Having seen the films Bad Santa with Billy Bob Thornton and Bad Teacher with Cameron Diaz, I suspected that the new sitcom Bad Judge was going to be another gross out comedy with lots of vomiting and toilet humor. I expected Kate Walsh’s character to be really sleazy and doing crooked deals. As it turns out the title of the show is a bit of a misnomer. Don’t get me wrong she is a crazy character who likes to have sex in her chambers with expert witnesses and she does like to party all night and coming to court with a nasty hangover. But as it turns out she does her job very well. As can be seen from the preview she does engage in some creative sentencing. Guest star Chris Purnell is convicted of bigamy and she sentences him to take a course in feminism while wearing a T-shirt saying “I am a serial bigamist”. To which he replies “How my going to pick up chicks wearing that?” This is even after his two wives have testified in his defense saying what a good husband he is despite the fact he had this whole other family behind the back.
In addition to the party hardy type of character that she is, the only plot line in the opening episode is that she keeps getting interrupted by phone calls for a 12-year-old kid whose parents she had sentenced to jail. The kid keeps getting in trouble at school and she keeps defending him. Her boss, another judge, keeps admonishing her that her job is not social worker that is actually a judge and she should not get involved in the lives of her defendants or their families. She ignores him and continues to help the boy.
At this point, it’s a little early to see just how funny this show is going to be or not. It is clear it’s not in the same vein as other “bad” comedies. Seeing Kate Walsh run around in skimpy underwear is enough to keep me watching another episode or two. Having said that she would probably sentence me to wear a T-shirt saying “I’m a dirty old man who watches TV shows just to see women in their underwear.” Guilty as charged your honor. For now I’m rating this “I’m watching”