Night Court Rewatch

[burdette25159]

As promised, I have begun to rewatch Night Court, I will rate each episode from 0-10 (0 is the worst score while 10 is the best score possible)

All you Need is love
OAD 1-4-1984
In the Pilot Episode, It's Disorder In The Court as Harold T. Stone (Harry Anderson) becomes a night court judge in New York City; working with him are court clerk Lana Wagner (Karen Austin), prosecutor Dan Fielding (John Larroquette), public defender Sheila Gardner (Gail Strickland), and bailiffs Bull Shannon (Richard Moll) and Selma Hacker (Selma Diamond). In his first case, he has to settle a dispute involving a woman threatening her husband with gunfire, while at the same time try must earn the trust of his staff, who are skeptical about his unorthodox judicial methods. An great launching point for the show

9 out of 10

[Welfare Willis]

Apr 21, 2021 17:26:58 GMT -5 burdette25159 said:

As promised, I have begun to rewatch Night Court, I will rate each episode from 0-10 (0 is the worst score while 10 is the best score possible)

All you Need is love
OAD 1-4-1984
In the Pilot Episode, It's Disorder In The Court as Harold T. Stone (Harry Anderson) becomes a night court judge in New York City; working with him are court clerk Lana Wagner (Karen Austin), prosecutor Dan Fielding (John Larroquette), public defender Sheila Gardner (Gail Strickland), and bailiffs Bull Shannon (Richard Moll) and Selma Hacker (Selma Diamond). In his first case, he has to settle a dispute involving a woman threatening her husband with gunfire, while at the same time try must earn the trust of his staff, who are skeptical about his unorthodox judicial methods. An great launching point for the show

9 out of 10

Mr. Plinkett, is that you?

[Mozenrath]

I loved this show as a kid.

[burdette25159]

Santa Goes Downtown
OAD: 1-11-84

The season is merry as Harry deals with a man in a red suit charged with trespassing, and tries to restore the faith of a pair of cynical teenage runaways (Michael J. Fox who got a "Special appearance by" credit and Olivia Barash). A change in Public Defender happens (The First but NOT the Last Change) as Paula Kelly's Liz Williams took Gail Strickland's Shelia's place

7 out of 10

[Deleted]

The first season was rather curious in how we see the cast change mid-season, nevermind the second season.

Should also be of note this show replaced The Duck Factory as a mid-season filler on NBC.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Night Court is a show I liked as a kid and LOVE as an adult.

For a few years LAFF was airing it for 2 hours everyday. And I would DVR them. Great show that only really lost a step by the last season. But that is more cause the writers thought the next to last season was going to be the final season.

[lucas_lee]

How are you watching Night Court if you don't mind me asking no streaming network has it

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2021 23:57:16 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

How are you watching Night Court if you don't mind me asking no streaming network has it

If you have access to LAFF if a local network is airing it digitally, or via cable provider, that's how.

My one issue is they air one episode where the audio is a second or two delayed and it is irritating (The Phantom of the Court Room, Part One).

[Ultimo Gallos]

Apr 22, 2021 12:39:00 GMT -5 @jdogindy said:

Apr 21, 2021 23:57:16 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

How are you watching Night Court if you don't mind me asking no streaming network has it

If you have access to LAFF if a local network is airing it digitally, or via cable provider, that's how.

Damn I figured by now LAFF had replaced it with so unfunny show like According to Jim. That is what happened to Empty Nest when it was on LAFF.

[Deleted]

Apr 22, 2021 12:40:35 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Apr 22, 2021 12:39:00 GMT -5 @jdogindy said:

If you have access to LAFF if a local network is airing it digitally, or via cable provider, that's how.

Damn I figured by now LAFF had replaced it with so unfunny show like According to Jim. That is what happened to Empty Nest when it was on LAFF.

No, they moved it to 8am to 10am on weekdays for some strange reason.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Apr 22, 2021 12:43:14 GMT -5 @jdogindy said:

Apr 22, 2021 12:40:35 GMT -5 Ultimo Gallos said:

Damn I figured by now LAFF had replaced it with so unfunny show like According to Jim. That is what happened to Empty Nest when it was on LAFF.

No, they moved it to 8am to 10am on weekdays for some strange reason.

Cool at least they are still airing it. When we first got LAFF I loved that they had not only Night Court,which IIRC had last aired years ago on Encore Classic,but also Empty Nest,which I hadn't seen since it originally aired.

[burdette25159]

The Former Harry Stone
OAD 1-18-84
Lana learns that Harry has a criminal record when she tries to find out his age to settle a bet. Terry Kiser makes his first appearance as sleazy reporter Al Craven in this fine episode
6 out of 10

Welcome back mama
OAD 2-1-84
A woman who claims to be Harry's long lost mother (Janis Paige) and a beauty pageant operator appear before the court.
an Okay episode
6 out of 10

Eye of the Beholder
OAD 2-8-84
The others try to pull Bull out of the dumps when he's turned down by a charitable organization because his size and appearance are intimidating to others.
Another decent episode
6 out of 10

Death Threat
OAD 2-15-84
Things are thrown into an uproar when Harry receives a threat via a rock thrown through the window and a bomb is discovered in the courtroom and not only that but a defendant claims he is god. An Enjoyable episode
7 out of 10

[Blindkarevik]

Vudu also has the complete series for $40 right now.

[burdette25159]

Once In Love With Harry
OAD 2-22-84
A hooker develops a crush on Harry and Dan loses a city council position to a dead man.
Fine episode, the dead man beating Dan plot is great B-Story filler
7 out of 10

[jason1980s]

Apr 21, 2021 19:05:14 GMT -5 @jdogindy said:

The first season was rather curious in how we see the cast change mid-season, nevermind the second season.

Should also be of note this show replaced The Duck Factory as a mid-season filler on NBC.

I can't see the show lasting as long without Markie Post coming in. The show had some great talents but prior to Markie it just seemed like they didn't have any footing and were throwing things at the wall hoping it would stick. They tried sexual tension between Karen Austin and it didn't work, then they added Ellen Foley and things got a bit better but still didn't work well. Also the two elderly baliffs were painfully unfunny to me. Their material was 30 years out of date in the 1980s so holds up even worse today. I was sorry to see them pass and the show was probably their biggest roles ever.

Adding Mac, Christine and Roz with Dan, Bull and Harry all together made an incredible cast that saw the show lasting a longer time. The chemistry between Markie and Harry combined with better writing and the show finding it's footing really helped a lot.

[burdette25159]

Quadrangle of Love
OAD 2-29-84 (Yeah, Leap Day 1984)
Dan, Harry, and Bull all compete for the same pretty attorney; Harry tries to get tickets to see Mel Tormé.
An okay episode
6 out of 10

Wonder Drugs
OAD 3-7-84
Lana disrupts the proceedings after taking a powerful cold medicine. An good episode
6 out of 10

[Deleted]

Apr 24, 2021 18:21:20 GMT -5 burdette25159 said:

Quadrangle of Love
OAD 2-29-84 (Yeah, Leap Day 1984)
Dan, Harry, and Bull all compete for the same pretty attorney; Harry tries to get tickets to see Mel Tormé.
An okay episode
6 out of 10

Wonder Drugs
OAD 3-7-84
Lana disrupts the proceedings after taking a powerful cold medicine. An good episode
6 out of 10

Wonder Drugs was unintentionally Lana's swan song (though her last appearance was the following episode with Yakov Smirnoff). A memorable way to go out for a short-lived character.

[BlackoutCreature]

It always amazes me to see shows like Night Court with such a high cast turnover in their early days actually last long enough to become a hit. I can't imagine a network having that kind of patience nowadays.

[SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts]

Night Court was like a sports team with a solid core of Anderson, Larroquette and Moll, but needed to add a new player in each season (Robinson, Post and Warfield) to really put the team over the top.

Karen Austin was unavailable for the last three episodes of Season 1 because she developed Bell's Palsy and was fired though the official network reason was her lack of chemistry with Harry Anderson and the rest of the cast. I think both are true. They did her dirty by firing her for developing her condition, but I'm also inclined to believe if that never happened and she did do all 13 episodes, she was probably going to be fired after the season anyway. Her dynamic within the cast didn't work.

[jason1980s]

Apr 24, 2021 22:26:45 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

It always amazes me to see shows like Night Court with such a high cast turnover in their early days actually last long enough to become a hit. I can't imagine a network having that kind of patience nowadays.

I think shows in general struggle to find their footing early on so Night Court was no different. I think the original Law & Order is one exception in that first season was amazing and each season after that got worse.
Two of my favorite shows are Matlock and Mash. The first season of Matlock seemed like it didn't know if it was supposed to be Andy of Maybury or Matlock from Georgia. I think the first season was the best but they changed the ways of the character signifincantly in the second season and even part of the last. By the last season the character was almost completely different.

As for Mash, the first season saw three side characters that didn't last past the first season and though I know a lot of people hold the first few years in fonder regard I didn't care for those years because they didn't seem to have their footing yet. Mike Farrell and Harry Morgan especially and maybe David Ogden Stiers helped bring the show to a higher level, like Markie Post in my opinion. The show may have continued for 11 years with the main actors who left previously but I don't think the quality would have been as good and the friendships seemed to be much stronger in later years.