Paul Gigante, a successful D.C. police detective, has to leave town with his son for the middle of nowhere, i.e. Bakersfield. He joins the Bakersfield P.D., a loose organization of weirdos & imbeciles. His partner, Wade Preston, is a TV cop show fanatic and tries to act like the TV cops; the desk sergeant actually runs the department because the captain can't make any decisions; and a macho cop is teamed with a mildly effeminate partner.
Like "Frank's Place", another great TV comedy that bombed in one season, "Bakersfield P.D." had no laugh track; you have to find the jokes yourself. This misfit comedy was at least as funny as "WKRP in Cincinnati"! Why do so many really funny comedies bomb?