‘Night Court’s’ Melissa Rauch Found “Sizzling Sitcom Magic” on Revival Series

Night Court is back in session. The classic comedy is back on the air with a new series and a new cast but the same off-kilter ethos. True to Night Court’s unique POV, this revival isn’t like a lot of the others we’ve seen in recent seasons. The series isn’t about getting the old gang back together so much as it’s about revisiting one of TV’s most unique — and hilarious — settings. A lot can happen during one night in New York City’s weirdest courtroom, and that remains just as true in 2023 as it was when Night Court premiered in 1984 and signed off in 1992. There are tipsy Times Square mascots, bizarre brawls, and way too many public urinations to litigate before the sun comes up.

Overseeing Night Court the show and night court the setting is Melissa Rauch, a sitcom veteran in her own right who resides as both executive producer and series lead Abby Stone. Rauch wanted to remain behind the scenes for her first project after The Big Bang Theory, so playing the daughter of Harry Anderson’s beloved Judge Harry Stone wasn’t initially in the cards for her. But, as Rauch said during Night Court’s presentation at the winter 2023 Television Critics Association press tour, she started to become envious of the actor they’d eventually cast as Abby — an actor who’d get to play this multi-faceted legacy character in scenes opposite John Larroquette. Needless to say, Rauch found herself wearing two hats in the revival.

Decider caught up with Melissa Rauch following Night Court’s TCA presentation and got her point-of-view not only as the star of this long-awaited revival, but also as the show’s executive producer. It can be hard to recapture that classic sitcom magic, but Rauch may have figured out the trick. That shouldn’t be surprising — she is playing Harry Stone’s daughter.

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Decider: You’re coming off of a decade on The Big Bang Theory, the most successful multi-cam sitcom of the past 20 years. What did you learn from your time on Big Bang that you’re now bringing to Night Court as an executive producer?

Melissa Rauch: There’s a certain kind of cadence and rhythm to multi-cam that I just love so much. I had never done [a multi-cam sitcom] prior to the first time that I guested on [Big Bang Theory] and I just was enamored by it. I felt really lucky to work in the very well-oiled machine that was the Chuck Lorre multi-cam. Every one of our showrunners over the course of the years, between Chuck and Bill Prady and Steve Molaro and then Steve Holland, they just ran such a beautiful set and I feel so lucky to have been in their presence. I think there was always a level of kindness throughout that really set the tone. This business is gonna be tough, but I think it’s paramount that, no matter what, it’s people first before anything. And I felt that in Big Bang and hope to continue that with us.

What’s interesting with reviving Night Court is, you don’t want to do a strict 1:1 with new characters filling in for old characters — but there are literal roles in the courtroom that you have to fill. There has to be a new bailiff, a new judge, a new clerk, a prosecutor, a defense attorney, etc. How did you create new characters for these roles that aren’t just recreations of past characters?

I really credit Dan Rubin, our showrunner, with making sure as as we were developing [the characters] that they were all so unique in their own way. And then, when we cast the wonderful actors — Lacretta and Kapil [Talwalkar] and India [de Beaufort] — they also brought their own life to these roles. We felt so lucky to have John [Larroquette] coming back [as Dan Fielding], the sitcom all star that he is, and then at the same time we’re introducing these new characters. Fans of the original — there’s so much for them here, there’s easter eggs, it’s all an homage to the original. But then at the same time, viewers who are coming in never having seen the original, they don’t necessarily need to know anything and have any prior knowledge.

You said during Night Court’s TCA presentation that you got to Zoom regularly with John Larroquette during the development process. How involved was he in figuring out what a revival of Night Court looks like? He’s also credited as a producer.

Yeah, very much so. We came to him with the idea and he said, “No thank you, move on little lady.” But he left the door open like, this much and I sort of weaseled my way in. We had this continued conversation about what this could potentially be and I think we were all very much on the same page about where Dan Fielding was and where he is now when we meet him. Fans can be protective of the show, but John is of course going to have this look and this window into the show that none of us have, and he was instrumental in that [development] process.

He’s so smart and so quick and so funny, and was with us every single step of the way. He pitched the show with us, and even though he pitched it with us, he was still very much like, “Okay, I’ll pitch. Let’s see where this goes.” But he never fully committed. There was never like, “I am doing this.” And then as we were writing the script, he asked me, “Are you gonna play Abby?” And I kept on saying no. But he was definitely a flight risk the whole time.

Not anymore. You’re playing Abby and he’s on the show. I also think it’s kind of appropriate that this came out of the pandemic era. Sitcoms are a comfort food, and 2020 was when we turned to them — I mean, I was watching nothing but old sitcoms during the pandemic. Why do you think that we turn to these kinds of shows when things get rough? And what made Night Court the right sitcom to revive?

There’s a few reasons, I think. [Night Court’s premise is] this awesome story generator where these crazy cases can come in and then lead into how this workplace family deals with it. And for me, what I love so much about this show is that it had these moments that are so heightened, and this vaudevillian comedy that was almost absurdist at times. And then it had these beautiful moments of heart. Something as an actor that I was just so excited to get to play is this heightened comedy sandwiched by serious, important dramatic moments. It’s not done every day on TV now and it’s something that really excited me about sitcoms when I was growing up.

And I think that since we’ve all been through so much, as you were saying, we want that comfort food — but I think we also want the real. When you have a sitcom character and you get to peel back the layers and see their grief and see their struggle, I think you laugh a bit harder. You flip that comedy mask and on one side is tragedy before you flip it back to comedy again. When I watched those original episodes and saw Dan Fielding say that the one thing he wanted was someone to say, “I love you.” Then when he’s womanizing and you see him get shut down, you laugh harder.

Then the other part of that is with a show that you get to revisit, I think about sitting on the couch with my parents as a little girl. We’re sitting there with my grandmother who’s no longer here. And so getting to revisit [these shows] and laugh at a place that you laughed with people that may no longer be here anymore, it feels like you’re laughing with them again. And for me, I think, when all of us have been through a lot, getting to time machine back to being cuddled up on the couch at a gentler time is really nice.

I love what you mentioned about Night Court because, as one of the pillars of ’80s comedies with Golden Girls and Cheers, Night Court is the one that pushed the drama further but it also pushed the comedy further. Now that you’re doing Night Court, how do you figure out the boundaries? Like, “Oh, no, that joke was too absurd.” Have you found that moment yet?

We haven’t really. I think the writers have done such a brilliant job of finding the exact sweet spot. But what’s so great about a multi-cam is that [live studio] audience is a focus group and you have that instant reaction, and instant, like, “Okay, let’s tweak that here. Let’s see if we can pick up the pacing here.” It’s amazing to see how the audience can get on board more for a joke or maybe pull back a little more. That’s why I love the format so much, because you’re not doing it in a bubble and you know right away what’s going to work.

The new Night Court is also bringing in some big guest stars, like Faith Ford and Wendie Malick. You’re almost picking performers who come from John Larroquette’s generation. They’re just as legendary as he is.

And getting to watch them together — ! That was so exciting. A lot of times as I was behind the monitor for the scenes I wasn’t in, like the scene with John and Wendie Malick or this scene with John and Faith Ford, I felt like the little girl me who was getting a front row seat to watch this was losing her mind. There’s an electricity between the sitcom all stars and we were seeing it at every turn. There’s this sizzling sitcom magic that I feel like happens on a set when you get people like that in a room together and it was really, really cool to witness.

Speaking of potential future guest stars — John Astin’s Buddy Ryan is your character’s quasi-grandfather. Has there been any talk of a John Astin cameo, a Zoom cameo even, or anything?

That would be amazing. Never say never. We don’t have any plans for it this season but, boy oh boy, would that be cool. That would be amazing.

One thing that viewers love in sitcoms is, of course, the will they/won’t they. We had a bit of that in the original Night Court. When the new series starts, Abby’s actually engaged. Will we still get some good old will they/won’t they tension on Night Court?

I think we will a little bit. Without giving away any spoilers, there’s a nod to it in some of the episodes with [Kapil Talwalkar as] Neil. By design, giving her the fiancé upstate makes her a bit unavailable. In this first season, it was sort of about establishing the relationships with the sitcom family and then, hopefully in future seasons, we get the chance to do more of that. I agree that the will they or won’t they relationships on the original was something that kept me tuning in and I feel so lucky that we have this dynamic cast that we can play around with.

Night Court airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET, with new episodes premiering on Peacock on Wednesdays.