Night Court

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Night Court

Category: Sitcom

Created By: Reinhold Weege

Stars: Harry Anderson, John Larroquette, Markie Post (1985-1992) Richard Moll, Charles Robinson (1984-1992), Marsha Warfield (1986-1992) Selma Diamond (1984-1985), Florence Halop (1985-1986), Ellen Foley (1984-1985), Karen Austin (1984), Paula Kelly (1984)

Opening Theme: Jack Elliott

Country of Origin: United States

Number of Season: 9

Number of Episodes: 193

Original Channel: NBC

Original Run: January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992

Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 1984 until May 1992. The setting for the show was the night shift of a court in Manhattan, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone (played by Harry Anderson).

Night Court was created by comedy writer Reinhold Weege, who had previously worked on the award-winning and wry series Barney Miller in the 1970s and early 1980s.

 

Description

Night Court, according to the first season DVD, was created without comedian/magician Harry Anderson in mind, but Anderson auditioned with the claim that he was Harry Stone. Anderson had developed a following with his performances on Saturday Night Live and made several successful appearances as "Harry the Hat" on another NBC sitcom, Cheers. (For the first several years of its run, Night Court aired on NBC Thursday nights after Cheers.) In later seasons, while Anderson remained the key figure, John Larroquette became the breakout personality, winning a number of awards and many fans for his performance as the lecherous Dan Fielding.

The comedy style on Night Court could best be described as broad, almost slapstick comedy. The main characters had personality quirks which made them slightly off-kilter. Logic and realism were frequently abandoned for the sake of a joke: cartoon animal Wile E. Coyote (a Warner Bros. property, like Night Court) once appeared in a brief gag as a defendant ("I know you're hungry, but leave the poor bird alone!"), and a group of Trekkies "beamed out" after stating they answer only to Starfleet Command and not Harry's authority. A typical plot might have Judge Stone trying to stop a group of rival ventriloquists and their dummies from assaulting each other, (then NBC chairman) Brandon Tartikoff bailing out a Nielsen family so they could get home to watch Misfits of Science, or Harry pushing the court staff to meet a deadline of 200 cases to be adjudicated before midnight.

The show featured several defendants who appeared before the court again and again—notably the Wheelers (Mr. Wheeler was played by Brent Spiner of Star Trek: The Next Generation), who initially pretended to be stereotypical hicks from West Virginia but were later revealed as Yugoslavians, and at one point even ran a concession stand in the courthouse.(you tube video) 

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Episodes

Nielsen Ratings

The show was a hit for the first 6 seasons 1984-1985 #20 1985-1986 #11 1986-1987 #7 1987-1988 #7 1988-1989 #21 1989-1990 #29

The series finale brought in 24.6 million viewers (26% of all Americans watching television that night) 

 

Primary cast

Harry Anderson as Judge Harry Stone, a young, good-humored jurist and an amateur magician whose father was a former mental patient. Harry loved movies and fashions from the 1940s, and idolized crooner Mel Tormé.

The public defenders:

Gail Strickland as Sheila Gardner (in the pilot episode only).

Paula Kelly as Liz Williams (in the first season only, after the pilot).

Ellen Foley as Billie Young (in the second season only). A romantic interest for Harry Stone.

Markie Post as Christine Sullivan (from the third season until the show's end), who, though attractive and voluptuous, was honest to a fault and somewhat naïve. The primary romantic interest for Harry Stone throughout the series' run. 

 

Cast of Night Court- Season 4

John Larroquette as Reinhold Daniel "Dan" Fielding, a sex- obsessed narcissistic prosecutor who would do anything to get a woman to sleep with him. It is revealed late in the series that his real first name is Reinhold (an obvious joke about the show's writer and producer), and he goes by Dan out of embarrassment. 

 

The bailiffs:

Richard Moll as Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon, a (seemingly) dim-witted hulk of a figure who was actually gentle and often childlike. He was known for his catchphrase, "Ohh-kay". The various female bailiffs (the first two of whom died early in the show's run), who were acerbic and comically gruff:

Selma Diamond as Selma Hacker (in the first two seasons). Florence Halop as Florence Kleiner (in the third season only). Marsha Warfield as Roz Russell (from the fourth season until the show's end).

The court clerks:

Karen Austin as Lana Wagner (in the first season only). The original romantic interest for Harry Stone.

D.D. Howard as Charly Tracy. Clerk for the last two episodes of the first season after Karen Austin's departure from the show.

Charles Robinson as Mac Robinson (from the second season until the show's end), a veteran of the Vietnam War, who was very sweet and would do anything for anyone (with the usual exception of Dan Fielding). He always wore a cardigan, plaid shirt, and a knit tie.

Denice Kumagai as Quon Le Duc Robinson (occasional from second season on), Mac's wife, a refugee from Vietnam who was somewhat naive about America and its customs, but was loving and very devoted to him.

Mike Finneran as Art Fensterman (occasional throughout the entire run), a bumbling "fix-it man" attached to the courthouse Joleen Lutz as Lisette Hocheiser (occasional last two seasons), a ditzy court reporter.

  

 

Supporting players and notable cameos

John Astin appeared occasionally as Harry's eccentric stepfather Buddy (he had been married to Harry's mother), a former patient in a psychiatric hospital. His catchphrase was the capper to stories involving his hospital stay or past strange behavior: "...but I'm feeling much better now." He was later revealed to be Harry's biological father.

Mel Tormé played himself in several appearances (in the first episode, it is revealed that Harry is a fanatic of his).

William Utay played Dan's homeless lackey Phil Sanders (and, later, Phil's evil twin brother Will).

Brent Spiner (who later gained greater fame as Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation) played Bob Wheeler in a recurring role.

Yakov Smirnoff played Russian immigrant Yakov Korolenko. 

 

Cast changes

The first few seasons of Night Court had an unusually large number of cast changes for such a long-running series. The only actors to appear consistently throughout the show's run were Harry Anderson, John Larroquette, and Richard Moll.

When Selma Diamond, the first female bailiff, died after two seasons, Florence Halop played a replacement character, only to die one season later. Night Court scripts addressed the deaths of both characters, which was uncharacteristic for a sitcom.

There were whispers and jokes that both actresses had fallen prey to some sort of "Night Court Curse"; this is said to be one of the reasons that the show decided not to bring in a third elderly actress and instead replaced Halop with Marsha Warfield, who played Roz Russell. All three characters were written as mother-figures for Bull. Warfield's arrival marked the show's final cast change, and the ensemble remained intact for the remainder of the show's run.

Karen Austin only appeared as Lana Wagner for the first ten episodes, after which her character was only subsequently mentioned in the eleventh episode as "out sick" by a one-time character, and never again by regular cast members. She was kept in the titles of the remaining three episodes of the first season. Also cut from the show after the first season was Paula Kelly; the public defender role was filled by Ellen Foley for the second season, after which she in turn was replaced by Markie Post. The character of Lana had been planned to be a romantic interest for Harry Stone, but when Austin departed, that role was transferred to the new public defender characters. 

 

Awards

During its nine season run, Night Court received a number of awards and nominations. Both Selma Diamond (in 1985) and John Larroquette (in 1988) earned Golden Globe nominations, but lost to Faye Dunaway and Rutger Hauer respectively. The show has had more success with the Emmys and the first season earned a nomination for Paula Kelly. While the second season came around, the show had more success with the fans and critics and higher recognition came from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. John Larroquette won four consecutive Emmys for best supporting actor in a comedy series from 1985 to 1988, before he withdrew his name from the ballot in 1989. Selma Diamond also earned a nomination in 1985, as a tribute for her sudden death, and the show's star Harry Anderson earned three consecutive nominations (from 1985 to 1987). The show earned three nominations for best comedy series, in 1985, 1987, and 1988. The show also received many minor awards and nominations in the areas of lighting, editing, sound mixing, and technical direction. In total, the show was nominated for thirty-one Emmys, winning seven. 

 

DVD releases

Season releases

Warner Home Video released Season 1 of Night Court on DVD in Region 1 on February 8, 2005. Due to low sales, no further releases are planned. A year later, in 2006, a "Best-Of" DVD was released to test fans' appetite for further releases, but as of 2008, arelease date of July 5, 2008

DVD Name/Release Date/Ep#/Additional Info

The Complete First Season/February 8, 2005/13/Interviews with Reinhold Weege and Harry Anderson.

Episode commentary on pilot. Special releases DVD Name/Release Date/Ep#/ Television Favorites/February 28, 2006/6 

 

Trivia

Richard Moll had originally shaved his head for a role in the 1983 science fiction B-movie Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn. Producers liked the look for Bull, so he continued shaving his head for Night Court.

This was one of the few live-action series to feature a brief animated character (Wile E. Coyote) in an episode. John Larroquette's character was called "Dan Fielding" almost exclusively, although his full name was quite different. When his parents visit him "from Paris" (Louisiana; Dan's grandfather named the town after the city where he was stationed in World War II...Paris, Texas), they mention that his last name was "Elmore" and his middle name was "Fielding". In a different episode, where pregnant women and their spouses are stuck in the courtroom during a hurricane, Dan admits to one of the mothers that his first name is "Reinhold." (His coworkers would not learn his name until several years later, when a vengeful high school classmate of Dan's reveals it to them along with the fact that Dan used to play the accordion.) This was a nod to the unusual first name of the show's creator, Reinhold Weege. A second season episode gave Dan's middle initial as "K" but became "R" (presumably for Reinhold) after the revelation of his real given name 

 

Although often portrayed as a simpleton, character Bull Shannon had a tested I.Q. of 181. When the results are given to him, he initially reads the page upside-down, and is subsequently surprised to find that 181 looks the same both ways. Harry Stone was the youngest judge appointed to the bench in New York. According to Stone, he was selected because the mayor was filling all open seats on the last day of his term, and Stone was the only nominee on the list at home to answer his phone (it was a Sunday). Some trivia pages list this as being Super Bowl Sunday, but that was never stated, and would not coincide with when a Mayor of New York's term would end.

Judge Harry Stone's most frequent sentencing for prostitution cases was "$50 fine and time served", a joke was made of it in an episode where the entire courtroom said it along with him. Night Court was known as having one of the tallest male casts in the history of television, with Richard Moll at 6' 7 1/2", John Larroquette and Harry Anderson at 6'4" and Charles Robinson at 6'2".

Shelley Hack was originally slated for the role of Christine Sullivan in Season Two, but was dropped after two days' taping when producer Weege decided she wasn't right for the part. Markie Post was picked as her replacement, but had a year left on her contract with ABC (where she was appearing on The Fall Guy); Ellen Foley (as Billie Young) served as a temporary replacement until Post became available.

The theme of Night Court was performed on an episode of Family Guy by Bill Clinton and his secret service for "saxophone therapy" for Peter who had been injured while trying to lift Clinton's car.

In a classic episode of South Park where Cartman enters a Cheesy Poof jingle contest, he sings "I love Cheesy Poofs/You love Cheesy Poofs/If we didn't eat Cheesy Poofs/we'd be lame/I'm talking Night Court in its 5th season laaaaaaaaaaaaame" Rapper Cam'ron sampled the Night Court theme in his remix of "Horse and Carriage" featuring Big Pun, Wyclef Jean and Charli Baltimore.

The signature bassline in the theme song was recorded by L.A. studio bassist Marc Miller (not to be confused with bassist Marcus Miller).

The seventh season of the series was originally intended to be its last. Then NBC renewed the show, forcing producers to come up with a new "final" eighth season, which meant changing the "finished" storylines from the previous year. Which they had to do again for the really, truly final ninth season. Bull's given name is Nostradamus, so named because his mother "always loved that hunchback." Bull prefers no one correct her mistaken identification of Quasimodo.

Richard Moll, John Larroquette and Harry Anderson are the only three actors to be on the show from the first to final season. In an episode of Night Court, Bull recites the Opening Speech from Days of our Lives. 

 

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