This whole show just leaves you with an unpleasant feeling, watching unlikeable people strive to shift blame to a first-time director who, if you believe the edit we're shown, isn't putting much work in and has no vision for what she wants to do. The situation puts her in an impossible time crunch with a lack of resources, gives no helpful feedback other than "fix the script" (a script they gave her, not one she wrote herself), then to act surprised and disappointed when it doesn't work out. While Meko does not come off well, she had no chance of succeeding. We're repeatedly told that she's lazy (which is funny in a series meant to "give a woman a chance" the other women involved spend the whole time tearing her down), but no one flat out tells her this while the movie is being made. They hint and they bicker and they say it behind her back, passing the blame for a shoddy product away from the 10 useless producers and mentors to someone who had no clue and wasn't taught anything about how to make a movie. By the end you just dislike everyone involved and want them to stop talking.
Reviews
7 Reviews
Sigh
5 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
While I understand that was always the point of the show, the fact that this episode is a parallel of life in 2023---the person who tries hard and accomplishes things is voted out by a bunch of lazy losers---doesn't really make it any easier to watch. This season has been better than the past few "newbie" seasons but now it feels like we're just watching to see what clown who can't do anything but gives a few good quotes each week ends up winning.
I guess I might be giving spoilers for the season, but the reality is the show got some non-cartoon characters on it, for once, but they get punished for actually putting in effort. I guess that is the point in 2023, but still depressing and not worth watching.
I guess I might be giving spoilers for the season, but the reality is the show got some non-cartoon characters on it, for once, but they get punished for actually putting in effort. I guess that is the point in 2023, but still depressing and not worth watching.
mediocre late period Woody Allen
19 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Have you watched a Woody Allen movie from the last 30 years? Sometimes the dialogue is clever, sometimes the performances are great, but other times it feels like a guess at how actual people would talk or act from someone who doesn't interact with them.
That's how I would describe this episode. Enos and Odenkirk were very good. Some of the other actors were not awful at times. But the show always feels like "here's how English professors would act, blah blah tenure, blah blah poetry" but has no "feel" for anything past cliches. Then there's "here's how peak TV should be, blah blah artsy title card, blah blah voiceover, blah blah old songs for the soundtrack". But there's no heart or thought past that. The suicide attempt at the end made NO sense and if it wasn't for the warning at the start of the episode, no one could have seen it coming. You have to earn the casual suicide references and this show's writers don't.
With that said, the acting was good enough to give this a middling grade. There is potential there but I don't think the writing is up to the task.
That's how I would describe this episode. Enos and Odenkirk were very good. Some of the other actors were not awful at times. But the show always feels like "here's how English professors would act, blah blah tenure, blah blah poetry" but has no "feel" for anything past cliches. Then there's "here's how peak TV should be, blah blah artsy title card, blah blah voiceover, blah blah old songs for the soundtrack". But there's no heart or thought past that. The suicide attempt at the end made NO sense and if it wasn't for the warning at the start of the episode, no one could have seen it coming. You have to earn the casual suicide references and this show's writers don't.
With that said, the acting was good enough to give this a middling grade. There is potential there but I don't think the writing is up to the task.
pretty good
19 April 2023
By the standards of the new Night Court, this was pretty good. They gave Larroquette 80% of the dialogue and let him show some semblance of his old personality, and the result was some laughs. The other characters, who are usually lifeless and offer next to nothing, even got off some good lines here and there. They really have no idea who the prosecutor is, and Neil is somehow in love with Abby (not a spoiler, he's said it for almost the whole series) despite the fact they have had almost no interaction but we have to take we can get with this show. If you laugh a few times at 2023 Night Court, you take it.
I wish it was better
31 March 2023
I wanted to like the new Night Court. I was a big fan of the original, which was great at times (though inconsistent), and Dan Fielding was one of the great sitcom characters.
The new version has had 11 episodes, and it's just not finding any rhythm. The acting and writing (Larroquette aside), are both poor. I know what they were going for with the "Gergs" character, but the actress and dialogue are not up to the task. Obviously the show would not have been made without Rauch's involvement, but she's not very good either. Making her character Harry's daughter also adds a maudlin, manipulative air to the frequent mentions of Judge Stone---they mention him to tell the viewer "You're supposed to feel sad here". But that gets old fast.
This episode is one of the few that actually feels like the court and set are filled and not half-empty and lifeless. But the wedding expo stuff made no sense in a way that the old Night Court might have embraced, but the new version is so dull that you have time to ask yourself, "Why are a priest and rabbi here if there was an arrest at a wedding expo?" "Why does the wedding planner have cake at the courtroom?" "Why do we care if Abby gets married in the first place?" "Why does the bailiff speak more in the courtroom than the judge?" But if only more of it was funny, none of that would matter.
The new version has had 11 episodes, and it's just not finding any rhythm. The acting and writing (Larroquette aside), are both poor. I know what they were going for with the "Gergs" character, but the actress and dialogue are not up to the task. Obviously the show would not have been made without Rauch's involvement, but she's not very good either. Making her character Harry's daughter also adds a maudlin, manipulative air to the frequent mentions of Judge Stone---they mention him to tell the viewer "You're supposed to feel sad here". But that gets old fast.
This episode is one of the few that actually feels like the court and set are filled and not half-empty and lifeless. But the wedding expo stuff made no sense in a way that the old Night Court might have embraced, but the new version is so dull that you have time to ask yourself, "Why are a priest and rabbi here if there was an arrest at a wedding expo?" "Why does the wedding planner have cake at the courtroom?" "Why do we care if Abby gets married in the first place?" "Why does the bailiff speak more in the courtroom than the judge?" But if only more of it was funny, none of that would matter.
Mediocre
28 March 2023
The only review other than mine has a lot of paranoia in it. Who would be out to get this show and somehow destroy it? It couldn't be any less offensive, but it's only mildly interesting. Odenkirk (fine as always here) is a media darling. The show has nothing offensive or divisive in it. It's a late-middle-aged guy going through a crisis, with a bunch of cliched students and professors going through the motions. Thus far, while the acting is fine, the writing is not holding up its end of the bargain. Just mediocrity thus far.
Also, to the other reviewer, hour-long shows don't have a laugh track. This show also isn't a comedy, exactly. Or if it is, it's not very funny. There's potential there but not much rising about "bleh" thus far.
Also, to the other reviewer, hour-long shows don't have a laugh track. This show also isn't a comedy, exactly. Or if it is, it's not very funny. There's potential there but not much rising about "bleh" thus far.
Dead in the water
23 September 2022
It's amazing this show is still on the air. Many, many years ago it was funny, but it's been out of ideas forever. It just drags on incessantly, scraping the bottom of the barrel for jokes.
Considering they milked beloved George Segal's actual death for several episodes, going back to the same well with a fake death of Murray (who obviously is gone from the show for very different reasons) is truly desperate. It's a pathetic attempt to get people to care about leaden dialogue and dated storylines. I won't get into the show caving to pressure, but it is funny they had to fire Garlin yet some episodes are all Bev incest jokes. That's apparently okay for a "family" show though.
I saw one review blaming Adam Goldberg (show creator, not the character) for the current quality of the show---well, he's been gone for years. So it's not his fault that the writing and acting are so awful.
One thing is clear from the past two seasons----giving more dialogue to Pop Pop (once-great Judd Hirsch, now barely able to deliver lines), Bill Lewis (Koechner is awful), or Geoff is not the way to save the show.
Another comment said it was good the characters stay the same and don't grow. Well, having aged Barry seemingly in college forever and back living at home, Adam going to NYU but no, back at home, Erica and Geoff married and having a baby and gee, back at home...just zero-effort writing or creativity. The same situations for the 50th time.
At least we have another season of bad acting and mom-son incest jokes to look forward to. The money grab of all money grabs.
Considering they milked beloved George Segal's actual death for several episodes, going back to the same well with a fake death of Murray (who obviously is gone from the show for very different reasons) is truly desperate. It's a pathetic attempt to get people to care about leaden dialogue and dated storylines. I won't get into the show caving to pressure, but it is funny they had to fire Garlin yet some episodes are all Bev incest jokes. That's apparently okay for a "family" show though.
I saw one review blaming Adam Goldberg (show creator, not the character) for the current quality of the show---well, he's been gone for years. So it's not his fault that the writing and acting are so awful.
One thing is clear from the past two seasons----giving more dialogue to Pop Pop (once-great Judd Hirsch, now barely able to deliver lines), Bill Lewis (Koechner is awful), or Geoff is not the way to save the show.
Another comment said it was good the characters stay the same and don't grow. Well, having aged Barry seemingly in college forever and back living at home, Adam going to NYU but no, back at home, Erica and Geoff married and having a baby and gee, back at home...just zero-effort writing or creativity. The same situations for the 50th time.
At least we have another season of bad acting and mom-son incest jokes to look forward to. The money grab of all money grabs.
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