Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Night Court’ On NBC, A Reboot Of The Classic ‘80s Sitcom That’s Actually Funny And Watchable

We thought the same thing everyone else did when it was announced that Melissa Rauch of The Big Bang Theory was going to produce and star in a reboot of Night Court: “Why?” But then we heard that John Larroquette was on board to reprise his multiple-Emmy-winning role of Dan Fielding and we took notice. We still approached the series with caution and low expectations, Read on to find out what we thought of the reboot.

NIGHT COURT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: On the security line at the courthouse, a very short woman helps a very tall, burly man take off a piece of jewelry.

The Gist: The woman is Judge Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch), who is starting her first day in a Manhattan night court, presiding over the same courtroom that her late father, Harry Stone (the late Harry Anderson) presided over in the ’80s and ’90s. Her bailiff, Donna “Gurgs” Gurganous (Lacretta), is behind her in the security line, and she talks about all the stories her father told her about presiding over night court, and how she really wants to help people the way he did.

Interspersed in her discussion, we see a bearded man working in a cafe. Someone recognizes Dan Fielding (John Larroquette), who was a prosecutor at night court during that same time period, and while Abby is waxing poetic, Dan is complaining about all the weirdos and freaks that came through there over the years. Then he serves the guy a subpoena. Dan is actually a process server, and takes a lot of glee when he can snag someone who’s hard to find.

Abby starts her first night and meets her clerk Neil (Kapil Talwalkar) and her prosecutor Olivia Moore (India de Beaufort). Neil is a nice guy with a bit of a confidence problem, and Olivia is all confidence, and also ambitious as hell. When she tells the public defender that she’ll want him to make more effort in his job, he quits on the spot.

She finds Dan’s address in a box full of her dad’s old office stuff — which includes his prized armadillo — and pays her father’s old friend a visit. Dan’s certainly still gruff, but he stopped womanizing when he met his late wife 27 years ago, and he also throws in some free legal advice when he serves his subpoenas. Abby thinks that Dan will do a lot of good as a public defender in her court, and it’ll do him good, as well.

He eventually comes by the old courtroom for a visit, and Abby once again tries to convince him to open his heart and take the job. Dan still turns her down, but reconsiders after opening a box of Harry’s old spring snakes and talking to a maintenance man holding a dead bird.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The only show this version of Night Court can be compared with is the 1984-92 original, which is one of our all-time favorite shows.

Our Take: When the Night Court reboot was introduced, we thought it had the high potential to be a disaster. But after watching four of the six episodes NBC sent for review, we’re pleasantly surprised with the series. Does it approach the peak of the original series, or even the series’ rougher first two seasons? No. But Rauch, also an executive producer, and showrunner Dan Rubin, has given the reboot a leg up by bringing Larroquette back into the fold as an older, wiser, and less lascivious Dan Fielding.

People forget that Larroquette won multiple Emmys for playing Dan, and just a few moments from the pilot shows why: Even though Dan could be just a cartoonish crank, especially in his senior years, there are moments where the heart that we know Dan has shines through, like when he wistfully looks in the air when Abby asks him about whether the Sarah he refers to was his wife and says, “She was.”

For her part, Rauch isn’t trying to be Harry Stone Jr. as she portrays Abby. She has her own style of positivity, one that’s maybe a bit more Pollyanna than her father’s, but she does have her father’s penchant to probe the people who are in front her her, as Neil points out. Her character needs to be fleshed out a bit, but she works well with Larroquette and she quickly establishes that Abby’s crew is going to follow her lead, just like Anderson did as Harry Stone.

Talwalker, de Beaufort and Lacretta maximize what little character development that Neil, Olivia and Gurgs get in the first set of episodes, but in classic ’80s-’90s sitcom style, we expect that Rubin and the writing staff will find stories for them if given the chance. In an episode where Gurgs’ nephew leads a protest in Abby’s court, we see some serious moments from her that leads us to believe that Gurgs will be more than the smiling, goofy presence we saw in the other three episodes. It gives us confidence that Neil and Olivia will get moments, too.

What we also hope is that, after establishing the rhythms of everyone interacting in court, Rubin and company will start incorporating more of the crazy cases and quirky people that came through that courtroom in the original version. That was what the original series’ creator, the late Reinhold Weege, specialized in, and it’s what really made Night Court a key member of the original NBC “Must-See TV” Thursday lineup in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

Our guess is that Rubin is trying to establish the characters first before delving into the wackiness of the court. We’re willing to give him time because we’re enjoying what we’re seeing, but that aspect of the original needs to come back at some point.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode, except…

Parting Shot: Dan defends a flasher in his first case — though he got into an old habit of acting like a prosecutor before Abby reminded him he’s now for the defense. When Abby says, “I’d like to see what’s underneath all this,” the flasher takes her literally and opens his trenchcoat. Dan covers the man’s privates with his folder, and subtly opens up the folder to cover even more. “I left my house for this?” he bemoans.

Sleeper Star: As we mention above, we like Lacretta as Gurgs, but in one of the early episodes, Wendie Malick is her usual funny self as a woman that Dan meets who wants to have sex with him. The old Dan would have loved the attention, but widower Dan isn’t so sure, but finds out things about Malick’s character that he wishes he didn’t.

Most Pilot-y Line: The pilot’s B-plot, where Gurgs is driven nuts by a person who rearranges letters on the directory board to names like “Gary Buttmouth”, has some chuckleworthy moments but felt like it was a bit too broad to serve as an introduction to Gurgs and Neil.

Our Call: STREAM IT. People forget that the original Night Court took time to develop and find its comedic legs. The new version has more than enough to like about it, and it gives us hope that as the writers figure out the supporting characters, the show will take off, just like the original one did.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.