Scott, naturally, doesn’t want the furry monster destroying his apartment, so the show replicates the same beats as the movie. That also includes Scott meeting a new potential love interest, Erica (“Glee’s” Vanessa Lengies), who trains police dogs and is instantly smitten by him, although he’s painfully slow to pick up on those cues.
Developed by “Burn Notice” producer Matt Nix working with action director McG, “Turner & Hooch” comes with a fairly prestigious pedigree for such an effort but doesn’t manage to do anything really distinctive in the three previewed episodes. In fact, they’re pretty much all over the place, including an incongruous “Die Hard” homage, and a semi-serialized mystery that’s slow to take shape.
While designed to be somewhat family friendly, the tone proves uneven. Part of that might stem from the thinness of the source material, since the original has its moments but was hardly a classic, so nobody was really howling for this.
Peck is charming enough, but at a certain point watching the lovable French mastiff mess things up or steal a bunch of donuts (being around cops has its advantages on the latter score) can’t help but yield diminishing returns, making this feel like a TV series plucked from the days before everyone had cable, much less streaming.
“Turner & Hooch” premieres July 21 on Disney+.