Reviews

It took a few episodes to settle into this show and at first I thought I may not stick with it. By the later episodes I was very engaged and a bit frustrated at having to wait a whole week to see what happens next. As the other reviews reflect, the show is hard to characterize. It's comedic at times, dramatic, and also sci-fi. It's got a light touch-not a heavy drama by any means. Through the characters's experiences and the main plot driver - a machine that tells each person their "life potential" - the show questions how we think about our life purpose and what we do with our time on earth. It focuses on two groups: Teenagers and adults (mostly middle aged). The teenagers are already in the mode of exploring and conceiving their life's possibilities so their "life potential" from the machine is just another input on their journey of deciding who they can or should be. The middle agers' experience with being given a life potential is much more disruptive because so many of their life choices are behind them. It raises the interesting question of how late is too late to make a radical change in your life, and what might you lose (or gain) in the process?

I had heard this was good but honestly was taken aback by how entertaining it is. The first season was really compelling as you watch this train wreck of a woman, Cassie, who is somehow managing to keep her flight attendant career going as she wakes up in a hotel in Asia next to a dead guy who was a first class passenger on her flight. What follows is her frantic search to remember and understand what happened that night. Kaley Cuoco does a great job with both the comedy and drama, and her fellow cast members are all terrific. The writing is great, the plot never sags, and you get invested in Cassie figuring out both who killed the passenger but also why her life is such a mess.

The second season picks up a year later with all the same characters and a few new ones. I saw a lot of negative reviews for Season 2, but I thought it was very well done. The plot is engaging, makes great use of all the characters and relationships from the first season, and poses again an intriguing whodunnit. It also goes with the underlying theme of the first season in that Cassie is continuing to peel back the layers of her life (her mom makes an appearance this season, played by the excellent Sharon Stone) trying to understand and reconcile why she behaves the way she does, and learn how to be a happy, healthy person.

Full disclosure: I loved the original Night Court. The setup for this comedy has so much potential for any good writing team and a strong group of actors. I watched the first two episodes and was laughing as the new characters all got to know one another. In particular I love the new bailiff. She's zany in a good way and immediately likable. There was a great scene with her and Dan Fielding in court in Ep 2 about her dropping her keys. Great rhythm and timing.

The new judge is refreshingly optimistic and altruistic without being annoying. The fact that she was inspired by her dad - the original judge on the first night court show - grounds her positivity in something meaningful and makes it feel genuine and true. The relationship between returning character Dan Fielding and the new judge is touching for those who watched the original series. It's also a reminder of how many original cast members have died and honors them in a way. Viewers new to the series may find these elements lack resonance though. I hope they hang in there despite this because this cast and the writing show a lot of potential for a reliably entertaining weekly comedy series.