Whiskey Cavalier

Whiskey Cavalier truly is the kind of show network TV is made for. It’s fun and fluffy, a proper escape. It’s not going to create thought-provoking discussions à la Russian Doll, nor is it going have you stressed out watching.

Whiskey Cavalier has an appealingly daft streak of sophomoric loopiness.

Foley and Cohan look great and the evident pleasure they're having playing spy is infectious when coupled with the postcard locations and a little action flair. Whiskey Cavalier may not take you back to 1985, but it comes closer than some of the recent stabs at this genre.

You may detect a strong scent of eau de “Castle.” The 12-year-old boy within the adult TV critic finds this in the show quite pleasing. (I did watch every episode of “Castle,” to be sure.) I’m happy to overlook whatever is lacking or obvious or oversold or simplistic in its construction for the sake of the adventure, the scenery and the fun gang dynamics.

There’s something charming about its happy-go-lucky sweetness, and it’s a relief to watch a show aim at goofy fun and actually hit its target. But it’s also a show where most the recent cultural reference is a DVD copy of You’ve Got Mail, some of the jokes feel dated, and the settings (whether Paris, Moscow, or a random European farmhouse) look like hand-me-down locations from the first Bourne movie.

If there's room for a light-hearted spy procedural right now, the show feels like a pretty top-shelf version of one.

The show walks a tonal tightrope with ease, though there are some spots where it feels caught between television worlds.