Started April 11, 2016 · Canceled · Based on 4 seasons, 42 episodes through August 20, 2019 · TV-MA · 22 min
The Detour follows Nate Parker, a loud and careless father who drags his wife Robin and their twins, Delilah and Jared, on a trip from Syracuse to Florida. Nate hides that he lost his job and plans to expose his former company, so the family lands in trouble with police and other agencies. Later seasons move the family to New York City, Alaska, and several countries while they run from the law and search for Delilah after she leaves home. The tone is crude, fast, and strange, but the family still loves one another.
The show uses race, gender, sexuality, religion, and political correctness as repeated joke material. A first-season episode has Vanessa call herself gay during a short lesbian phase, and the family argues about whether that identity is real. A second-season birth episode mocks straight white male doctors and white male energy. The fourth season mocks college girls who claim to accept everyone until they reject a different view. These moments can sound woke or activist to some viewers, but they are side plots in a much larger story about family chaos, lying, sex jokes, jobs, and survival.
Community feedback
Was our 41% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Detour.
Woke representation / casting
Not present. The central Parker family is white, and the supporting cast is mixed in a way that fits a modern American comedy. The show does not make casting or diversity a visible part of its story or marketing.
0%
Woke political dialogue
The family argues about political correctness at a fake Conquistador restaurant in season one. Season two uses lines about straight white male doctors, gay black women doctors, and straight white male energy. The finale also jokes about prayer and family values. The fourth season includes an argument about college students who claim to accept everyone. These lines recur across a few episodes, but politics stays under the crude family comedy.
32%
Identity-driven story themes
The show returns to race, gender, sexuality, religion, and abortion as joke material. Vanessa has a short lesbian phase and calls herself gay before the family treats it as a messy personal problem. The Parker parents also try to sound morally correct while getting trapped in race and history jokes. The fourth season mocks college girls who claim to accept everyone until they reject a different view. Identity themes recur, but they do not control the family story or its ending.
32%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Season two mocks straight white male doctors and calls Nate's anger straight white male energy. The same season includes jokes about prayer and family values. The fourth season also mocks college students who present themselves as completely accepting. The father's foolishness and the mother's choices are mostly used for comedy, not as part of a continuing attack on men, religion, or Western institutions.
20%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The Detour is an original series, not an adaptation of a known character or historical story. Robin's secret marriage and twin are plot twists, not identity-driven changes to existing canon.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
NewsBusters published two right-leaning complaints in 2017. One attacked the episode's doctor jokes as racist and offensive, while another called the show's prayer jokes “Jesus bashing” and an attack on family values. The complaints clearly treated the show as liberal or offensive. The coverage came from one advocacy outlet and did not become a broad public campaign.
22%
Creator track record context
Samantha Bee is a major co-creator, and her public work is known for feminist political satire, women's rights, and criticism of conservative politics. Jason Jones is mainly a comedian and actor with a milder political record. The other named writers and director have little public activist focus. Bee raises the creator signal, but this show is much less political than her news satire.
50%
Production
TV Show · 2016
After North Jackson High's long-time principal steps down to tend to his ailing wife, Neal Gamby and Lee Russell, the school's vice principals, are forced to put their mutual…
TV Show · 2020
A ghost-hunting duo team up to uncover and film paranormal sightings across the U.K. and share their adventures on an online channel.
TV Show · 2020
All Nikki and Jason want is a baby—the one thing they can't have. So they decide to adopt. With their dysfunctional friends, screwball families, and chaotic lives, will the…
TV Show · 2018
Offbeat comic James Acaster covers the strange, the mundane and everything in between in this collection of four wide-ranging stand-up specials.
TV Show · 2019
There is no such thing as an ordinary interaction in this offbeat sketch comedy series that features a deep roster of guest stars.
TV Show · 2024
Comedian Kapil Sharma hosts this laugh-out-loud variety talk show with celebrity guests, hilarious antics and his signature supporting cast.
TV Show · 2023
The inner workings of an American jury trial through the eyes of one particular juror, Ronald Gladden. Gladden is unaware the entire case is fake, everyone except him is an actor…
TV Show · 2016
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are back with a show about adventure, excitement and friendship...
