Night Court renewed for third season at sitcom-starved NBC
The Night Court revival will continue on, as one of only three sitcoms currently living on NBC
Aux News Night Court
Fire up that bass-and-sax-heavy theme song: Night Court is living to court another day. TV Line reports today that NBC has ordered a third season of the revival series, which stars John Larroquette and Melissa Rauch, the latter playing the daughter of the character played in the original series by the late Harry Anderson. The news comes at a time when NBC is decidedly not in a sitcom mood—the show is one of only three on the schedule right now (alongside Lopez Vs. Lopez and Donald Faison’s Extended Family)—but what are you gonna do, say no to more Night Court?
We reviewed the new Night Court back when it debuted last year, concluding that, if you’re someone with a basic basal tolerance for traditional gag-based multi-cam sitcoms, you could do a lot worse; Rauch is a charmer, and Larroquette retains his deadpan skills in the role that won him a boatload of Emmys 30 years previous. The show had a minor cast shake-up going into season 2, with star Kapil Talwalker getting swapped out for newcomer Nyambi Nyambi. (Also, they got Marsha Warfield to come back for a couple of episodes as former bailiff Roz.) But a brief check-in shows that it’s still pretty much the same show as when we left it: A quick-moving joke machine that’s unafraid to get pretty goofy and a little stage-y, and not especially worried about doing much reflection of the real world and its various courts, nocturnal or otherwise.
Night Court pulled in a bit less than 3 million viewers every week in its second season, which is pretty good for an NBC sitcom—although significantly less than anything with Law & Order or Chicago in their titles, of course.
9 Comments
If they were truly “sitcom starved” they would have brought back American Auto.
I watched all of that and did not really like it very much. The cast wasn’t bad, but every episode had the classic “problem snowballs bigger and bigger” but it rarely ended with any huge impact as a result.
Given the options of American Auto or Night Court, I’d go with American Auto. I gave Night Court a try – enough episodes to let them get through the initial pains, but man it was just not worth it. American Auto, while not nearly as good as Superstore, at least wasn’t painful to watch.
Thank god RLM made this show of all things a plot point 10 years ago.
S2 was an improvement over S1, but that is damning with faint praise. Laroquette elevates the whole thing, Rausch is fine, Nyambi is an improvement over Talwalker, and the cast is playing less broad. We will keep watching, but it isn’t exactly appointment TV.
It’s not great, but I thought season 2 actually finally captured the goofy spirit of the original (which I also liked but never thought was great tv). Swapping out court clerks was a big improvement. I like both Nyambi and Gary Anthony Williams (who I didn’t even recognize at first since he’s lost so much weight since Boston Legal). I still wish they’d swap out the DA as well, but she was marginally better than she was in season 1. You’re right about Laroquette doing all the heavy lifting, and having some good guest stars like Julia Duffy, Dave Foley, Rhys Darby, Melissa Barerra, Julia Sweeney, Richard Kind, Jenifer Lewis, and Sarah Baker helped a LOT. Gigi Rice as Markie Post’s sister in the finale was inspired casting. And I LOVED getting to see Brent Spiner and Annie O’Donnell as the Wheelers again with Kate Micucci subbing in as the adult Carol Ann. Overall I like it for what it is.Edit: Oh and Laroquette throwing on the old Klingon getup from Star Trek III was a fun treat.
Yes. All of this is what I tried to say, but was too lazy to type out. That’s a very good assessment of everything on the show.Also, I had completely forgotten that Laroquette had played a Klingon and now that bit is a lot funnier.
I didn’t get past episode 4 of season 1. It just wasn’t worth my time. I watched the original series when it aired, but not even a vague nostalgia could carry me through these new ones.
This show is unwatchable garbage.