one of the Music/VillagePeople wants to buy a ring for his boyfriend.
167	* DirtyCop / TheMole - [[spoiler:[[strike:Kristen]] Kirsten]]
168	* MotiveRant: In the pilot, drug cartel thug Escalante sends his boss/cousin a letter describing his MistreatmentInducedBetrayal (among other things, he gets paid less than his cousins pool boy).
169	* MsFanservice:
170	** Liz. Although naturally, it's far from all she is. Her hooker outfit from "Common Enemies" counts in-universe as well, turning the heads of everyone in the room and rendering Jack [[RagingStiffie unable to stand up]].
171	** Samantha too, thanks to NerdsAreSexy.
172	** Most of the female guest stars seem to be aiming for this, really.
173	* NerdsAreSexy: Lampshaded in 1x20.
174	-->'''George''': Along with that strangely attractive nerd with the [[Series/FamilyMatters Urkel glasses]].
175	* NewscasterCameo: Several episodes featured news reports from local Fox affiliate [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDFW KDFW Channel 4]], being read by long-time anchor [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarice_Tinsley Clarice Tinsley]].
176	* NiceToTheWaiter: In "The Little Things", a pizza manager is quick to reveal information about a customer who Jack and Dan tell him is an Identity thief because the man has ordered over a thousand pizzas without ever tipping.
177	* NoNameGiven: "The Murderin' Jane".
178	* NoodleIncident: Stark and Ruiz blowing up a taco truck (implied that it contained evidence) and whatever Stark tried to do with the Dallas Task Force's battering ram, and the time Dan almost made lieutenant and decided to go out with Frank to celebrate.
179	--> '''Dan''': At the end of the night, they found us trapped in a city garbage truck... buck naked. We did not make lieutenant.
180	* NotWhatISignedUpFor: Lee the translator in ''The Dim Knight'' had no idea he was accepting a job for a murderous drug trafficker and is constantly terrified across the episode and in one scene is angrily calling the guy who got him the job to ask what he was thinking.
181	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Dan. He will often be going along with an obvious con or liking a clear sleazeball, but he later reveals he was faking it very convincingly to get the targets guard down.
182	* OnceMoreWithClarity
183	* OneOfTheBoys: Samantha
184	* {{Pastiche}}: Of the BuddyCopShow genre: all the reasons those techniques no longer work in the present, and barely worked in the past, while holding onto the things that made them so much fun to watch.
185	* ProductPlacement: Bailey distracting Hodges by talking about his lunch from KFC.
186	* ProfessionalKiller: The world's best and second best assassins, who appear in the first episode.
187	* RedOniBlueOni / SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan
188	* RetiredBadass: Frank
189	* RightBehindMe: Done with style in episode 2
190	-->(Kiersten flirts with Jack, giggles and walks away)
191	-->'''Dan''': What is your freaking problem? [[AccidentalMisnaming Kristen]] is offering herself up to you on a platter. It's like this woman is in heat.
192	-->'''Jack''': Dan, her name is Kiersten.
193	-->'''Dan''': Hey, man, doesn't matter what her name is. You're never gonna see her naked.
194	-->(camera pans up to reveal Kiersten's returned)
195	-->'''Dan''': I know I won't.
196	* RousingSpeech
197	-->'''Stark''': You wanna make a movie about lab wienies or do you wanna make a movie about cops?
198	* RunningGag: In "Silence of the Dan", Jack and Dan are looking for a missing piece of art that is designed to look different for each person. Que someone stating some weird image that is on the picture every time they see it.
199	* SceneryPorn: Well, sort of, for Dallas natives anyway. If you're familiar with the Big D you ''will'' squee at least OnceAnEpisode as you recognize some landmark. In fact the whole reason the show is set in Dallas is because the director stating that is the city you want to see a city shot of every episode.
200	* ShootTheBuilder: In "The Little Things", a pair of cartel members who rob their bosses to start a new life attempt to kill the men selling them their new fake [=ID=]s.
201	* ShownTheirWork: Very accurate regarding North Texas geography and life. The working title, ''Code 58'', is the real Dallas PD code for "routine investigation."
202	%%* SickEpisode: Episode 3.
203	* SitcomArchnemesis: Hodges & Lang.
204	* SkewedPriorities: One of the major problems with Dan as he treats every minor case as if it was a high priority and will do things that counter any actual good. Such as when he ran through a $300 glass window to catch a petty dine-and-dasher.
205	* SmallNameBigEgo: Dr. Laviolette thinks of himself as an expert forensic scientists and hot on the trail of a master criminal. Said criminal doesn't even care about him and Jack, who thought he was great at the beginning, wanted to strangle him after meeting him for a few minutes.
206	* SmokescreenCrime: One episode has the VillainOfTheWeek set up a bank robbery to be performed by expendable henchmen (including [[MinionWithAnFInEvil "the worst getaway driver in the business"]]). This was only meant to draw the entire Dallas police force to that location so the villain could set off explosives on the bridge between the cops and a jewelry store, which was his ''real'' target. [[spoiler:Jack and Dan figure out the plot just in time [[SpannerInTheWorks to scare the thieves off]], but aren't able to catch them. Their presence does make the legitimately dangerous crooks wonder if their ManipulativeBastard of a boss had set ''them'' up to be the fall guys, however, leading them all to kill each other off.]]
207	* SpannerInTheWorks: Dan and Jack will completely foil a big crime solely because they follow a MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot. More often than not it's because the criminals thinks the police are onto them when they clearly have no idea.
208	* StatusQuoIsGod: No matter how heroic Stark and Bailey are, they will never be promoted.
209	* StraightEdgeEvil: Dolph from episode 7.
210	* TakeThat: Ep. 1-20, "Partners" there's an ambiguous one, which is why it's here and not on the main page
211	-->'''George''': [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush I'm the kind of guy you want to have a beer with.]]
212	-->'''Jack''': I had a beer with you, George. It wasn't that great.
213	** They also mocked a certain CBS show in episode 3.
214	--->'''Dan''': It's called the Broken Door theory. I saw it on that cop show starring that [[Series/CSIMiami leprechaun who never takes off his glasses]]
215	* TakingAThirdOption: A somewhat sleazy one happens when Kyle is introduced. Two coworkers approach him for advice after discovering their boss is a CorruptCorporateExecutive. One of them wants to turn him in to the police, and the other is terrified of them being fired and black-balled and wants to bury their evidence. Kyle proposes that instead of giving the information to the police or ignoring, they sell the information to a corporate competitor, who will naturally reveal the information anyway in order to discredit his competitor. That way their boss faces justice, but their names stay out of it, and the three of them (naturally he wants a cut) get a nice bundle of cash from the competitor to boot.
216	* ThisIsReality: In "The Dim Knight." Dan is bummed when the guy he imagined as a shrewd criminal mastermind turns out to be a mild-mannered dad who was causing meth lab explosions by accident.
217	* ThreeLinesSomeWaiting: Frequently employed.
218	* TitleDrop: Dan does this twice in episode 6, "Small Rooms."
219	* TokenGoodCop: Many cops in the show are LawfulStupid (with the odd DirtyCop thrown in) and disregard some correct hunches of Dan Stark (who avoids this trope himself, despite his heroic instincts and keen nose for crime, due to being an occasional pervert with no grasp of the roles forensic and surveillance technology or Due Process play in modern policing). Dan's partner Jack, [[DownplayedTrope while not quite as smart as he thinks he is]], tries to rein in Dan's worst excesses, hear out his theories, and support him in a fight. By the last quarter of the show, the same can be said of eager forensics tech Samantha and a post-DefrostingTheIceQueen Lieutenant Ruiz.
220	* TrashTheSet: Dan's trailer gets blown up in episode 19.
221	* TroubledSympatheticBigot: PlayedForLaughs with Eric in "Small Rooms" who believes his brother to have been killed by a Guatemalan gang, and burned the Guatemalan flag at his funeral, as well as smashing the windows of Guatemalan restaurants. He seems kind of chagrined in addition to being angry when he finds out that wasn't what really happened.
222	* TrueCompanions: The Georgians and Sasha, with Sasha being arrested buying the others time to escape and them working hard to get him out of jail.
223	* UglyGuysHotDaughter: Molly [=DiParco=].
224	* VillainousBreakdown: Senator Buddy Haverton after realizing he's in a police sting. Also has shades of an AlasPoorVillain moment.
225	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Happens several times. Notably Mr. Spivey, the meth kingpin/home owners association president from ''The Dim Knight''.
226	* WardensAreEvil: Done unusually in ''Vacation''. The Warden isn't sadistic, but corrupt, taking bribes to help prisoners escape from jail.
227	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Hodges' partner Lang who disappeared for many episodes. He said he was on vacation.
228	* WhosLaughingNow: Escalante in the pilot when he returns for revenge against his cartel cousin.
229	* WrongGenreSavvy: Dan Stark acts as if life is an Eighties Buddy Cop Action Comedy, which nearly everyone else on the show disagrees with him about. He's actually right more often than not - although not all the time, since the show is an IndecisiveParody that runs on RuleOfCool and RuleOfFunny.
230	** Meanwhile, Jack goes around thinking that this is a standard PoliceProcedural with him as the ByTheBookCop. He's right on the latter, most of the time, but wrong in that this show is more a send-up of procedurals.
231	** In one episode, the governor's son is apparently kidnapped and Dan and his old partner decide to leap into things, thinking they're once more the mavericks taking charge...unaware that the police consider them the prime suspects.
232	** Also, many of the criminals make the assumption Dan and Jack are truly competent and brilliant policemen to be on their trial, unaware that half the time, the duo have no idea of the crime schemes they're unravelling. More than once, a crook will snarl at the two of them on his case when they have no clue who he is.

Context Series / TheGoodGuys