Written by Allison Lips
Plot: Rebecca Wright (Kate Walsh) serves on the Los Angeles County Circuit Court during the day and is a hot mess all the time.
Bad Judge has an interesting premise, but that’s it. The show wants to be a darker version of Night Court. However, the wacky high jinx comes off as sad. No one wants to see a woman approaching middle-age acting like a drunken sorority girl, yet the creators of Bad Judge (Will Ferrell, Adam McKay) think it’s hilarious.
Continuing the Night Court comparison, Rebecca Wright (Walsh) acts like a cross between Harry Stone (Harry Andersen) and Dan Fielding (Laroquette). The problem is that she lacks the parenting instinct of the former and none of the charm of the latter. Wright takes care of Robby Shoemaker (Theodore Barnes) because she feels guilty about sending both his parents to jail. She’s helping him, but finds him to be a burden at times. Wright’s an alcoholic that sleeps around and comments about male lawyers junk because someone thought it would be a funny contrast to our preconceived notions about how judges act.
There’s nothing else about Bad Judge worth mentioning. It barely clocks in at over 20 minutes, so it shouldn’t be too hard to sit through. Despite that, the things that caught my attention had nothing to do with the plot. While watching all I could think is it’s nice to see Chris Parnell working again and odd that Wright drives around in the 70s pimp van that was once used in a Conan sketch.
Bad Judge won’t last. It’s so forgettable that I don’t remember much about it and I started this review the moment I finished watching the pilot. If you want silliness in a courtroom, please go watch Night Court.
Rating: 2.5 out of 10
===========================================================================================================================================
Allison Lips is the Founder of Wait! What’s a Dial?, a television blog that showcases the writing of millennials. Allison graduated from Rowan University in May 2013. She has a passion for TV history, especially late night and game shows. If she could go back in time, Steve Allen would still be hosting The Tonight Show. Follow her on Twitter @waitwaitsadial.
===========================================================================================================================================
