The Detour

For a show going in as many different directions as The Detour does, the pieces of the narrative seem to be connecting well past the half-way point in the first season. The episode-to-episode continuity adds up nicely if you like your comedies heavily serialized and there are hints that some of the elements that feel disparate and chaotic could also tie together.

The Detour is obviously not traveling a high road, but those with a taste for cheerful vulgarity will likely find it very funny. [4-17 Apr 2016, p.21]

Unfortunately, The Detour too often confuses the obvious for the outrageous, and mistakes hacky-ness for hilarity.

The family blunders its way into all sorts of awkward situations, with the two children (Ashley Gerasimovich and Liam Carroll) repeatedly being set up for psychological scars. Let this be your gauge for deciding whether to watch. ... All in all, it’s a low-aspiration enterprise.

A ribald but bumpy road-trip comedy that wants to be more than just a slapstick retread of “National Lampoon’s Vacation” (which already got a retread last year in theaters). But after several episodes, the show can’t quite find its way.

If The Detour can only deliver that level of sophomoric humor consistently for the rest of the season, it just might be worth your time.