Peacock
It sometimes seems like In the Know, Peacock’s new stop-motion animated sendup of NPR liberalism, is stuck in one gear. Co-created by Zach Woods, Brandon Gardner, and Mike Judge, the series peeks behind the scenes of the eponymous NPR talk show hosted by Lauren Caspian (voiced by Woods), a walking (or puppeted) caricature of an obnoxious, navel-gazing progressive. He’s the kind of coastal elite who constantly self-identifies as an ally but talks over women and people of color, often to prove he’s read the latest anti-racist book. He insistently deploys contemporary political terminology not to make others feel comfortable but to demonstrate his own bona fides. In short, Lauren anxiously virtue signals that he’s “woke” because he’s painfully insecure about being perceived as anything less than pure.
Lauren’s hyper-exaggerated characterization, crafted by people who are clearly “in on the joke,” could only offend the most thin-skinned of likeminded viewers, most of whom would also roll their eyes if they ever crossed paths with such an irritating bundle of neuroses. Yet the show’s self-deprecating attitude towards its target(s) can’t erase the fact that mocking hyperbolic liberal hypocrisy feels like shooting fish in a barrel. Of course someone who would bring an unhoused person to work just to brag about their own compassion, or force their Black colleague to attend a race symposium due to their paranoid fear of unconscious racism, obviously cares more about optics than actual sensitivity. But the satire fails to hit close to home because Lauren resembles a collection of exasperating traits more than an actual human being. It’s difficult to skewer a personality when you muffle explicit identification. Ideology aside, Lauren irritates in the way any other self-absorbed, supercilious boss who overtaxes his co-workers would.
Thankfully, In the Know’s supporting cast provides a refreshing counterpoint. Sound engineer Carl (Cart Tart) and producer Barb (Succession‘s J. Smith Cameron) are the adults in the room, trying to corral their eccentric employees into doing their jobs. Both also deal with their fair share of ill-treatment from Lauren, who tokenizes Carl for being Black and conveys open contempt for Barb—a terminally kind former war journalist who admirably maintains a smile every day—for ostensibly representing their corporate benefactors. Meanwhile, the sexually fluid frat bro intern Chase (Charlie Bushnell) and the show’s resident Boomer burnout film critic Sandy (Judge, the show’s standout) round out the cast by playing comic relief.