1991 Article on the show.... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

McFly121 · 02-21-2005, 08:04 AM

I love this thing at the library. It allows you to look up newspaper articles from way back when. So I found.....

Paper: Los Angeles Times
Title: Order in the 'Night Court'

Writers Turn Producers and Breathe Life Back Into a Dying Series
Author: SCOTT WILLIAMS
Date: September 29, 1991
Section: TV Times
Page: 23

Stu Kreisman and Chris Cluess, executive producers of NBC's "Night
Court," knew just what to say when they were asked to rejoin the fading hit
to preside over its eighth and "final" season.

"We said, 'Are you nuts? No way! We don't want to do that.' And we
said no," Kreisman recalled.

Then, he said, Warner Bros. Television replied, "Well, if we deposit
a huge amount of money in your bank accounts, would you
reconsider?""Yeah," Kreisman said, nodding.

"Yeah," Cluess said, nodding.

The pair, who met as CBS pages in the '70s, went to work for "Night
Court" creator and then-executive producer Reinhold Weege in 1984 as the
show's first staff writers. They were executive story editors when they
left.

"We then decided the show had no future," Kreisman said. "We made the
right career move. We went to 'The Tortellis.' " That show failed.

They were understandably leery of going back to shut down a dying
series.

"Night Court" was in trouble. It was losing its audience. The cast
members were tired of their characters, and the writers felt they had
exhausted about every angle of the show's comic potential.

The humor was mostly sight gags, and the characters had become too
cartoonish--even for "Night Court." Dan Fielding, the lascivious
prosecutor played by John Larroquette, had become a one-note caricature.

"We had a show that we didn't watch because we didn't like it that
much," Cluess said. "We had a show that still had a lot of energy, with
a wonderful cast, but the show had gotten into a direction that we felt
was wrong.

"The second problem was that we were on Fridays at 9 o'clock, where
you could do a nude show and no one would know you were there," he said.
"We had color bars for two weeks and we beat 'Full House.' "

First, though, they had to convince the cast that the show was going
to change. They took each actor to lunch. They promised new things for
the show.

"We lied to them!" Kreisman said.

Cluess and Kreisman then spent six weeks plotting the show's new
direction.

"The direction we decided on was a much more verbal one, with far
less sight gags and, to a certain extent, far less silly. We decided to
look and explore the characters," Kreisman said.

And they told the actors that one of the characters was going to die.

As it turned out, Dan's sidekick, Phil the derelict (played by Will
Utay), was the victim, killed by a falling piano at Carnegie Hall.

His life insurance policy left Dan $11.6 million, on the condition
that Dan use the money for philanthropy--the Phil Foundation.

"Now we have the ultimate Reagan-era character ... who couldn't spend
a dime on himself," Cluess said.

With Larroquette interested in his character, Cluess and Kreisman
started disrupting the other characters' lives. Utay returned as Phil's
twin brother, bilking Dan of his millions and precipitating his
downfall.

"We took these characters where they'd never gone before--to real
life," Kreisman said. "They responded fantastically. They were excited
about coming to the show. They never knew what was going to be in the
script the next week."

About halfway through last season, NBC moved the show back to
Wednesday nights.

Cluess and Kreisman made sure that their big episodes happened in
November and February sweeps. They "stunted" furiously, bringing in guest
stars like Bert Parks, Jack Jones, Mel Torme and Dr. Joyce Brothers.

"It was just a new sensibility. It was having the show grow up, being
a lot more verbal, a lot smarter," Kreisman said. " 'Night Court' had
this stigma of being a silly show, but it's not that silly anymore."

In time, the audience came back.

When the audience returned, NBC realized that it liked the show
because it was "low-maintenance" and still relatively inexpensive to
produce.

Once again, their bosses negotiated, i.e., put a huge amount of money
in the Kreisman and Cluess bank accounts, and got them to agree to a
ninth season instead of a sad finale.

"We were more surprised than anybody," Cluess said. "We never thought
the show would go.

"We're going to shut the show down again, hopefully this year, and
then halfway through the season I'm sure we're going to hear again,
'Guys, what about a 10th year?"'

"Night Court" airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.

Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 1991

nitcrt1 · 02-21-2005, 01:42 PM

It is so ironic that you put this article up. This weekend I watched on my video tapes the particular season mentioned in the article. The show did change a little bit this particular season, but it was still interesting. I remember an interview Harry Anderson did with the late Johnny Carson talking about season eight and how excited he was concerning what was happening. He should have been. His character ended up wth a steady girlfriend who ended up leaving him under unfortunate circumstances. Christine became somewhat of a polar opposite of what her character used to be. She got divorced and had a one night stand. (Totally out of character for her.) Yet, she and Harry end up coming full circle. Dan became a human being which I wasn't totally crazy about. The pure joy of his character was his perversion. You watched him just to hate him and love him. The characters grew up a bit but still kept important parts of their personalities. In season nine however, the Cluess and Kriesman pulled the character of the show apart. These guys were no Reinhold Weege who, had he decided to return for the show's final season (and it would have been final if he were involved) would have done the show justice. I often wonder how Weege would have ended his creation.

McFly121 · 02-21-2005, 11:04 PM

I guess I was one of the few that didn't abandon the show when it moved to Friday night, like the article said. You look at Cheers or Wings, those characters didn't change and I was fine with it. The Night Court changes were fine, but once they changed back to their prior personalities, the show was dead. I liked seeing Dan as a do-gooder, Christine take a risk, Harry go steady, Bull looking for a girlfriend, Mac interested in photography/film. But like you said, Weege probly would've probly pulled the show outta the muck in its last year. You used the term "ended" his creation, which is where Cluess and Kreismann blew it. The show had no ending, only Dan and Christine left, Bull goes to Jupiter??? Gimme a break.

nitcrt1 · 02-22-2005, 01:26 PM

I didn't abandon the show either when it moved to Fridays. I did have to tape it though. I was in the marching band at the time and had to be at the Friday night football games. Anyway, I didn't mind the changes in the characters that year. I thought they added another dimension that hadn't been explored before. My problem was that "Night Court" began to fall into the trap of becoming like every other show. I thought the essence of what made the show a hit started to fade. Don't get me wrong, I 'm not opposed to change but I think there's a way to do it without sacrificing what made made the show popular with viewers...that fact that it was "different" and bizarre...a "misfit" in a sea of television comedies that don't take risks. The fact that "Night Court" wasn't a sophisticated sitcom was what made it funny. I loved when bizarre problems and situation evolved. It was slapstick but then again so was "Three's Company". I just thought the writers and the new producers didn't understand Weege's characters or the show. When that happens I think important elements are missed. Season nine was the WORST! The series finale was the worst send off for a show but it was not the fault of the writers or producers. NBC and Warner Brothers were screwing around trying to sell new episodes of the show into syndication. As a result, the writers and producers were told NOT to put a definite ending to the show. The show wasn't even cancelled until the 11th hour. Cast members got a memo to clear out their dressing rooms on the last day of taping. That's when they found out the show was over. Can you imagine? After nine years on the air, you get told in a memo that the party is over. From what I understand the whole situation was a disaster.

Night Court Fan · 02-23-2005, 04:06 PM

I didn't abandon "Night Court" when it moved to Friday either.
I remember one time I refused to go somewhere because "Night Court" was on. I was going to tape it anyway but I had to watch it and tape it at the same time. LOL!!!

McFly121 · 02-24-2005, 11:30 PM

Yeah, I saw that TV Tales where they were told on a Friday that if their stuff wasn't out by Monday it would be in the trash. Thanks, NBC, ha.

I feel though that the producers did know, with Dan and Christine leaving I don't think the show would've gone on without them. Of course, at the 11th hour Christine could say, ah screw it, one more year of being an attorney. And Dan blames his quest for Christine on being drunk

. But Bull leaving his wife behind to live on Jupiter.....dumb dumb dumb.

02-21-2005, 08:04 AM	#1
McFly121 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 18, 2004 Location: calif Posts: 812	1991 Article on the show.... I love this thing at the library. It allows you to look up newspaper articles from way back when. So I found..... Paper: Los Angeles Times Title: Order in the 'Night Court' Writers Turn Producers and Breathe Life Back Into a Dying Series Author: SCOTT WILLIAMS Date: September 29, 1991 Section: TV Times Page: 23 Stu Kreisman and Chris Cluess, executive producers of NBC's "Night Court," knew just what to say when they were asked to rejoin the fading hit to preside over its eighth and "final" season. "We said, 'Are you nuts? No way! We don't want to do that.' And we said no," Kreisman recalled. Then, he said, Warner Bros. Television replied, "Well, if we deposit a huge amount of money in your bank accounts, would you reconsider?""Yeah," Kreisman said, nodding. "Yeah," Cluess said, nodding. The pair, who met as CBS pages in the '70s, went to work for "Night Court" creator and then-executive producer Reinhold Weege in 1984 as the show's first staff writers. They were executive story editors when they left. "We then decided the show had no future," Kreisman said. "We made the right career move. We went to 'The Tortellis.' " That show failed. They were understandably leery of going back to shut down a dying series. "Night Court" was in trouble. It was losing its audience. The cast members were tired of their characters, and the writers felt they had exhausted about every angle of the show's comic potential. The humor was mostly sight gags, and the characters had become too cartoonish--even for "Night Court." Dan Fielding, the lascivious prosecutor played by John Larroquette, had become a one-note caricature. "We had a show that we didn't watch because we didn't like it that much," Cluess said. "We had a show that still had a lot of energy, with a wonderful cast, but the show had gotten into a direction that we felt was wrong. "The second problem was that we were on Fridays at 9 o'clock, where you could do a nude show and no one would know you were there," he said. "We had color bars for two weeks and we beat 'Full House.' " First, though, they had to convince the cast that the show was going to change. They took each actor to lunch. They promised new things for the show. "We lied to them!" Kreisman said. Cluess and Kreisman then spent six weeks plotting the show's new direction. "The direction we decided on was a much more verbal one, with far less sight gags and, to a certain extent, far less silly. We decided to look and explore the characters," Kreisman said. And they told the actors that one of the characters was going to die. As it turned out, Dan's sidekick, Phil the derelict (played by Will Utay), was the victim, killed by a falling piano at Carnegie Hall. His life insurance policy left Dan $11.6 million, on the condition that Dan use the money for philanthropy--the Phil Foundation. "Now we have the ultimate Reagan-era character ... who couldn't spend a dime on himself," Cluess said. With Larroquette interested in his character, Cluess and Kreisman started disrupting the other characters' lives. Utay returned as Phil's twin brother, bilking Dan of his millions and precipitating his downfall. "We took these characters where they'd never gone before--to real life," Kreisman said. "They responded fantastically. They were excited about coming to the show. They never knew what was going to be in the script the next week." About halfway through last season, NBC moved the show back to Wednesday nights. Cluess and Kreisman made sure that their big episodes happened in November and February sweeps. They "stunted" furiously, bringing in guest stars like Bert Parks, Jack Jones, Mel Torme and Dr. Joyce Brothers. "It was just a new sensibility. It was having the show grow up, being a lot more verbal, a lot smarter," Kreisman said. " 'Night Court' had this stigma of being a silly show, but it's not that silly anymore." In time, the audience came back. When the audience returned, NBC realized that it liked the show because it was "low-maintenance" and still relatively inexpensive to produce. Once again, their bosses negotiated, i.e., put a huge amount of money in the Kreisman and Cluess bank accounts, and got them to agree to a ninth season instead of a sad finale. "We were more surprised than anybody," Cluess said. "We never thought the show would go. "We're going to shut the show down again, hopefully this year, and then halfway through the season I'm sure we're going to hear again, 'Guys, what about a 10th year?"' "Night Court" airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC. Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 1991
	__________________ "That was Bob's donut!"

02-21-2005, 01:42 PM	#2
nitcrt1 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 22, 2003 Posts: 482	"1991 artilce" It is so ironic that you put this article up. This weekend I watched on my video tapes the particular season mentioned in the article. The show did change a little bit this particular season, but it was still interesting. I remember an interview Harry Anderson did with the late Johnny Carson talking about season eight and how excited he was concerning what was happening. He should have been. His character ended up wth a steady girlfriend who ended up leaving him under unfortunate circumstances. Christine became somewhat of a polar opposite of what her character used to be. She got divorced and had a one night stand. (Totally out of character for her.) Yet, she and Harry end up coming full circle. Dan became a human being which I wasn't totally crazy about. The pure joy of his character was his perversion. You watched him just to hate him and love him. The characters grew up a bit but still kept important parts of their personalities. In season nine however, the Cluess and Kriesman pulled the character of the show apart. These guys were no Reinhold Weege who, had he decided to return for the show's final season (and it would have been final if he were involved) would have done the show justice. I often wonder how Weege would have ended his creation.

02-22-2005, 01:26 PM	#4
nitcrt1 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 22, 2003 Posts: 482	1991 article I didn't abandon the show either when it moved to Fridays. I did have to tape it though. I was in the marching band at the time and had to be at the Friday night football games. Anyway, I didn't mind the changes in the characters that year. I thought they added another dimension that hadn't been explored before. My problem was that "Night Court" began to fall into the trap of becoming like every other show. I thought the essence of what made the show a hit started to fade. Don't get me wrong, I 'm not opposed to change but I think there's a way to do it without sacrificing what made made the show popular with viewers...that fact that it was "different" and bizarre...a "misfit" in a sea of television comedies that don't take risks. The fact that "Night Court" wasn't a sophisticated sitcom was what made it funny. I loved when bizarre problems and situation evolved. It was slapstick but then again so was "Three's Company". I just thought the writers and the new producers didn't understand Weege's characters or the show. When that happens I think important elements are missed. Season nine was the WORST! The series finale was the worst send off for a show but it was not the fault of the writers or producers. NBC and Warner Brothers were screwing around trying to sell new episodes of the show into syndication. As a result, the writers and producers were told NOT to put a definite ending to the show. The show wasn't even cancelled until the 11th hour. Cast members got a memo to clear out their dressing rooms on the last day of taping. That's when they found out the show was over. Can you imagine? After nine years on the air, you get told in a memo that the party is over. From what I understand the whole situation was a disaster.

02-23-2005, 04:06 PM	#5
Night Court Fan Night Court Fan Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 30, 2001 Posts: 205	I didn't abandon "Night Court" when it moved to Friday either. I remember one time I refused to go somewhere because "Night Court" was on. I was going to tape it anyway but I had to watch it and tape it at the same time. LOL!!!
	__________________ NCF

02-21-2005, 11:04 PM	#3
McFly121 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 18, 2004 Location: calif Posts: 812	I guess I was one of the few that didn't abandon the show when it moved to Friday night, like the article said. You look at Cheers or Wings, those characters didn't change and I was fine with it. The Night Court changes were fine, but once they changed back to their prior personalities, the show was dead. I liked seeing Dan as a do-gooder, Christine take a risk, Harry go steady, Bull looking for a girlfriend, Mac interested in photography/film. But like you said, Weege probly would've probly pulled the show outta the muck in its last year. You used the term "ended" his creation, which is where Cluess and Kreismann blew it. The show had no ending, only Dan and Christine left, Bull goes to Jupiter??? Gimme a break.

02-24-2005, 11:30 PM	#6
McFly121 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 18, 2004 Location: calif Posts: 812	Yeah, I saw that TV Tales where they were told on a Friday that if their stuff wasn't out by Monday it would be in the trash. Thanks, NBC, ha. I feel though that the producers did know, with Dan and Christine leaving I don't think the show would've gone on without them. Of course, at the 11th hour Christine could say, ah screw it, one more year of being an attorney. And Dan blames his quest for Christine on being drunk . But Bull leaving his wife behind to live on Jupiter.....dumb dumb dumb.