''The Detour'' is an American sitcom that was created by Jason Jones and

Samantha Bee Samantha Anne Bee (born October 25, 1969) is a Canadian-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actress, and television host. Bee rose to fame as a correspondent on '' The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', where she became th ...

about a family vacation road trip that quickly devolves out of control. It stars Jones himself, Natalie Zea, Ashley Gerasimovich, Liam Carroll, Daniella Pineda, Mary Grill, and Laura Benanti. The series aired on TBS from April 11, 2016, to August 20, 2019. The show was renewed for a second season on April 6, 2016, five days prior to the series premiere. The second season premiered on February 21, 2017. On April 25, 2017, TBS renewed the series for a third season. On May 11, 2018, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on June 18, 2019. On September 4, 2019, TBS canceled the series after four seasons.

Plot

The series follows Nate Parker, Jr. ( Jason Jones), his wife Robin Randall ( Natalie Zea), and their kids, preteen twins Delilah ( Ashley Gerasimovich) and Jared (Liam Carroll), as they drive from their home in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city' ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

for a family vacation. The trip experiences several dramatic delays such as car trouble, run-ins with law enforcement, unforeseen medical mishaps, and intervening locals. Nate had caused some professional trouble before leaving Syracuse and has ulterior motives for the Florida trip, which fuels flashbacks and a

framing device Framing may refer to: * Framing (construction), common carpentry work * Framing (law), providing false evidence or testimony to prove someone guilty of a crime * Framing (social sciences) * Framing (visual arts), a technique used to bring the focu ...

involving several law-enforcement agencies and an interrogation into his unspecified crimes. In season 2, the family settles in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

as Nate finds a new career but more trouble as pieces of Robin's past resurface, including her relationship with her father, wanted felon J.R. Randall (

James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include '' Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), '' The Queen' ...

). The framing device presents the couple being interrogated by the

United States Postal Inspection Service The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), or the Postal Inspectors, is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. It supports and protects the U.S. Postal Service, its employees, infrastructure, and customers by enf ...

as an attempt to get at J.R., led by the overzealous (and very pregnant) Agent Edie ( Laura Benanti). In season 3, the family flees to Alaska. This time the framing device involves Nate and Robin discussing their case with their lawyer, Joe Delicious ( Max Casella). Jared becomes mayor of the town they settle in, Nate works on a fishing boat, and Robin becomes a stripper. In season 4, Delilah flees the rest of the Parkers as they try to track her down. This takes them to Tibet, Japan, New Zealand, and eventually back home to New York where she has apparently been the entire time. The season, and the series, ends with Nate apparently having gone off the grid, as he checks months of voice mail messages left for him. He then climbs into a van, which is immediately riddled with bullets and explodes; since the series was canceled shortly after the episode aired, Nate's fate is left unknown.

Cast

* Jason Jones as Nate Parker Jr. * Natalie Zea as Robin Randall and Bluejay "B.J." Randall * Ashley Gerasimovich as Delilah Parker * Liam Carroll as Jared (Jareb) Parker * Daniella Pineda as Vanessa Randall (season 1–3; voice only season 4) * Mary Grill as Federal Agent Mary (season 1; guest season 2) * Laura Benanti as USPIS Agent Edie Randall (season 3; recurring season 2; voice only season 4)

Recurring

* Phil Reeves as Gene * Jeffrey Vincent Parise as Carlos (Season 2) *

Tom Amandes Tom Amandes (born March 9, 1959) is an American actor. His best-known role to date is that of Eliot Ness in the 1990s television series ''The Untouchables''; he also played Geena Davis' boyfriend in '' The Long Kiss Goodnight'', and Abraham Lin ...

as Dr. Rob (Season 1) *

Judge Reinhold Edward Ernest "Judge" Reinhold Jr. (born May 21, 1957) is an American actor who has starred in several Hollywood movies, such as '' Ruthless People'', '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'', '' Stripes'' and '' Gremlins'', and co-starred in all of the ...

as Davey (Season 1) * Maz Jobrani as Gupta (Season 1) * Weronika Rosati as Oksana (Season 1) * Wayne Caparas as Lobsong (Season 1) *

as Jack "J.R." Randall (Seasons 2 and 4) * Mamoudou Athie as USPIS Agent Carl (Season 2) * Max Casella as Joe Delicious (Season 2–3) * Darin Cooper as ICE Agent (Season 1) * Vince Foster as USDA Agent (Season 1) * Deja Dee as DEA Agent (Season 1) * Taylor Kowalski as Billy Evans (Season 1) * Adam Boyer as Morris (Season 1) * Denitra Isler as Latisha (Season 1) * Mary Kraft as Shelly * Angelina Lewis as Svetlana (Season 1) * Paul Cuneo as Carl (Season 1) * Sebastian Greco as Caleb (Season 1) * Britt Rentschler as Melissa (Season 1) * Samuel Vielma as Marco (Season 1) * Jonathan D. Williams as Paul (Season 1) * Jenna Bryant as Rebecca (Season 1) *

Jeff Blumenkrantz Jeff Blumenkrantz (born June 3, 1965) is an American actor, composer and lyricist. Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, Blumenkrantz is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Communication. His stage credits include roles in the Broadway pro ...

as Lars (Season 2) * Teddy Canez as Conrad (Season 2) * Donshea Hopkins as Chase (Season 2) * Marceline Hugot as Judith (Season 2) * Catrina Ganey as Judge (Season 2) * Meredith Henderhan as Stenographer (Season 2) * Saverio Guerra as Paddy Greenberg (Season 2) * Paloma Guzman as Carlita (Season 2) * Perry Yung as Zhi (Season 2) *

Erik King Erik King (born April 21, 1963) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Sergeant James Doakes on Showtime's television series ''Dexter''. He is also known for his roles as Moses Deyell on '' Oz''., and as Bobby Davidson in ''Miss ...

as Harris (Season 2) * Jocelyn Bioh as Isabel Ezra Romanov (Season 2) * Kevin Townley as Martin (Season 2) * Akira Ito as IRS Drone (Season 2) * Jim Santangeli as SWAT Officer (Season 2) * Amy Shiels as Nicole (Season 2) * Souleymane Sy Savane as African Man (Season 2) * Dave Hanson as Agent Randy (Season 2) * Richard Nwaoko as Bobby (Season 2) * Fletcher Bee-Jones as Young Nate *

as Nate's Mother * Rebecca Koon as Nate's Mother (Older) *

Caitlynne Medrek Caitlynne Medrek (born November 19, 1989) is an international, award winning Canadian actress. She spent the first half of her career living and working in professional theatre around Canada, but has since set her sights on creating a cinematic ...

as Nurse (Season 3) * Blaine Schlechter as Janitor (Season 3) * Christina Collard as Naomi (Season 2)

Development

TBS ordered the pilot, written by Jason Jones and

in October 2014. The show is based on the real life couple's own experience with family vacations. It was picked up for ten episodes in February 2015. On April 6, 2016, the show was renewed for a second season before the premiere.

Episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2017)

Season 3 (2018)

Season 4 (2019)

Broadcast

In Canada, ''The Detour'' premiered on April 21, 2016 on

The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octob ...

. In Latin America it premiered on June 9, 2016 on TBS Latin America. It premiered on

Comedy Central India Comedy Central is an Indian pay television channel owned by Viacom18. The channel is geared for mature audiences and carries comedy programming in the form of both original and syndicated series, as well as stand-up comedy specials. Despite t ...

on October 5, 2016. It is available in Australia on streaming service Stan as of January 2018.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the first season has an approval rating of 78% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Sometimes raunchy, but often honest and endearing, ''The Detour'' brings the laughs as the story tries to find its way." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the first season holds a score of 69 out of 100, based on 19 critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, season two has an approval rating of 100% based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. On Metacritic, season two has a weighted average score 77 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Detour, The (TV series) 2010s American single-camera sitcoms 2016 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings English-language television shows TBS (American TV channel) original programming Television series about dysfunctional families Television series by Studio T