Animal Control

Animal Control‘s first couple of episodes elicited some big laughs and has already established an ensemble with some good chemistry. There’s nowhere to go here but up.

While Mr. McHale provides the centerpiece of the show, the players are all first rate, most prominently Michael Rowland as Fred "Shred" Taylor. ... "Animal Control" boasts writing that takes a chance, which is another way of calling it smart—or adult, though not in any Rabelaisian fashion.

“Animal Control” doesn’t break the mold (network TV sitcoms rarely do these day), but it understands that the quality of a hit sitcom is often determined by the depth of its ensemble. ... After three episodes, I found myself engaged with the characters on “Animal Control” enough to want to know what they’ll get up to next.

Animal Control is a perfectly enjoyable sitcom, one that is destined to improve the farther it gets into its run. One does wish to see the show off the leash, and maybe in season two it will be more willing to indulge its animal instincts.

While the jokes are indeed silly, there’s an edge to Frank’s insistence that feels unpleasant. As Fred, Rowland is an appealing presence, and I also liked Vella Lovell as the pair’s boss. Much of what the animal control does is, in this show’s telling, low-stakes and charmingly offbeat, making room for workplace-comedy bits that could as easily be at an elementary school or a paper supplier. Which is why it feels urgent that the show recalibrate the Frank character.

To succeed in the long-term, “Animal Control” needs to get funnier fast and spend more time on its human characters and less time on animal gags.