S02.E05: Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change

[Bort]

Quote

Abby learns her ex is seeing someone and confronts her feelings head on... by trying to find the city's best pickle. Dan discovers that new friends aren't always good for your health. Olivia finds herself trapped in a legal love triangle.

Airdate: January 23, 2024

[AnimeMania]

Adam Johnson as Ian
Paul Scheer as Carnes
Morgan Jay as Verma
Rob Huebel as Pellino

[Starchild]

Wow, the writers of tonight's episode provided dialogue that illustrates the show's quality perfectly, and the point I tried to make last week.

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Excellent comedy writing: not applicable

⬇️

Good comedy writing: "Take that bet, Dan. I've climbed lots of stairs. Airports, malls..." -- suggests the joke without stating it explicitly; assumes the audience will get it. The original show's writing was often in this category, as were many sitcoms of the era.

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Average comedy writing: "By any chance do these stairs move?" -- offers the audience a hint, just in case the previous line was too subtle. A little insulting, but tolerable. Common in network sitcoms of the 90s and early 2000s.

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Poor comedy writing: "I think he means..." "I know he means escalators." -- explicitly states the joke, assuming the audience just isn't smart enough to get it. Juvenile humour seen on shows aimed at little kids. And many current network sitcoms.

[Irlandesa]

Because of a short news break in, the ending was cut off.  (And c'mon NBC, can't you just add a minute or two to the show?  You had to know you'd probably break in briefly?)

Can anyone mention what happened after Abby and Dan rolled out the barrels? 

20 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Wow, the writers of tonight's episode provided dialogue that illustrates the show's quality perfectly, and the point I tried to make last week.

I thought the beginning started too on the nose but I had more laughs as the episode wore on.

I'm glad Wyatt being there doesn't mean that Flobert is gone.  They both offer something. 

[nelroy78]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

Because of a short news break in, the ending was cut off.  (And c'mon NBC, can't you just add a minute or two to the show?  You had to know you'd probably break in briefly?)

Can anyone mention what happened after Abby and Dan rolled out the barrels? 

I thought the beginning started too on the nose but I had more laughs as the episode wore on.

I'm glad Wyatt being there doesn't mean that Flobert is gone.  They both offer something. 

They aired the entire episode but the recording was cut short, maybe that is what you meant. I also watch Extended Family so I was able to catch the end, but I will have to catch the end of EF tomorrow on Peacock.

Both lawyers were on The Goldbergs. Rob Huebel was John Calabasas who had a different role every time and Paul Scheer guest starred in Season 8 in the same episode his wife did.

[Annber03]

Yeah, my recording cut off at the end, too. I did like the talk between Dan and Abby, though. I also want to know how the hell Dan managed to say that tongue twister earlier in the episode without tripping over himself :p.

*Sees Huebel*

Hey, it's Trevor's "friend" Ari from "Ghosts" :p! 

 

[Yeah No]

I've been critical of this show but I actually enjoyed this episode.  I hope it's a trend.  I like the way they've utilized the new characters so far and they do contribute something.

[kirinan]

This episode was the first time I liked the way they used Olivia; she made me laugh more than anyone else. It was a perfect plot for her drama-queen persona. And I loved the scenes with Dan and Flobert; they were great together. I hope we get more of that. 

[ams1001]

18 hours ago, Annber03 said:

*Sees Huebel*

Hey, it's Trevor's "friend" Ari from "Ghosts" :p! 

Thank you! I'm just watching now and was trying to place him. He's got a long list of credits on wikipedia and I skimmed through it and somehow missed Ghosts (third from the bottom, too, so it shouldn't have been that hard). I had just decided he's one of those people I see in stuff without really knowing who he is but I knew I'd seen him in something relatively recently.

[Cress]

On 1/23/2024 at 8:13 PM, Irlandesa said:

I'm glad Wyatt being there doesn't mean that Flobert is gone.  They both offer something.

Yeah, but what is Flobert's job now? Or is he just still hanging out at court to be Dan's friend? I like the way that Wyatt dresses. His sweaters remind me of Mac on the old show.

I had to catch the end of the show on Peacock. I was surprised that Olivia suddenly decided she liked the other lawyer, the "frog" in her words. Then he said he liked her too but couldn't break up his partnership. I mean why would a romance mean that their law firm would breakup? But by his logic they couldn't be together either, and they said goodbye.

I do like how wacky and zany the comedy is now with pickles and stair races. Getting rid of love triangles is so refreshing.

[Browncoat]

Olivia would be a much more believable flirt if she would actually look at the person she's supposedly flirting with instead of at the teleprompter behind him.  One of the guys on Wings used to do that all the damn time, too, and it's really distracting and annoying to me.

[voiceover]

Thanks to DirecTV & their longstanding negotiations, I missed some eps & am just starting to catch up.

Sad that Neil is gone — I like Kapil — but the slow-burn with Abby was poorly written, so I get it.

However: happy to see Nyambi Nyambi join as series regular.  He was great as Samuel on Mike & Molly.

[TheOtherOne]

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.

[North of Eden]

It feels like they have an entirely different group of writers this season. It's as if they are trying to channel the most absurd elements of the original series. And it's not necessarily a  good thing. Gone is the more grounded approach of the first season to embrace such foolishness as a judge making pickles and men unable to climb ten stairs.  Not a fan.

Surprised Flobert is hanging around. It looks like with Wyatt as clerk they are transitioning him away from being a zany version of Mac to the new 'Phil the Bum' sidekick for Dan...but sorry nobody could ever fill those shoes (not even when they came up with a never before mentioned twin Will).

The core of the show is Dan/Abby interactions so that keeps me tuned in...along with the eye candy of the Prosecutor.