Detroiters Is Your Netflix Weekend Binge, Trust Me

By Robert Scucci
| Published 1 hour ago

Tim Robinson may be best known for perfecting the art of cringe comedy with his Netflix sketch series, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinsonbut Detroiters proves that he knows how to apply his awkward and often over-the-top sense of humor to longer form comedy in the form of a sitcom. Though we probably have to come to terms with the sad reality that Detroiters will never see a third season, you can currently binge your way through Seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix, and it will only take about six hours of your time to burn through all 20 episodes.

So if you want to see two best friends incompetently run an ad agency that they have no right sharing ownership in, Detroiters is the next series that should have you glued to the couch.

Ride Or Die With Tim And Sam

Detroiters centers on two life-long best friends Tim Cramblin (Tim Robinson)  and Sam Duvet (Sam Richardson), and their chemistry works so well on-screen because Robinson and Richardson are also best friends in real life. In fact, if you were to ever take a look at Robinson’s Instagram account, you’ll find that most of his feed, outside of any promotional content, involves the two wholesomely palling around whenever they get a chance. Bringing their real-life friendship dynamic into the series, the fictional Tim and Sam finish each other’s sentences, feed each other hot dogs for breakfast, and come up with ad pitches while destroying their office in ways that are believable because you can’t synthesize this kind of chaotic friendship without some kind of real-life experience to back it up.

Working together at Cramblin Advertising, Tim and Sam come up with some of the worst pitches you could imagine while producing low-budget commercials for the clients that they can manage to scrape from the bottom of the barrel. Alluding to the fact that the company’s owner and Tim’s father, “Big Hank” (Kevin Nash), was committed to the loony bin before the events that occur in Detroitersit’s evident that Tim may also have a screw loose because of his unconventional approach to business, romance, and life in general. Sam Duvet, Tim’s best friend, co-owner, neighbor, and brother in-law, is obviously the brains and talent behind most of the operation, but the two work as a team because the end result for their ad spots is the product of the two friends riffing off of each other.

A DIY Operation Masquerading As A Real Agency

Some notable clients that Tim and Sam have worked with in Detroiters include, but are not limited to, Devereux Wigs, which are totally not made from dead people’s hair, local furniture mogul Smilin’ Jack (Keegan-Michael Key), who has an irrational fear of men in gorilla suits, and Farmer Zack, who owns a grocery store but wants to change the store’s mascot from a wholesome farmer to himself as Neo from The Matrix.

Knowing full-well that they have limited resources in DetroitersTim and Sam produce commercials that are on par with the kind of advertisements you’d see Saul Goodman produce in the Breaking Bad universe. More often than not admiring their handiwork at the local bar as newscaster Mort Crim either criticizes or praises the advertisements while they wait to find out who the “Chump of the Week’ is on his show, Tim who’s married to Sam’s sister, Chrissy (Shawntay Dalon), is all set on the romantic front, and more often than not functions as the worst wingman Sam could ever ask for during these sequences.

Back at Cramblin Advertising, Tim and Sam have frequent unpleasant encounters with their secretary, Sheila (Pat Vern Harris), who they try to spare from their digestive turmoil by relieving themselves in the third floor restroom until the vacant office space below them gets taken over by a new tech company. Dumping most of the post-production work on their intern, Lea (Lailani Ledesma), before ditching out for the day, Tim and Sam are often surprised and horrified by what makes it into the final cut of their amateur commercials, which doesn’t go over well with their clients either.

Most Conflicts Resolve Pretty Easily

Though it never loses its momentum, Detroiters isn’t a high-stakes series. Given how poorly Tim and Sam run their agency, conversations about the company’s finances almost never materialize (except for that one time they forgot to pay their insurance premiums), and they’re never in fear of ceasing operations because the next client, in their minds, will always be their next big break. Whenever what should be a slam-dunk pitch session gets immediately stopped dead in its tracks, Tim and Sam work together to figure out their next steps, even if it means doing pro-bono ad spots for a dog-bite lawyer when Sheila gets a DUI in exchange for the worst representation she could ever possibly ask for.

Completely unaware of the consequences of their actions, especially if there’s a couple of small victories along the way, Tim and Sam are inseparable, even though their behavior is the cause of most of their own problems.

If you’re looking for a low-stakes buddy comedy sitcom that’s equal parts wholesome and hilarious, you can stream Detroiters on Netflix as of this writing.

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