Before entering an ostrich enclosure, Frank, an animal control officer, sneaks something into his associate’s returned pocket. It’s a stick of jerky, and within moments, Frank is overtly guffawing because the flightless birds are chasing his hapless colleague.

That’s the general vibe of “Animal Control,” a brand new sitcom on Fox. Here, “Community” alumnus Joel McHale plays Frank, a former cop who got fired after looking to root out corruption. (This is a neat trick in sidestepping the ongoing national communique about policing — our complicated protagonist got removed from the pressure for being too virtuous.) His partner, a Fred who is going via Shred (Michael Rowland), arrived in this particular force through an unconventional course as well; he’s a former seasoned snowboarder whose laid-back have an effect on indicates that, inside, he in no way sincerely left the slopes.It’s their courting that is the backbone of “Animal Control,” however that backbone may want to use a few chiropractic help to straighten itself out. McHale is a performer who needs to be cautious to land on the proper facet of the road dividing sardonic and caustic; right here, he doesn’t pretty nail it, and one reveals oneself wondering whether or not his case to live at the police pressure become weakened by means of his being such an annoying hold. A repeated device is Frank shouting at Fred to forestall telling corny jokes before he’s had his coffee, and at the same time as the jokes are indeed silly, there’s an part to Frank’s insistence that feels ugly, like the display is guilting us for looking to have a laugh with it.

As Fred, Rowland is an appealing presence, and I also favored Vella Lovell because the pair’s boss. Much of what the animal manipulate does is, on this display’s telling, low-stakes and charmingly offbeat, making room for place of business-comedy bits that might as easily be at an primary faculty or a paper provider. Which is why it feels urgent that the display recalibrate the Frank man or woman. His pranks are a turn of the dial too mean-lively, his dislike for Fred a touch too elaborately said. We get it — those not going companions will come to like each other. But right now, with Fred in outer area, it seems like an asymmetrical fight, and one in which Frank’s dyspepsia runs a piece too wild. Maybe it’d be best to go away the loudest snarling for the creatures he’s supporting.