`Judging Amy’ awaits judgment

If “Judging Amy” had debuted at this time last year, it would have been deemed a fresh idea.

The concept of the series, which has a sneak preview from 8 to 9 p.m. Sunday, is as follows: a woman, unsure about the direction her life is taking, comes home. She moves in with her well-meaning but overbearing mother. That home is also Grand Central Station for a series of underachieving siblings.

Wait a minute! That describes “Providence,” NBC’s surprise hit of a schmaltzy drama from last spring. Undoubtedly, that’s why CBS programming honchos gave the OK to “Judging Amy,” in the hopes that lightning will strike twice.

All this proves is that timing is everything, for although “Judging Amy” resembles “Providence,” it’s actually the superior show of the two, more realistic in its drama with considerably less saccharine content.

The secret weapon of “Judging Amy,” which airs at 10 p.m. Tuesdays starting Sept. 21, is its executive producer and star, Amy Brenneman, the wild-haired beauty from the early “NYPD Blue” and last season’s “Frasier.”

She plays Amy Gray, who chucks a promising career in corporate law in New York City to become a judge in juvenile court. With her marriage dying, she and her daughter Lauren have moved home to Hartford to stay with her longtime social worker mom Maxine (a relatively restrained Tyne Daly, “Cagney and Lacey”).

As a “baby judge,” Amy is stumbling along while learning her way in the courtroom, with the grudging assistance of Bruce Van Exel (Richard T. Jones, “Brooklyn South”), her court service’s officer. At home, she’s having to learn to be a daughter and sister all over again after a decade on her own. She’s going to have to get her bearings — and quickly.

“Judging Amy” has a winning cast, led by Brenneman, Daly and Dan Futterman (“The Birdcage”), who plays Amy’s aimless baby brother. A modest family drama, it should be able to hold its own against an aging “NYPD Blue” and yet another “Dateline NBC.”