Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The G Word With Adam Conover’ On Netflix, Where The ‘Adam Ruins Everything’ Host Turns His Eye To How The Government Really Works

Adam Conover spent years on truTV’s Adam Ruins Everything using deep research, a funny approach, and a rotating troupe of comedic players to give audiences a dose of reality on all sorts of topics. On The G Word With Adam Conover, which is produced by the Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, he applies his know-it-all shtick to how the government works.

THE G WORD WITH ADAM CONOVER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Adam Conover lies on a couch. “A comedy series about the government, hosted by me, produced by you. I have concerns.” Conover gets up and sits across a desk from executive producer Barack Obama, who seems to be enjoying doing his taxes.

The Gist: In the six-part limited series, Conover discusses the good and bad aspects of various government agencies and how regulation has both helped Americans over the decades and has gotten in the way of innovation and other things. He starts with food, and how inspectors and veterinarians from the USDA help ensure that the meat we eat is safe.

In a rare scene, he tours a Cargill beef processing factory, talking to corporate executives and the various USDA representatives that work there full-time. That’s where he finds out just how complex the inspectors’ jobs are, and why companies like Cargill may not like having them there, but know it’s necessary to help keep their product safe for people to eat.

But then Conover goes into the idea of government far subsidies on grains and corn and how that has not only influenced the overabundance of products like corn syrup and corn-based processed foods in the average American’s diet, but how it even influenced the structure of the USDA food pyramid when it was introduced to the public in the ’90s.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The G Word With Adam Conover is structured similarly to Adam Ruins Everything, except that there’s no “mark” he explains things to, like in the old series. There is also room for an in-person reporting segment, which the old truTV series never had.

Our Take: Other topics that Conover, along with series producers Jon Cohen and Jon Wolf, take on in The G Word are weather, money and disease. In an episode about the future, he examines the government agency whose inventions led to most of the tech we enjoy now. And in an episode about change, Conover turns to Obama, he of the famous “hope and change” mantra, to see how someone can make a difference in government.

Your enjoyment of The G Word really depends on what you think of Conover’s know-it-all persona. He’s eased off of it a bit in comparison to Adam Ruins Everything, and he is good at playing that persona for laughs — like when he chides Obama for being referred to as “President Obama” when he no longer has the job. We’ve been fans of his for years, and we were happy that the format of his previous show was kept more or less intact, including the annotations in the corner that support the facts and statistics he puts out there.

As with his previous show, Conover isn’t pretending that each episode of The G Word is a comprehensive take on a particular subject. In fact, if you have knowledge about the topics he’s talking about, none of the information he imparts will be new to you. But he does such an entertaining job of skewering what common knowledge of a topic is, with the help of mini-sketches put on by a rotating set of players, that it doesn’t really matter if you learn anything new or not.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: In a preview of the next episode on weather, Conover says, “If the government doesn’t work for our benefit, it could be a disaster.” He looks to his left and sees a tornado coming.

Sleeper Star: Standout SNL rookie James Austin Johnson is among the rotating set of players that are in the mini-sketches that play as Conover gives his explanations, and of course he does a good job. And, of course, Obama gives yet another performance full of expert comic timing that is remarkable for a politician.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Who exactly is touching all of our meat?” Conover asks. “Do they find it gross or hot that I put it that way?” At least he got the “touch our meat” joke out of the way early.

Our Call: STREAM IT. With some funny moments, well-researched information, and an entertainingly fast pace, The G Word With Adam Conover entertainingly tells people about how various government agencies help Americans, but isn’t afraid to call them out if they work against our interests.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.