Boot the Court

Last night NBC aired two episodes of its rebooted Night Court.

A note on Night Court. This was a very successful 80's era sitcom using several cameras on a few interior sets. The humor was zany, silly and stupid. This was an old fashioned sitcom with a serious plot undertone with everything getting fixed and everyone getting redeemed at the end. It was the opposite of the ironic 90's era Seinfeld.

At one point when we were a teenager, we watched Night Court in reruns from 6-7 on WNYW and then again at 7:30 on WGN. We must have seen every episode a bunch of times. For us, the court room, Judge Stone's office, the cafeteria, they all felt like home. We got a touch of that last night. And damn it all if we didn't have a bit of an emotional reaction to that. 

Night Court hasn't aged well at all. Why would it? Behold Markie Post's big hair in all its 80s glory. The show debuted 40 years ago. Three of the actors, Mac Robinson, Harry Anderson and Markie Post are gone. In the reboot, Melissa Rouch play's Abigail Stone, daughter of the late Judge Harry Stone, and we'll be damned if we didn't feel him a bit last night and that damn emotional reaction as well. 

Night Court was a staple of NBC's Thursday night lineup. For younger reader(s) Thursday night used to be the best TV night of the week, the night you could unwind and breathe a bit before the weekend. This was the night of NBC's mighty Cosby Show and Cheers. Night Court was the last of four NBC sitcoms on Thursday, before the 10 PM drama, Hill Street Blues, and later LA Law. Thursday Night was a huge deal in TV history and NBC dominated.

Night Court was very much a product of its time. For all its silliness, the show had a sharp edge. This was the pre-Giuliani New York, cynical, hard-bitten, and world weary. Every episode saw a never-ending parade of petty criminals, freaks, and weirdos. 

Each character dealt with the job's ugly side in their own way. Judge Harry Stone was a zany magician. Prosecutor Dan Fielding was a sex crazed, amoral narcist and the funniest part of the show. Click here for Dan's greatest hits. Clerk Mac Robinson (an underrated character), suffered the night behind an impenetrable wall of amusement. Original bailiff Bull Shannon was a naive cartoon monster. His partner, Roz Russell (the third and final sidekick to Bull) was tough and cynical.  

Now as to the reboot, was it any good? We went in with low expectations. We'll say it was....okay. We'll watch it again.