Featured TV on DVD Review: The PJs: Season Two

July 3, 2011

The PJs: Season Two - Buy from Amazon

The PJs ran for a three seasons, sort of. It's complicated. Its first season was a mid-season replacement. The second season was a summer series starting in May and running till September. The next month it began its third season on a different network before being canceled. This two-disc set includes the second season, and the final season on FOX, but will there be an improvement over the previous season? Am I looking forward to season three more than I was after reviewing season one?

The Show

First a recap. Set in a low-rent highrise in a bad neighborhood, it stars Eddie Murphy as Thurgood Orville Stubbs, a.k.a., the Super. As the unappreciated superintendent, he has to deal with the well-founded complaints of his tenants, with only his wife, Muriel, to support him.

As I said in the previous review, the show got off to a slow start, but it did improve as the season wore on, even if it never did live up to its full potential. The second season maintains that quality level, for the most part. Some of the episodes were weak, like Haiti and the Tramp, which moved a little on the slow side. I know, it was supposed to be emotional and more mature than the usual jokes. However, we haven't been given enough reason to care about some of the characters on the show to get emotional about them. Mrs. Avery is one of the exceptions and it's not a surprise that Ja'net DuBois won two of the show's three Emmys. Juicy gets to be the center of an emotional story in What's Eating Juicy Hudson?, where he's tired of always having to help his parents, who are both shut-ins. Other side characters are good for laughs, like Smokey, and episodes where they become the focus are fun.

Other strong episodes include The Preacher's Life, in which Thurgood is accidentally electrocuted while trying to repair the electrical system of the church and when he comes to, he becomes a preacher. Not only does this episode skewer televangelists quite well, it has an excellent action scene. I mentioned in the last review that the foamation animation animation was one of the best parts of the show, and this episode proves that is still the case. Robbin' HUD has the residents of Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs projects teaming up to steal a new water filtration system. I love heist movies, so this was a fun episode. How the Super Stoled Christmas is a parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and works, for the most part. Like much of the rest of the show, it's funny, but with writing that was a little sharper, it could have been much better.

The Extras

Like before, there are no extras on the two-disc set, nor are there subtitles. And the episode order is messed up compared to how it aired on TV, but it might be sorted by the production order.

The Verdict

The Pjs has good voice acting, excellent animation, and writing that is inconsistent. A few too many jokes were on the lazy side and that was the main problem with the show. That said, if you liked Season One enough to buy it, then Season Two is also worth picking up. If you haven't seen the show yet, at least give it a rental.


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