"No Good Nick" is a show about a random girl who rocks up to a house and be like 'I be family' and that family be like 'you be family' but we (as the audience) find out that she not 'be family'. It is a sitcom about Nick (short for Nikola, real name unknown, played by Siena Agudong) who is planning to con the family out of their money for her foster parents but she also plans to con them to help her real dad (Eddie McClintock)who is in jail. He says that that family wronged them and I suspect it had to do with not getting a business loan.
However, I could only make it past the 4th episode and skipped to the last one. It is a standard sitcom with bright lights, cheesy music and a laugh track. Something that is not really my cup of coffee but I gave it a shot anyway. The jokes hit sometimes (as they tend to do when there are many popping out per an episode) with a few good one liners such as Jeremy (Kalama Epstein) saying that Nick is 'such a distracted cousin he could marry her'.
There is an overarching story line (which is not very common with sitcoms (I think 'How I Met Your Mother' also had this overarching story as well) since they usually tie everything up at the end of each episode but "No Good Nick" goes for the long pull) with Nick and her Dad, as well as the con of it all. The idea of having a con artist living with a sitcom family is what interested me but they did not do anything new with it, which is a shame for me since it is a Netflix original show and they seem to have a bit more space to play. It was too safe and stuck in the genre and even thought the description of the show is 'new kid turn their lives upside down' she barely does, most of her plans fail and half of the family members accept her straight away while one (Mom played by Melissa Joan Hart) is welcoming but on the fence. We know what she tries to do but the family does not so there is no 'turn upside down'...ness. Having an overarching story for a sitcom is new (I guess) but there could be so much more done with the story, that it is disappointing to me but then again it is my own fault.
The script was not too good when there were jokes and the acting could be better. However, there were moments when the tone of the show became more serious such as the parents talking about literally taking in a new kid or when Nick was speaking to her Dad in the last episode. The acting between the adults was good in these parts and there seem to be some improvement on Nick's side. The other kids were okay and there is potential.
Too bad, I was not a fan of Nick's character. Not that she was a con artist but it felt as if the series wanted me to feel sorry for her, I mean I get why but it was... a touch... try hard. Like I could see her forming a plan in her head (which is good but too on the nose but no one in the family noticed when her face all of a sudden looked weird. Families notices this kind of things and they ask 'what you thinking?' so for them not too was... weird). All the characters had something about them that put me off such as the daughter, Molly (Lauren Lindsey Donzis), who cares about people and the world (which is nice since she accepts Nick straight away) but is such on the 'woke' side that she is more of a parody. Jeremy, the brother, is the straight one that sees that there is something up with Nick (which is a good conflict) but is so arrogant and narrow that Nick can (and does) use this aspect of his character against him.
The parents got less on my nerves with the Dad, Ed (Sean Astin) being the 'I want to be your friend' attitude, which is okay... kind of standard. The Mom, Liz, was my favourite since we saw her kind of grow into accepting Nick. She made the most sense since it is not easy to accept a new, random, "family member" into your nuclear family. However, there was a conversation she and Nick had about 'men think they be better then women' which is a good talk to discuss but it felt focused. It like the series does something I can like and then something that 'ahh, come on' me.
Overall, I tricked myself into watching this series. I thought it would start off as a sitcom but end up as something different but it did not. This was my own doing and although this sitcom is too safe and standard for me (expect for the long haul story but that was not enough for me), it is well made and aimed at those who like the sitcom format with a twist of knowing the "villain" (Nick) before the characters do and seeing the long term goal try to play out. The motion is seeing if the family figures it out, how they do, when they do. But the ending of the season does have a surprising cliff-hanger which was discovered by the Mom (after she fully let Nick in) which was a nice touch.
So a few good lines, interesting premise but poorly used, characters are standard but Nick needs a bit more work (I did warm up to her but a lot of times I wanted her to leave). Check it out if sitcoms are your thing and if not... don't let the trailer fool you.