3 out of 5

Created by: Mike Tyson

While the initial look and vibe feel a bit too Venture Brothers-y and there’s no way to not assume ‘Mike Tyson Mysteries’ won’t just coast off of the cheekiness of actually featuring its titular lead… but… give it time.  Amidst the ongoing wake of weirdness that Adult Swim produces, it’s easy to forget that their initial forays were all Hanna-Barbera riffs, and ‘Mysteries’ calls back to that with its Scooby Doo mystery-of-the-week setup and functional animation style.  The writers (and Tyson) also find an amusing balance with the humor, allowing the general premise – Tyson, his adopted Asian daughter, a ghost, and a sex-crazed pigeon form ‘The Mystery Team,’ which gets requests for mystery solvin’ – to provide the basis for more out-there gags, while the characters themselves function mostly in the vein of Airplane! style innocence, allowing us to laugh at the dumbness without having to question whether or not Tyson is acting.  The show also manages to stay within its format without becoming tiresome, which is perhaps more true to that HB style than any show previously – we loved the oddball segues that Sealab and Space Ghost would pursue, but it was oddly rewarding to tune in to the next Tyson mystery knowing it would actually center around something resembling a mystery.  So it might not have the animation excess of a Superjail! or the world-building scope of Venture, but Mike Tyson Mysteries is a pleasant addition to current Adult Swim fare, outre enough to merit its place in the programming but pleasingly straight-forward enough to function as casual viewing.