Watch The Detour

The Detour, on its surface, is a show about a family on a road trip vacation. The nature of their trip, however, is gradually called into question as more facts become known. Every member of the family is tested repeatedly in a madcap holiday turned adventure. The father, well intentioned but flawed in his approach, fights with his wife, a classic suburban sedated mother, for driving over flying under the guise of family togetherness. Deeper troubles are revealed though, as the trip meets one roadblock after another. The whole thing snowballs, with the premier episode culminating in a hilarious felonious mixup.

The children provide reinforcement to the parents, with the troublesome younger brother, and the overly intelligent older sister juxtaposing the overly rational wife and impulsive husband. The polar differences in the characters provide a perfect mix in a new kind of family comedy, truly original in television today. There exists in the show a perfect balance of recklessness and rationality, feeding an impetuous timeline culminating in an unpredictable climax.

Told partially through flashbacks, the show creates continuous tension and unpredictable turns of plot on the doomed journey of a family trying to stay together and reinforcing bonds through absurd trials and tribulations.