TheOtherOne

Heidi Gardner Couldn’t Prepare for What She Saw https://www.vulture.com/article/snl-heidi-gardner-beavis-and-butthead-sketch-interview.html

PREACH! I mean, I've come to enjoy the new show a lot lately for what it is, no small thing considering how bad the first season was. But the writing isn't even close to what the original was.

For me, he's Jack Crawley, the corporate executive who had a woman's boyfriend murdered and framed her for it to get her to sign off on fraudulent financial reports in the first season of Criminal Intent.

Officially renewed for Season 2: https://tvline.com/news/frasier-renewed-season-2-paramount-plus-revival-kelsey-grammer-1235172057/

As an angry crank who's complained a lot about this show and mostly been watching for lack of anything else...this one was actually funny. The best episode since "Blood Moon Binga." Last week's was an improvement on the previous few weeks, but this one was actually good. Yeah, there was line the new clerk had (it might have been the "This isn't me changing the subject, but...'First case!'") where I was like, it's nice to have a character who's actually funny in this position. (No offense to the Neil actor, because most of the problems with that character was the writing, since he was consistently written as whiny and downtrodden...and not in a funny way.) It was amusing how they portrayed the injury lawyers being so joined at the hip, since the real-life inspiration (Cellino & Barnes) famously flamed out, turned out to hate each other, and split up their firm. (And then one died in a plane crash or something.) Paul Scheer doesn't always work for me, but he was well-used here. Yes, Olivia was legitimately funny (for once?), and Abby's story managed to get some genuine emotion (and Dan was well used in that final scene). The combination of humor and heart felt more like classic Night Court. This was great. More like this, please.

Different strokes and all, but I didn't think the old show was dumb at all. Silly on the surface--sure--but also pretty smart. There was a reason it received multiple Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series (back when there was a strict 5 nominees, not all the number they throw nominations at these days). As usual, I turned on the old show on Amazon Freevee last night to play a few episodes while I was working out. The way there was usually a dramatic plotline combined with a just-for-laughs one was always a fascinating combination of tones. Last night's were "New Year's Leave" (a sweet old man arrested in a nightgown turns out to be an escaped felon trying to visit Times Square where he met his wife before he dies; Bull tries to catch a man in a diaper who's claiming to be the new year 1987 who's running amok in the courthouse) and "Murder" (a woman claiming to have shot her husband turns herself in to the courtroom; meanwhile Dan tries to donate sperm for money, is told he has low swimmers, and tries to abstain from sexual activity for two weeks so he can be retested). Both have good moments for all six regulars plus the guest stars (who are well-developed as human beings), both are smart and very funny. I know this wouldn't fly today, but it's hilarious and well-written (and actually sounds like a studio audience responding to what's happening...).

In case anyone else was looking for it.

This week in the terrible laugh track: that sad applause and wooing that popped up when Dan appeared in the courtroom, too short and half-hearted to be a believable human reaction (even if it were at all plausible that an audience would cheer a character they'd already seen earlier in the episode, which it wasn't). Dan and Roz's plot was good, and I enjoyed Gurg's fakeout/lie at the end. Olivia's plot was too underdeveloped, though there was a decent idea in there. Flobert is too much of a cartoon to work as a character who'll generate story, which means he'll be no more successful than Neil if they don't develop him ASAP. Right now they still only have four characters they can build stories around, requiring them to lean on guest stars like Roz.

Maria Bamford's delivery of "I guess we have a lot in common, Kareem Abdul-Jabar" was the biggest/only real laugh for me. The laugh track is such an energy suck on the show. I'm assuming they're filming in front of a live audience, but whether they're tampering with the audience laughter or using canned responses, it just doesn't sound real. It really sounds like someone's pushing a button after each punchline to generate this low energy, not-too-loud burst of canned laughter. Compared to original Night Court, or any 80s (and a lot of 90s) sitcoms, it doesn't sound like the actual sounds of a studio audience reacting.

Confirmed: Neil is no longer on the show. Night Court: Kapil Talwakar Not Returning as Neil in Season 2

The title of this episode is "A Night Court Before Christmas." "The Night Court Before Christmas" is a stone-cold classic and one my favorite episodes of the original series, an episode I fondly remembered from my childhood and have rewatched numerous times since the series became available on Amazon. Bull mistakes a truck full of toys that are evidence in a case for donations for Toys for Tots, and after he and Roz distribute them to kids, she refuses to reveal where they were donated so they can be taken back, forcing Harry to throw her in jail for contempt. Meanwhile, Buddy visits for Christmas, and the two plots eventually intersect. A nicely Roz-centric episode (still a rarity at that point in the series' run), with good moments for the entire ensemble and the perfect amount of holiday sentiment without losing the laughs. I love it. eta: (And yes, it kind of sucks that the new show used such a similar title.)

Not tighty whities; white boxer briefs. (And yes, I was paying close attention.)

On a happier note, Peri Gilpin interview. Frasier’s Peri Gilpin Wishes Roz Was a Little More Like Liz Lemon

I didn't read my own link carefully enough to see there was a clip from the episode at the bottom.

Entertainment Weekly: Damn it, Frasier! Peri Gilpin returns as Roz Doyle in Frasier season finale "It was a fantasy come true to play that part again and to go back into that world."