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The Second Half aired from September 1993 until April 1994 on NBC.
John Palmaro ( John Mendoza) was a dumpy , absentminded sports columnist for The Chicago Daily Post who ambled through life issuing wisecracks. Newly divorced, he had reverted to his naturally slovenly ways and could often be found slouched in his sparsely furnished apartment watching TV , surrounded by empty pizza cartons. Though barely able to organize his new life, he nevertheless had weekend custody of his two daughters, self-absorbed Cathy ( Ellen Blain) and bright little Ruthie ( Brooke Stanley), which required at least a part-time show of parental responsibility. Fortunately his sensible sister Denise ( Jessica Lundy), a nurse, lived across the hall and helped out. Down at the office John pecked out his column " The Second Half," and got plenty of free advice from self-assured editor Robert( Wayne Knight) and bon vivant critic David ( Joe Guzaldo). Maureen ( Mindy Cohn) was John's chubby but eager assistant.
A Review from USA TODAY
TV COMMENTARY/BY MATT ROUSH
Mendoza's halfhearted 'Second'
Someday the networks will get over the notion that every stand-up comic is a latent sitcom star, and begin hiring honest-to-goodness actors again.
Until then, shows like The Second Half will come and go. Not that there's anything too objectionable about this unassuming lump, except it just lies there like a stifled belch.
John Mendoza is this week's so-called discovery, a deadpan lug with a pudgy mug and middle-aged bloat. He's at his best when he trains his sleepy glare on the terminally dumb: a fey airline-ticket agent and a pizza delivery boy who arrives without change yet expects a tip.
He's at his worst when asked to carry a scene with what amounts to negative energy, where a shrug is meant ( but fails) to convey a thousand words. The show's as empty as his living quarters, an apartment still unfurnished a month after his divorce. It's up to his sister down the hall to replenish the toilet paper.
As a Chicago sportswriter ( of a column titled The Second Half) with two precocious daughters who visit on the weekends, Mendoza is presumably meant to appeal to that hapless-male comic ethos that ABC has tapped so successfully in Home Improvement and this show's competition, Coach.
But so far, he's just an Oscar without a Felix, a Tim Taylor minus Jill, coach lacking the Christine. The Second Half needs another half. Best friend Wayne Knight ( Jurassic Park, Seinfeld) who's making a career out of overweight, obnoxious characters doesn't cut it.
Mendoza does try, though, hitting on a salesclerk with the same " what the hell" approach he takes to buying furniture. But it sort of goes nowhere.
Like the show. It's only half there, and that's not enough.
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