Judging Amy - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from Judging Amy.

[Maherjunkie]

Who is your favorite or least favorite character?  Mine is Amy.  She's whiny, overdoes it, is a control freak with Lauren, and is unusually clingy to Maxine.  The men she dates are almost always boring.  Just get with Bruce and get it over with.

[BizBuzz]

I gotta go with Maxine, clearly a Tyne Daily fan here.  I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I always envisioned myself to be like her as I got older.  A champion for the little guy, bending the rules if I had to get the job done, and just being ornery because I had lived long enough that I don't really care what anyone else says.  ::giggle::

 

WOO HOO!  Glad there is a JA topic!  I gotta find this somewhere and rewatch it.  Again.  ::giggle::

[BizBuzz]

Scuse me, but I like my men chocolate.  OMG, any other Bruce love around these parts?  Swoon.  The whole package.  But he always got me with his voice.  How seductive, even when he was mad.  Now I really need to find where this is playing. 

[Maherjunkie]

LOVE Tyne too!  And weird thing is to me she is one of those women who actually looks better older; softer with the right hair style.  I used to think of  her as the Wynonna to her brother Tim's Ashley Judd.

[BizBuzz]

No kidding, right?

 

I know a lot of people didn't like her relationship with Cheech, but I thought it was sweet at times.  They worked well off of each other. 

[BizBuzz]

I do a check every six months or so to see if this is anywhere to be found to do a rewatch.  Anyone know where it's showing?  I would even pay for it if it was on iTunes, but alas, it's not.

[Maherjunkie]

In a weird way yes.  It's a pity about Richard, he seemed the more normal one for her.

[Maherjunkie]

Honey no!  I meant vanilla as in boring.  Go watch that In the Heat of the Night movie with him in it.  Totally different dude.

[Maherjunkie]

The UP channel.

[BizBuzz]

Well shoot, not on my cable lineup, that sucks.

[BizBuzz]

HA!  Play on words, good one.  Ok, I stand corrected, still like my men chocolate, standing by that one.  HA!

 

Are you talking about the series with Carroll O'Connor?  I have watched that a time or two, but never saw Jones in it ... will it make me hate him? 

[Maherjunkie]

He plays the hood rat in that one, one of those tv movies they did at the end that made no sense.

[BizBuzz]

Gotcha ...

 

So let's talk about Timothy Omundson - I always liked his character on JA - and he is one of those actors that I never remember his name, but I see him often (like in the few episodes of Psych I watched).

 

Like?  No like?

[radishcake]

I like Tim! He's got a good comic and dramatic timing and I enjoy his "judgey" face.

and he is aging WELL!

[radishcake]

I saw this when it was in regular rotation on TNT back in the day. It was a Judging Amy block followed by a L&O original flavor block. Got me through from like 1pm - 6pm! :)

[Maherjunkie]

Yeah, I remember.  The good old days!

[Maherjunkie]

I like him too!  One of the few well rounded men on the show.  I think he was on Frasier once-though I could be wrong-he had longish hair and I liked that look on him.  I liked it when he sang at Amy's wedding-it was such an awkward moment!

[Maherjunkie]

Did the show jump the shark at any time for you?  I remember her dating David and me thinking it had gotten dull.  Maybe post-Stewart and when Richard dies.  I didn't like Kyle replacing Vincent.

[BizBuzz]

Did the show jump the shark at any time for you?  I remember her dating David and me thinking it had gotten dull.  Maybe post-Stewart and when Richard dies.  I didn't like Kyle replacing Vincent.

 

I never watched this live.  I watched it in syndication.  I think when you have to wait for episodes, the expectation is higher than watching something you know is already canceled, so you know there is an end game, if that makes sense.

 

Knowing that, and most of the time binge watching, I never grew tired of the series as a whole.  There were some definite episodes I didn't like, and would choose not to watch again, but for the most part, it was great from start to finish.

 

Did you watch it live?

[Maherjunkie]

Yes, though I grew more committed through TNT.

[jah1986]

I rarely watched live.  But I didn't like Kyle too much either.  I was kind of sick of the storyline when the sister-in-law left her husband after she had the baby and went into a coma (I'm forgetting everyone's name).  That just didn't make any sense to me.  Also, I kind of couldn't stand Amy. But I did love Amy and Bruce in any capacity.

[Maherjunkie]

Jillian was so damn annoying!!  Kyle was not a bad human being but I just preferred soft spoken not addict Vincent.  Amy could be such a know-it-all and I question some of her decisions.

[jah1986]

Oh Jillian, she was annoying.  And Amy's daughter's (Lauren) voice was like nails on a chalk board.  I may have to go back and rewatch my DVDs.

[Maherjunkie]

I thought Lauren was cute and Amy was a hard ass as a mother.

[jah1986]

The kid was cute but her voice, just irritated me.

[Maherjunkie]

Her hair made up for it.

[Bastet]

I remember the characters and my general impressions, but I'm hard-pressed to remember a single storyline from this show.  And I don't remember when I quit watching.  I loved Maxine, liked Amy and her coworkers, couldn't stand Lauren or Gillian, and preferred Vincent but was fine with Kyle (possibly because Kevin Rahm is a friend of a friend).  Peter was just sort of there.

[Maherjunkie]

He was the probable Star Wars geek that tags along.  What's Kevin like?  Liked him on Joan of Arc.

[Bastet]

I barely know him, having only talked with him a few times at various functions of our mutual friend's, but he seems like a decent guy.  I first met him while the show was airing, and he spoke positively of it.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Bastet

[DHDancer]

the UP channel has this one every day, two episodes at a time.  It's on a continuous cycle so it finishes then starts from the beginning again. 

 

I enjoyed this show when it first aired and came back to it when  UP started to air it.  I find it fairly compelling viewing, for the issues discussed, and the juxtaposition of how "wise" Amy is in the courtroom compared to how messed up she is in her personal life.

 

Love love Maxine (you can see where Amy's disfunction comes from in her character), Vincent, Bruce, and Donna.  I have a hard time with Gillian (I knew someone just like her, annoying as heck), Peter grows on me with re-watching episodes.  And I liked Kyle but not at the loss of Vincent.

[Maherjunkie]

You mean Amy tries to hard to be like her mother?

[DHDancer]

Not intentionally.  But I'm sure we've all had those moments where we stop and think "omg, I sound just like my mother!"   Both Amy and Maxine have dysfunctional relationships with people --- is that nature or nurture??

[Maherjunkie]

Probably a combo.  I see Amy as sometimes too wimpy to Maxine's abrasive.  But both have good hearts.

[Maherjunkie]

I prefer Maxine's style of mothering; "Amy in my day we didn't have cell phones and we parented without them..."  

[ub40fan]

I loved Bruce, but I also loved his replacement...Jim Parsons. I think it must have been the last season. A Sheldon in training.

[DHDancer]

The Jim Parsons character replaced Bruce while he was going through the legal battle about attacking someone in the courthouse hallways ('victim' was a complete jerk).  Bruce came back after being exonerated.

[jah1986]

Wasn't the person Bruce "attacked" his girlfriend's ex-husband. I thought that ended their relationship because she couldn't afford to lose her child in a custody battle.

 

The Jim Parsons character was a nice addition but no one replaces my beloved Bruce.

[Maherjunkie]

Then he moved on to that douchette, Zola Knox.

[jah1986]

OMG, the less said about Zola the better. It must have had something to do with her being Tyne Daly's daughter, because she stayed on far too long for me.

[Maherjunkie]

I had no idea!

 

With Tim Daly as my uncle I'd be guilty of incest!

[Maherjunkie]

The show will play on UP channel on Monday nights too.

[Maherjunkie]

I meant to comment on last week's episode about Halloween.  It's my favorite.  I love the way Amy stands up to those PC bitches at the PTA.  But in the end, agree with Maxine's way, "Amy let her sit this one out if she wants to."

 

I understood Vincent's lament at Maxine's "not getting it" about his writing but once again his wimpiness prevails; tell her you can't escort brats around right now and don't be manipulated!

 

And take the deal!  Do you want to be a published author who can dump Hillary at some point or a principled dog washer who navel gazes?

[Maherjunkie]

"Bruce" will be on a new movie on the UP channel,  I think it has "Lyfe" in the title but am not sure of the whole thing.  Sorry to be a half stepper.

[Maherjunkie]

http://sonomachristianhome.com/2014/10/lyfes-journey-official-trailer/

 

Here it be!

[DHDancer]

I'm just watching the episode "Maxine Interrupted" which has Sharon Gless in it (yay!!)  Why do you think Maxine pushes everyone away from her?  Is it a result of all the pain she sees in her job and she needs to insulate herself?  She always seems very aware of what she is doing, and sometimes you can see her pause, and I'm yelling "don't do it Maxine" but she doesn't back down.  It was the same when she and Amy had the fight and Amy moved out.  I find it so sad every time it happens...

 

Oh, and ps on this episode, I just love Donna's pet psychic moments with Frances the parrot... priceless.

Edited October 31, 2014 by DHDancer

[Maherjunkie]

I can't remember the ep, but didn't Sharon stab her in the back?

[DHDancer]

Not really IMO.  "Sassy" was there to review her,  told her some home truths about how Maxine operates outside the rules, with Maxine responding that it is the only way to get things done so they agreed to differ.  There was a bit of you ---Sassy--- bailed because you couldn't stand the heat, but the realization in the end is that their lives had taken different paths and they were both good at what they do.  The interesting part at the end is that Maxine was the one to reach out for a lets-be-friends hug (so "not Maxine" behavior) and Sassy was the reluctant one, but hugged anyway.  So, more alike than different...

[Maherjunkie]

I hate it when Amy gives Lauren a hard time for being a cheerleader.  I felt like take your faux feminism elsewhere you dumb bitch!  Let her do what she wants.

[WendyCR72]

I guess this show is still airing on UP from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays according to its website. Kind of surprised the show is still not on DVD officially, but I have read it involves issues between CBS and 20th Century Fox.