Just Tuesday

Shock horror. I might have laughed once or twice during this episode!

Judges Abby Stone wants to understand the issues surrounding a habitual offender called Vincent. Even his public defender Dan Fielding wants him thrown into jail for a long time.

Instead Judge Abbyy tracks down his parish priest. Father Manny recalls Vincent as someone who is a pillar of a community who dealt with troubled kids. In fact his name is not even Vincent.

It turns out Vincent was an undercover cop who planned to go into prison so he could infiltrate a gang.

Thanks to Abby. Ten months of undercover work has been wasted. She now vows to turn over a new leaf, be like other judges. It means no treats for the court staff as well.

The plot is pants. How do judges get time to track down the local priest of a felon with a false identity?

You can overlook it if does make you laugh mildly. Also the show needs to stopped being hung up about Abby's dad.

This is my last viewing of this show. Life is way too short. Here we have some totally inappropriate actions by the judge who has decided to play hardball because no one respects her. Her actions are out of the character of the show. There is also a battle between the big mouth prosecutor and the police (also she fears the court reporter is psychotic and a danger to her). It just isn't working and will ride off into that enormous sunset filled with dead series. Maybe it's time they made a remake of "My Mother the Car." Come on networks, you can do better than this. Isn't there a creative bone out there.

I said in my reviews for the first two episodes of this series that I was keeping those two reviews very brief. The reason being that I had already reviewed those two episodes back to back after it had premiered on Night Court's main page here on IMDB.

Starting with the third episode of this revival entitled Just Tuesday, we will be digging a little deeper into what works and doesn't work at this point in this sitcom continuation.

In my review of the previous episode The Nighthawks, I stated that the first five minutes of that offering were pretty good but the episode was swiftly killed after that by Abby's personal drama. The same applies here but with one very important difference. The "pretty good" never occurs. They might as well have called this one Personal Drama- The Episode.

As for what works in this episode, John Laroquette does great in this episode considering what he has to work with reprising his role as Dan Fielding. In fact, he has done excellent work in all ten episodes released thus far. Also, I appreciate Kapil Talwalkar adding a real layer of depth to court clerk Neil, whose character goes out and gets the weekly Tuesday treat to keep Abby's newfound tradition alive. Also, the great sets of the first two episodes are maintained, and the laugh track, an ever present beacon of quality, is retained.

Now, to what doesn't work. The female members of the court ensemble do not work... yet. Melissa Rauch as Judge Abby Stone is just a personal drama machine, India de Beaufort is an annoying Saturday Night Live type of one dimensionality.. Also annoying, Bailiff Gurgs ,played by Lacretta, is a source of relentless irritation. Over the course of season 1, do these three get better or worse? We shall see. And what happened to the funny maintenance man from the first two episodes? Did they just get tired of him that fast? Finally, the story and character writing is mediocre at its best here.

Over the course of these reviews, I will speak on some improvements being made to the show. Next up will be Episode 4 : Dan v. Dating. Stay Tuned!

Rebooting a beloved classic with a new set of players is a daunting task. So far, the effort has been underwhelming. Harry Anderson was such a unique talent that those shoes and outdated suits would be hard for anyone to fill. Even his guest spots as a hustler on Cheers made him a lovable rogue, extending his standup persona into a group setting.

Presumably, the laughs in these first episodes seem forced because they're trying to establish a set of regulars with enough chemistry to avoid the cancellation hook. Few, if any, will feel their mirth level is accurately represented by the overly effusive laugh track.

For the show to survive, the writers and producers must remember the importance of the endless flow of weird defendants and accusers dragged before the bench, played by a cornucopia of gifted character actors, that filled each episode with delightful surprises. Let that parade begin, before someone turns off the lights.