Example of piping curl response body to jq, pretty-printing if it is JSON parseable, otherwise, outputting the raw response body. You can include additional information, like the HTTP version and response code.

json-req.sh

req() {
  curl -sS "$@" \
    -Hcontent-type:application/json \
    -w "HTTP/%{http_version} %{http_code}\n" \
    -o >(jq -Rsr '. as $x | try fromjson catch $x')
}

z.sh-session

% req httpbin.org/json
HTTP/1.1 200
{
  "slideshow": {
    "author": "Yours Truly",
    "date": "date of publication",
    "slides": [
      {
        "title": "Wake up to WonderWidgets!",
        "type": "all"
      },
      {
        "items": [
          "Why <em>WonderWidgets</em> are great",
          "Who <em>buys</em> WonderWidgets"
        ],
        "title": "Overview",
        "type": "all"
      }
    ],
    "title": "Sample Slide Show"
  }
}

% req httpbin.org/xml
HTTP/1.1 200
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='us-ascii'?>

<!--  A SAMPLE set of slides  -->

<slideshow
    title="Sample Slide Show"
    date="Date of publication"
    author="Yours Truly"
    >

    <!-- TITLE SLIDE -->
    <slide type="all">
      <title>Wake up to WonderWidgets!</title>
    </slide>

    <!-- OVERVIEW -->
    <slide type="all">
        <title>Overview</title>
        <item>Why <em>WonderWidgets</em> are great</item>
        <item/>
        <item>Who <em>buys</em> WonderWidgets</item>
    </slide>

</slideshow>