Watch Jerry O'Connell Hilariously Fail To Crack A Safe In Exclusive Carter Clip

Sadly, there just aren't as many buddy comedies on TV as there used to be, but WGN America's Carter is thankfully here to continue proving the subgenre's worth. For instance, below is an exclusive clip from Carter's second episode, titled "The Astronaut & The Lion King," which features Jerry O'Connell's actor-turned-sorta-detective and Kristian Bruun's Dave putting on a classic bit of farce involving a locked safe. To be expected, Harley has a little trouble distinguishing real life from his TV past. Check it out!

Jerry O'Connell has plenty of dramatic roles in his past, but I think most of us would agree that he's pretty perfect for just about every comedic role that has come his way. And as this clip proves quite well, O'Connell excels at playing dudes who are a couple of shades dimmer than others around them, with Harley Carter serving as a splendid mix of schoolboy eagerness and stereotypical Hollywood naiveté. I mean, this is a dude who really thought that airborne cinnamon would adhere to a safe's keypad, revealing the numbers used for the code. (You can't believe everything you see on TV...or anything you act in on TV.) Not a lot of actors can pull off a moronic move like that so successfully.

Not that we only have to talk about Jerry O'Connell's thespian skills. In the clip, Harley and Dave are unsuccessfully trying to break into the safe of Pete Conrad, as played by Defiance's Douglas Nyback, who makes a last-second appearance to hold the guys up at gunpoint. Somehow, I don't think Pete is going to surrender with his hands behind his back, so here's hoping Harley has more spice containers around to chunk at Pete's head.

As one of WGN America's newest original series, Carter takes place in North Bay, hometown to TV actor Harley Carter, who returned to his old stomping ground to decompress after having a public meltdown. There, he teams with childhood friends Dave and Sam (with the latter played by Sydney Poitier Heartsong) to try and solve real life cases, relying heavily on the only-sometimes-legitimate tricks he picked up while playing a detective on television. In Episode 2, the trio will get tasked by an emotionally troubled superfan with reopening a unsolved murder that went down at a paint factory that burned down years previous. Dun-dun-dunnn!

Jerry O'Connell is having a great year in TV. Not only did he return to Billions and Drunk History, but he also joined the Big Bang Theory family as Sheldon's older brother George, and could possibly return there when the CBS sitcom comes back. But no need to wait on that to see O'Connell cracking audiences up, since Carter has that all taken care of. (O'Connell also killed it in The 5th Quarter's Frank Cushman short, as well as in Adult Swim's Cool Dad trailer infomercial.)

Don't forget to tune into Carter tonight on WGN America to see the aftermath of Harley and Dave's safecracking exploit. And watch new episodes every Tuesday night at 10:00 p.m. ET / 9:00 p.m. CT. While waiting between installments, head to our fall premiere schedule to see all the new and returning series on the way.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.