Peacock’s claymation sitcom is at its best when it skips the satire for the strange, but “best” is grading on a curve.
To its credit, In The Know resists dropping the term “woke” to describe its characters. Unfortunately, in a fairly disastrous opener, that’s the only “those silly sensitive liberals” signifier it lets go past. The premiere’s big joke, one it repeats OFTEN, centers on the proper terminology for someone without a place to live. Because, of course, it’s a goofy waste of time to worry about language. Only Zach Woods’ ever-increasing profane frustration at being corrected by Fabian (Caitlin Reilly) saves the bit. His voice performance as “NPR’s third most popular host” Lauren Caspian is just sly enough to make it unclear if his anger comes from his inability to remember the correct term, someone having the nerve to interrupt him, or the thought that someone in the office might be more progressive than him.
It isn’t that mocking blowhard radio hosts can’t be a rich comic vein. Just check out the original Frasier series, a show with a strangely intense cross-generational appeal that persists even over 19 years after the final episode aired. It’s centering that mockery on NPR, particularly an NPR that has more in common with a conservative’s fever dream of what the company is like rather than anything resembling reality, feels like a weak tea. Fortunately, things improve for In The Know as it quickly moves beyond what initially seems like an exercise in sticking it to those caricatures of public radio employees.
Peacock)" class="wp-image-47939"/>Thankfully, the central thesis moves from broadside, bland satire to character-specific jabs for the season’s middle four episodes. Caspian’s mix of arrogance and cluelessness makes him a fun target for the show to repeatedly swat about for sins that range from casual cruelty to his boss, station manager Barb (J. Smith-Cameron), or his inflexibility regarding when and how he receives his kombucha. Yes, many of the gags are pulled directly from the “fastidious weak urban male” joke book. However, co-creators Brandon Gardner, Mike Judge, and Zach Woods and the writing staff add just enough difference to earn chuckles over groans.
In The Know is at its best when it embraces its potential for the strange. The oft-mentioned but never explored unsolved murder of Barb’s husband and her “oh I don’t want to bother anyone about that” Midwestern dismissal of attempts at sympathy stands out as exactly the kind of thing the show should do more of. Frat-y himbo intern Chase’s (Charlie Bushnell) is an especially effective vehicle for this kind of thing with his progressive pansexual exploits and, in one episode, the fervor with which he attempts to introduce product placement into a discussion about what kind of racial discrimination he’s faced as an Asian man.
Station engineer Carl (Carl Tart) mostly plays the straight man to his co-workers, something he does well. As a result, when he does get weird, as with his over-the-top attempts to prove he’s the right man to be the station’s safety representative, it really hits. He also has arguably the funniest running bit in his attempts to rebuff Lauren’s endless attempts to become ”best friends.”
Peacock)" class="wp-image-47941"/>The station’s cultural critic, Sandy (Mike Judge), is less effective. Played by Judge as a kind of burned-out roadie type, he reads as a refuge of the 60s. That’s despite being at least a decade too young for that to be true. Like Lauren, Sandy is a pretty cliché character, and, as a result, the jokes around him are relatively predictable. Sadly, Judge can’t find as interesting an angle on the character as Woods gives to Lauren. There are still laughs, but they’re fleeting.
One aspect that consistently hits is the remote interview pieces. They feature flesh and blood celebs interacting with the clay characters. Hugh Laurie’s, in particular, feels more like a lost Space Ghost interview. Meanwhile, UFC fighter Jorge Masvidal is wonderfully game in a tete-a-tete with Fabian. In The Know hasn’t quite figured out how to seamlessly integrate the puppet storylines with the interview pieces. Nonetheless, the quality undeniably improves every time the series cuts to a live-action actor.
Sadly, everything comes crashing back to Earth in the season’s sixth and final episode. After beginning as an attempted satire of NPR and then transitioning to a weirder, richer workplace comedy, In The Know attempts one more evolution. Like The Office or Parks and Recreation’s latter seasons, episode 6 reaches for “yes, they’re weirdos and freaks, but they’re OUR weirdos and freaks.” The difference is those other shows made that happen over the course of 50, 75 episodes. This tries it in six. Needless to say, the attempt doesn’t land.
Peacock)" class="wp-image-47940"/>It also re-embraces some of what made episode 1 so unpleasant. For instance, Fabian suggests her various progressive crusades are meaningless. Plenty of her campaigns throughout the season are objectively silly, yes. Still, her speech about missing out on spending time with her middle American-coded parents feels a little too close to criticism of those who skip such festivities for legitimate political and personal reasons.
By starting and ending on its worst foot, In the Know feels like a worse show than it is. The truth is, I laughed often and sometimes very hard during the middle portion of the season. Unfortunately, that doesn’t erase those first or last episodes. The farther the series gets from satire that feels like a copy of a copy in favor of the strange and silly, the better it becomes. Hopefully, a second season will more fully embrace that approach.
In The Know commands the airwaves on Peacock starting January 25.