I never watched 'Night Court' when I was younger, but I've always heard good things about it, so, yesterday, 34 years after its initial release, I started binge-watching this classic sitcom. I'll be reviewing it season by season as I work through them.
The pilot opens with Judge Harry T. Stone (Harry Anderson), freshly appointed to the chair, starting his first night as a municipal court judge. Harry is the youngest judge ever appointed to the chair and quickly causes controversy with his unconventional and sometimes immature methods. Although the other characters, at first, find his manner deplorable, they quickly begin to recognise his good intentions and start gathering a respect for him, not only as a judge, but also as a friend. If I was to sum 'Night Court' up in one sentence it would be "Cheers, if it was taking place in a courtroom". The humour and writing style is very similar to the latter, which had been released only two years prior, and even the writer did admit that he largely based Harry's character on his portrayal of 'Harry the Hat', a bit part Anderson had portrayed in the 1982 sitcom. The relationship between Harry and Lana (Karen Austin) also closely resembles that of Sam and Dianne, two co-workers who are regularly at ends with one another, due to their conflicting personalities, yet are constantly fighting a mutual attraction. Unlike 'Cheers' though, where they took several seasons to build on this, 'Night Court' only gave this relationship 8 episodes, before dropping the subplot completely and dropping the character of Lana from the show, without so much as a dialogue mention of where she went. The behind-the-scenes reasoning behind it was, apparently, that actress, Karen Austin, had been diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, and the producers had felt this would be too great a burden on filming. Several other characters were introduced and dropped from the show as well, making it clear that the producers hadn't quite found their footing with this first season yet. This was especially apparent in the first half, and I'll admit, that by episode 6, I was rather sceptical whether I'd be watching season 2 at all. In the second half though, the show got a lot better, there were a lot more laugh-out-loud jokes, mostly provided by John Larroquette, playing the part of Dan Fielding, a pompous, self absorbed, and often inappropriate, district attorney. At the core, even though I wasn't blown away by this first season, it still proved to be a show with heart, many episodes offered strong life lessons, but never became nearly as preachy as shows like 'Full House' or 'Step By Step'. The characters are also genuinely likeable, and although often overacted, in a way that only the 80's could have gotten away with, it's still holds up for viewers who gets a nostalgia feel from that era of sitcoms. All and all, I'll say that younger viewers might find this show cringe inducing, but if you're in your late 20's or above, give this a try if you're just in the mood for an absolute overdose of nostalgia, that is also sometimes quite hilarious.
The pilot opens with Judge Harry T. Stone (Harry Anderson), freshly appointed to the chair, starting his first night as a municipal court judge. Harry is the youngest judge ever appointed to the chair and quickly causes controversy with his unconventional and sometimes immature methods. Although the other characters, at first, find his manner deplorable, they quickly begin to recognise his good intentions and start gathering a respect for him, not only as a judge, but also as a friend. If I was to sum 'Night Court' up in one sentence it would be "Cheers, if it was taking place in a courtroom". The humour and writing style is very similar to the latter, which had been released only two years prior, and even the writer did admit that he largely based Harry's character on his portrayal of 'Harry the Hat', a bit part Anderson had portrayed in the 1982 sitcom. The relationship between Harry and Lana (Karen Austin) also closely resembles that of Sam and Dianne, two co-workers who are regularly at ends with one another, due to their conflicting personalities, yet are constantly fighting a mutual attraction. Unlike 'Cheers' though, where they took several seasons to build on this, 'Night Court' only gave this relationship 8 episodes, before dropping the subplot completely and dropping the character of Lana from the show, without so much as a dialogue mention of where she went. The behind-the-scenes reasoning behind it was, apparently, that actress, Karen Austin, had been diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, and the producers had felt this would be too great a burden on filming. Several other characters were introduced and dropped from the show as well, making it clear that the producers hadn't quite found their footing with this first season yet. This was especially apparent in the first half, and I'll admit, that by episode 6, I was rather sceptical whether I'd be watching season 2 at all. In the second half though, the show got a lot better, there were a lot more laugh-out-loud jokes, mostly provided by John Larroquette, playing the part of Dan Fielding, a pompous, self absorbed, and often inappropriate, district attorney. At the core, even though I wasn't blown away by this first season, it still proved to be a show with heart, many episodes offered strong life lessons, but never became nearly as preachy as shows like 'Full House' or 'Step By Step'. The characters are also genuinely likeable, and although often overacted, in a way that only the 80's could have gotten away with, it's still holds up for viewers who gets a nostalgia feel from that era of sitcoms. All and all, I'll say that younger viewers might find this show cringe inducing, but if you're in your late 20's or above, give this a try if you're just in the mood for an absolute overdose of nostalgia, that is also sometimes quite hilarious.