TV Show Review: Night Court Reboot - Season 2

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: A few episodes made me laugh

Cons: Most are only half funny

The Bottom Line:

The show has some laughs

But they still aren’t consistent

But new cast does help

“I Shouldn’t Judge a Book by the Fact That It’s All Pictures.”

I wasn’t completely impressed with the first season of Night Court, but I laughed enough to give season two a try.  I laughed about the same amount, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Once again, we are in the night court of New York City where Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch) is the judge.  For the public defender’s office, we have Dan Fielding (John Larroquette), who used to be a prosecutor.  On the prosecution side, we have Olivia (India de Beaufort) who wants to be just about anywhere else.  Rounding out the cast, we have Gurgs (Lacretta), the bailiff, and Wyatt (Nyambi Nyambi), the new clerk who starts a couple of episodes into the season.

Due to the strikes, we only got 13 episodes.  Also due to the strikes, the season premiered later than originally planned.  That means, we get the Christmas episode first before going back to see how the season 1 cliffhanger was resolved.  In case you need reminding, it involved Dan taking a job as a judge in New Orleans and having Roz (guest star Marsha Warfield) from the original Night Court show up before him.  No surprise to anyone, Dan winds up back in night court in NYC as the public defender as a result of what happens in what should have been the first episode of the season.

So what does befall the gang this season?  Budget cuts threaten the court.  A hacker is threatening to reveal everyone’s secrets.  Comic con and fashion week both impact the court in weird ways.  And the Wheelers, hard luck characters from the original, turn back up.

As I said earlier, some episodes work better than others.  There are a few I genuinely enjoyed all the way through.  The one with the Wheelers comes to mind.  On the other hand, many of them half work for me.  I find one storyline funny but another storyline is painfully unfunny.  Typically, the storylines involving Olivia don’t work.  Gurgs is right behind her, although she has her moments.  I think the problem is the writers don’t really know what to do with these two characters more than that the performances from the actresses are lacking.  Abby and Dan continue to entertain me, and Wyatt is a promising addition to the mix.

Fans of The Big Bang Theory will find the episode where Kunal Nayyar shows up as a fashion designer fun.  Brent Spiner and Annie O'Donnell reprised their roles as the Wheelers, and they brought along Kate Micucci as their daughter, Carol Ann.  It was fun to see that Big Bang reunion as well.

Overall, I feel like my issue with the show is the writing.  When a script is good, the entire cast can make me laugh.  But when a script is just okay, no amount of acting or comedic timing will save it.

Yes, I’ll probably keep watching this show next season as well.  Unless I can find a better sitcom that will genuinely make me laugh, this is the next best thing.  It’s sad that sitcom fans have to settle for things like season 2 of Night Court instead of truly great shows that will make us laugh.