Review: Silliness played straight makes new TBS comedy ‘Wrecked’ a pleasure

One of those networks you might not think about much, if you think about networks at all, TBS more than doubled its original comedy programming this winter and spring with the addition of “Angie Tribeca,” “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” and “The Detour,” co-created by Bee and her husband and fellow “Daily Show” alum, Jason Jones, who also stars. (Already running: “Conan” and “American Dad!,” which moved over from Fox in 2014.) Notwithstanding a couple of game shows, laughter is the medicine they’re selling. “Watch funny TV and movies on tbs,” their website tells you.

Joining this modest but estimable lineup is “Wrecked,” which premieres Tuesday and will be described nearly everywhere as a sort of “Gilligan’s Island” meets “Lost.” Not to prematurely age Bee, Jones or “Angie Tribeca” star Rashida Jones, but in a small way it represents a bid for younger eyes: Justin and Jordan Shipley, the series’ first-time’s-the-charm creators are in their mid-20s, as are the preponderance of their main characters. (Rhys Darby, 42, who was Murray on “Flight of the Conchords” and is concurrently a voice on the Netflix “Voltron” reboot, is the designated old guy. He is always funny.)

The Shipleys were teenagers when “Lost” premiered in 2004, and though there is nothing supernatural in their own show – apart from a metafictional “nightmare sequence” – it has the flavor of being forged in conversations held while watching that series, of asking natural questions “Lost” never asked, about bathroom privacy and constipation and condoms.

Millennial rites, obsessions and occupation are at the center of the comedy. (A census of survivors – the plane carrying them has gone down en route to Thailand, which feels culturally appropriate – includes “three baristas, one foot doctor, two lifestyle bloggers and the founder of ... an app that lets you see what you would look like with other people’s pubes.”) There’s a scene with a dying satellite phone in which several characters realize that none of them knows a friend’s phone number by heart. At the end of the first day, someone finds the drinks cart and there is rave-ish partying; the next morning, there are hangovers. (There are also references to “The Hangover.”)

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Like other TBS comedies it does not so much push the envelope, as is the habit at Adult Swim and Comedy Central, as tickle it. There is a modicum of grossness – blood and vomiting and dumb sex jokes (mitigated, in a way, by being put in the mouths of dumbbells – we are not meant to approve of them), but the series is essentially sweet, its conflicts more affectionate than corrosive. It is largely a comedy of character and character relations, and for all that it is a collection of types, a talented cast finds the individuals within.

Just as important, “Wrecked” looks good. That it’s shot and scored (and much of the time acted) as if it were a drama – not exaggeratedly dramatic, with a wink, but played straight – gives the silliness some substance and makes watching a pleasure.

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‘Wrecked’

Where: TBS

When: 10 and 10:27 p.m. Tuesday

Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)