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Join Date: Jan 09, 2001
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- Other Thoughts:
When they switched female bailiffs
WHEN ELLEN FOLEY (SHE OF MEATLOAF FAME) WAS REPLACED BY MARKIE POST
Did every baliff on this show die in real life? Except that bald guy who was brain dead anyway.
The first time Harry worked one of his used stand-up-comic-magic-tricks into an episode; probably day one.
In the episode where Harry Anderson starts thinking about God and life and death due to some storm or case or something which enraptures the courtroom. He returns to the courtroom and makes this soliloquy about life and then screams "..and Larry Bird!" while shooting a basketball into a hoop on a crucifix. Couldn't enjoy it anymore.
When Selma Diamond died. However, I kept watching it anyway, because it never failed to make me dissolve into tears of laughter at least once per show.
The repeated appearances of Yakov Smirnov and John Astin ruined the show. "In America you can always find party, in Russia party always find you."
Just 4 words special guest star Gilbert Gottfried I could never watch the show again.
Ellen Foley was da man!!! What a set of vocal chords. Why isn't she still recording??
I don't know if this came out while the show was still on the air, but I remember seeing in one of my mom's magazines about how Markie Post has bad PMS. Gross.
I'd say around '88-89. In my opinion, it was around this time that Dan Fielding became less of the money grubbing womanizer that we all knew and loved. He became kinda sensitive and caring, yuck! He lost his edge. Than, so did the show. Also, they started to shift the focus away from the courtroom. Change of scenery always kills a show.
One episode had a chase scene that ended in Judge Stone's office. Two official-looking men come face to face, one asks "Bert?" To which the other replies "Ernie?" After over a decade, I finally stopped laughing from that scene just a few days ago! What was up with that one guy in the studio audience who had the most annoying laughter week in and week out?
Night Court jumped the shark when Christine (Markie Post) became pregnant. After that EVERY character seemed to change.
The show jumped the shark when Christine became pregnant. After that, EVERY character changed and the show fell apart.
Why did Harry have to adopt that annoying little kid? That's the moment when his heartfelt advice became an annoying ploy to play with kids. That's sick, Harry, sick!
Have to agree that the kinder gentler Dan did the show in. (Though Yakov Smirnov did not help either.) On an unrelated note, one night a friend and (being somewhat bored) decided to sketch out the floor plan of the courthouse. Ever notice Harry's office was next to the broom closet, but had a window which should have been looking out over mops and Drano? Or the elevators were right next to the courtroom doors, putting the shafts inside the jury box? Or that you could go out either side of the cafeteria and end up in the courtroom? Or the door beside the elevators? You could go through the door and come out either (1) beside the jury box (only the baliff could use the door in this way) or (2) come out beside the clerk's desk on the other side of the bench (everyone else seemed to get this result when they passed through that same door)? Lastly, the door in the back of Harry's office (often ignored) seemed to lead to exactly the same hall as the door in the front of his office, unless they were hiding someone, then the door led to the right hand side of the cafeteria, which otherwise seemed to be located on the other side of the courtroom. Just some observations from someone with too much free time.
To the above poster - I'm not sure, but I believe Mike Brady designed the floor plan of the courthouse. :-)
From 1984 to 1989, this show was an absolute riot, especially the episodes with Florence Halop as the elderly bailiff. However, once Reinhold Weege stepped down as executive producer, the show became too contrived for me.
I didn't mind the Christine-being-pregnant plotline from 1989-1990 so much, as the show still had all the elements which made it funny. But in Fall, 1990, everything changed. John Astin was gone ( I guess some people disliked him, but I thought he was great). The wacky courtroom cases were gone (the Trekkies, the candidates running for God, etc.). Christine was no longer naive. Harry was no longer goofy. The Phil Foundation. Lisette the court steno. And the final episode was one of the worst I've ever seen. The last two years (starting in 1990) were the worst of the series. I didn't mind the Christine-being-pregnant plotline from 1989-1990 so much, as the show still had all the elements which made it funny. But in Fall, 1990, everything changed. John Astin was gone ( I guess some people disliked him, but I thought he was great). The wacky courtroom cases were gone (the Trekkies, the candidates running for God, etc.). Christine was no longer naive. Harry was no longer goofy. The Phil Foundation. Lisette the court steno. And the final episode was one of the worst I've ever seen. The last two years (starting in 1990) were the worst of the series.
When Phil the bum died. the few episodes following were great but after that it just went downhill.
When the show premiered, I thought it was intriguing that Dan Fielding was portrayed as this by-the-book, proper, tough-as-nails DA who it was *implied* had an after hours sex life with prostitutes- showing that sometimes even the most 'respectable' people can be capable of things the average person would NEVER have imagined them being. Unfortunately, I guess the writers and producers thought this was WAY over the heads of their mass audience so they turned him into this one-dimensional cartoon that BLATANTLY was a self-absorbed pervert who only seemed capable of panting after and making tasteless comments to women and whining to everyone! I liked the show better when he was the 'straight man' foil to Harry's manic zaniness. Another Shark Jump was when they had these annoying hillbilly characters from West Virginia became semi-regulars. .and the Real Life West Virginia PC Police decided that these were offensive stereotypes (when in actuality, by that point, the whole SHOW was offensive) so the writers cowardly had this annoying hick family explain that they were REALLY from Yugoslavia ( or some other Eastern Block country where the show wasn't being aired) but they had *pretended* they had been West Virginians in order to *impress* Americans! They were STOOPID, one-note characters who did NOTHING for the show as it was so why did the writers BOTHER to have them on in ANY case- much less LAMELY attempt to cover their collective acropolii against the West Virginian PC Police with that SUCKY 'explanation'?!
I'd say the show didn't really jump until the final episode, which was incredibly lame and nearly devoid of humor. Harry "seriously considers" teaching law school, Christine decides to practice law in New Orleans(wha?) Dan decides to follow her (Huh?) Harry decides not to take the job(whatever), and Bull is beamed up by two Statler and Waldorf wannabes. Too bad they couldn't come up with anything worth watching. Possibly the worst series finale ever. However, as bad as the last show was, the series as a whole was one of the best comedies ever! Right up there with "Barney Miller", which is hardly a surprise because of Rheinhold Weege's involvement with both shows. BTW, to the guy who asked about the one really annoying laugh in the studio audience, I think that was Weege. He had a very distinctive chortle. I loved the multiple appearences of Mel Torme, Yakov Smirnov, that hillbilly Jim Wheeler(Data on "Star Trek: TNG"), Quon Le, Phil the bum, Art the handyman, etc. The "Phil Foundation" episodes were great, along with Dan's "Phantom of the Opera" impersonation. However, they wrapped that plotline up too soon, and sort of ran out of ideas. Still, even the characters they introduced in the last season were funny: Gilbert Gottfried, that bimbo who married Bull, and the blind guy who ran the newsstand. But it was really John Larroquette who carried that show for years. "I salute you, Dan Dan Fielding!"
well, first i'd have to say the whole plot line with phil the bum, and then phil's rich twin brother thing was a little stupid to me. sort of a same character/different actor thing in reverse or something. also, AND I CAN'T BELIEVE NO ONE ELSE HAS MENTIONED THIS, what about when every other episode feature the gang trying to hear hundreds of cases before midnight? wasn't there seriously like 10 episodes like that? all in all a good show.
Simplest one. Reinhold Weege leaves as Executive Producer. There was a certain wackiness to the show that was blatantly obvious. Once Weege left, that edge was taken away, and that's when many of the events that are currently on the list, occured. The "kindler, gentler Dan", the elevation of Phil to almost a main character, Bull's fiance, the introduction of the court stenographer, Gilber Godfried... all of these were occurances AFTER Weege left, and they were just not funny. Anyone who says Night Court went downhill after Selma Diamond passed away is nuts, because most of the truly great shows occured when Dan became the full letch, and Mac was brought in. That didn't happen until Season 2, and Selma died during the summer break between 1 and 2. And I also think that Markie Post was a heck of a better character than Ellen Foley ever was, because she was the best antithesis to Dan. You had the Angel in Christine on one side, defending all the scum, and you had the Devil in Dan on the other, trying to send the people up the river. It was that dichotomy between good and evil that made their interaction with Harry so much fun. Harry was the Everyman, with the Devil on one shoulder and the Angel on the other, as played by John and Markie. The show was on it's stride when it was Harry, Dan, Christine, Mac, Roz, and Bull (basically Seasons 3 through 6), and finally jumped the shark when Weege left.
Marsha Warfield was obnoxious. and her talk show sucked too. I totally blame her because she definitely fed this show to the shark
Some of the semi-regulars were funny, phil as a bum and nothing else, the hicks from west virginia or wherever were very funny and i thought always on just enough, the janitor ray?, mel torme, however christine's boyfriend was pretty lame, i liked selma and florence better than roz but i was glad when they brought in a different kind of character instead of another old woman.
Here's a show that's the opposite of jump. It sucked in its first season. From the moment Markie Post joined the cast until the moment it ended it was great!
When Phil died, and Dan became a humanitarian.
Night Court is a show that has some good gags but this constant smaltz about how Harry is heading up one big happy family that loves and supports one another is not funny and sucks. It also sucks that Court spends a ton of time having Harry feel sorry for himself because he feels he is the world's greatest dork and not cool like Dan. I have barely watched Seinfeld but that is one thing that I can already tell separates it from Court. I have seen later 'felds that are suppose to not be as good- plus they have too many plotlines in an obvious attempt to make more than one writer a lot of cash. But at least 'feld never ever turned into bad smaltz. Plus it punishes characters for whinning badly instead of acting cool like Kramer. Too bad Court took the same touchy feely feel sorry for Herb path as W.K.R.P.C. when based on some of the ideas it should have known better. But then that's why it will probably never achieve first tier status.
I have to agree with the post that said seasons 3 thru 6 were the peek years. That's when you had Harry, Dan, Christine, Mac, Bull and Roz. They had pretty good chemistry. I loved this show, it was one of those shows that you knew would be guaranteed entertainment from start to finish. It was cool because it was sort of like a half-hour comedy version of the Twilight zone. Of course, it didn't last long, after about 89 or 90, it just started to lose steam. I blame the Dan change from pervert with a heart to a guy with a heart who was sometimes a pervert. You understand? I can actually point to the moment where in my opinion, Dan's character changed a bit. I think it was maybe late 88 or early 89, I can't remember but it was the episode or series of episodes where Dan was in a plane crash and they all thought he was dead but he was trapped in Alaska or wherever. He seemed to become softer after that. All in all it was still a good show, and I think it was one of the top three sit-coms of the 80's. I think my favorite line of all-time was the line that Harry said to Christine when he thought he was being let go as a judge "Miss. Sullivan, it's not like I'm on Dallas and it turns out I'm dreaming all this, this is real"
I'd say around 89 or maybe 90. That's when Dan started going soft. All the other characters sorta changed too. I could handle the other changes, but Harry and Dan made the show. The last few years however, Dan went from being a pervert who occasionally showed that he had a heart to a guy with a heart who was occasionally a pervert, you know? Also, Harry went from being a whacky magician judge to a stick in the ass judge. He wasn't very funny at all towards the end. It was a great show nonetheless, every show has to jump eventually and this one held-up pretty well for about five or six years. Once they settled on a cast (around '86 or so) the show blossomed and it was in it's prime between 86-89. Also, anyone who says that Marsha Warfield was bad for the show was obviously watching a different program. Her straight-shooting, tough ass nails character was a perfect compliment to the rest of the whacky cast and she played off of Bull and Dan Fielding very well. I think the best way to sum up Night Court is to say it was sorta like a comedy version of the Twilight Zone.
This show had already started the long, slow slide to sharkdom by this point, but when Phil the bum died and Dan became the executor of his millions -- SHARK BAIT! In other death news, replacing the great Selma Diamond with a phoney look-alike was a really stupid idea. I'm glad when they wised up the second time and brought in Roz, who fit in perfectly with the rest of the cast.
Geez, did they have an endless supply of obnoxious characters or what?
Night Court Never Jumped!!!!!! It is so cool!!!!!!!
The show did not jump when the female bailiff died. If anything, the show was better when Roz joined. The show jumped when two things happened: one, when Dan was no longer the ******* who was such an ******* you just had to admire him, which was really when that bum died, and two, when I grew up. Looking back on the show, the jokes weren't that funny, and Dan wasn't that much of a god. I guess it was a show meant for little kids.
When creator Reinhold Weege left the show after the sixth season, "Night Court" definitely jumped. The seventh season tried to carry on Weege's trademark combination of wackiness and sentiment, but the writing quality just wasn't there; the actors acted like zombie versions of their old selves, and desperate new twists were added like Christine getting married and pregnant. The two subsequent seasons tried to make the show more "verbal" and "witty," which basically meant making everybody boring, even the once-manic Harry. It's too bad, because under Weege's regime this was a wonderful show; despite all the cast changes, despite the early loss of the wonderful Selma Diamond, it was always incredibly funny and fast-paced, the underrated crown jewel of NBC's first and best "must-see" Thursday lineup. Incidentally, I don't really understand the previous poster's beef against shows where you actually CARE about the characters. "Seinfeld" was great but its heartlessness is not something I'd want to see repeated.
I don't believe that Night Court ever jumped the shark. Selma Diamond and Florence Hallop were both great characters, but after they died the show did have to move on. I found Roz to be a hilarious character, so the switch in characters was hardly jumping the shark. The storylines near the end, such as Dan becoming a humanitarian, were probably done to give some variety to the characters after they had remained the same for so many years. The last couple of seasons weren't that great, but they weren't terrible by any stretch of the imagination. Seasons 3 -6 were the peak, but with the exception of the first season, I loved this show the whole way through.
The aliens visiting for Bull. Of course, the show was zany and unbelievable before that, but it simply got to downright weird and unwatchable at that point.
When Roz got diabetes. I don't know why it was that particular episode, it just wasn't as good after that: more "issues," and conversely also more one-dimensionality. It also sucked for me that after ALL the teasing, Harry NEVER slept with Christine OR Billie OR LANA! (Clerk from season 1.) A reverse "they did it" vote for that.
I know this show went a long time (1984-92). But, I never grew tired of it. I still record the show in reruns and watch it now. The physical comedy of John Larroquette was hilarious. I think of Night Court and I think of scenes like Dan Fielding running down the hall being chased by a giant 8-ball. Or yelling "he's alive" and falling from a balcony at an opera. I liked the show with the early cast of the first season or two but I definitely think the cast from the mid to late 80s until the final season had the best chemistry. Obviously this show lasted a long time and probably ended when it should have, but I would have continued to watch as long as they continued to make them.
It jumped when Phil the bum died and Dan changed. Until then, it was hilarious. Easily one of the most bizarre, surreal shows ever to air. The hillbillies were a riot, Bull was like a missing link, Markie Post was hot, and whole show had an off-kilter sense of humor that was distinctive and different. But when Phil died and Dan changed, the show seemed to change for the worse. The "Dan-as-a-humanitarian" story arc just didn't work. And the writing seemed to go south at the same time. It just wasn't funny anymore. By the way, I believe I read in an old TV Guide that the loud laugh from the studio audience was actually Reinhold Weege's father.
This was one of the funniest shows in the history of television. Especially that four-part cliffhanger, remember? Where we finally find out Harry was going to place the gigantic glasses/mustache on the Statue of Liberty? I'm still laughing over that one. However, I must admit, the final season did begin to drag. But, my gosh, what a great show overall! Markie Post was the cutest thing going, back then.
This show jumped with all the above postings but was still the greatest musical opening theme ever.
When Reinhold Weege left as exec producer, the goofiness left too, and the show simply stopped being funny. Dan got soft, the storylines got schmaltzy, stupid extra characters (the stenographer, Gilbert Gottfried, et al.) came in, the show tipped from anarchic to heartwarming, and I hate heartwarming.
Episode: "Hurricane, Part One." Special Guest Stars: Pam Grier and Dick Butkus. This episode may be a tad early in the Night Court tenure to claim it jumped the shark, but come on! Pam Grier and Dick Butkus for Christ's sake!
Ever see Michael J. Fox's appearance as a tough punk and Harry wins him over with a strong, forceful hug? yeeeEEEeeesh!! the changing ladies who were removed not by death was always a bit much for me, but I have to give Night Court credit for putting two black characters on the same show who are NOT related, NOT dating, in fact, hardly ever spoke to one another.
This show has to be one of the most overrated in TV history. The reasons in no particular order: 1. Richard Moll/Bull Shannon. NEVER FUNNY! There's a reason you hardly ever saw this guy before or after NC. It's because he is a no talent one gimmick (bald tall people are funny) actor, and his character was a one-note (he's big and strong and tough as nails, but he's soft and tender and sensitive with a big heart on the inside) waste of space. 2. The black guy who was the clerk (Mac?). Can't remember one funny thing this guy did. You could hear his punch lines coming a mile away if you had ever watched TV before. And don't even start with the Oriental wife bit. Not funny! 3. Harry Anderson as super sensitive and wise guru to the courtroom family. If I had a dollar for every time he cast a sad expression at someone acting selfishly or someone who needed a "little understanding", I wouldn't have time to waste on reviewing crappy shows like NC. 4. The constant beating over the head with the point that Dan Fielding might be amusing, but his actions and thoughts don't fit in with our PC world (see above Harry Anderson rant). 5. All of the female bailiffs. Not a funny one in the bunch. Just a group of one-note yawners. Marsha Warfield headlined this collection of irritating actresses. 6. Messages, messages, messages, and more messages. Week after week of preaching and teaching. Warm fuzzy moments piled up for the enlightenment of the masses. 7. John Astin. Enough said. In conclusion, this bomb would have never made it without extremely strong lead-ins from NBC mega-hits like Cosby Show, Family Ties, and Cheers. Test patterns would have held about as much of those shows' audiences as NC did. And once it attracted those viewers, they just blindly watched, the thinking being, "this is NBC Thursday night, so it must be a good show". I know, because as a 14-year-old, I fell for it and didn't get off that crack pipe for about four years. I figure that NC took about 50 hours of my life away from me, and I want them back dammit!
The show reversed the shark when Markie Post joined the cast. Ellen Foley was cute, but she didn't have much sex appeal. With Markie on the cast as the sexually repressed sexpot with the incredible body, the show jumped the ratings with everyone lusting after her and obsessing on her figure. Example from when Christine got pregnant: "Just how much bigger can those puppies get !?!" Selma Diamond and her would-be clone, Florence Halop, were funny, but Marsha Warfield as the temperamental Roz was an hysterical addition to an improving season with Markie Post. The show did jump the shark at the start of the seventh season when the writers ran out of ideas, Buddy stayed on,Phil the bum died,Christine married,divorced and had a kid in one show and the show then started taking ideas from "Barney Miller," the show that launched the career of series creator,Reinhold Weege. After then, the really good shows were just too few and far apart.
Night Court to me was always NBC's comedy that got no respect from NBC.The show stayed on TV for close to 9 years but didn't get that huge "CHEERS" like sendoff! Yes the last episode sucked because for a show grounded In reality It didn't help It!In the end Night Court will be one of the greatest Comedy's ever. Weege may have left the show but Court went on a few more seasons.And It wasn't low ratings that ended the shows run,It was the actors who had grown tired of doing the show.I really miss Night Court.
When Harry almost adopted that punk, Leon. Thank God he ran away. Leon was played by perennial shark bait Bumper Robinson. (Remember "Grown Ups" and that "Generation X" TV movie? UGH!!!)
After Harry decided *not* to kill himself in the process of putting a giant Groucho mask on the Statue of Liberty, the show was never the same.
My two favorite characters were the "Bull Dummy" the ventriloquist dummy of Bull. Markie Post....oh yeah, Selma Diamond was a hoot.
I really liked Night Court when it first came out. I really liked the characters. Even though they had sitcom-type personalities, they seemed to have a little bit of depth to them. However, at some point, the characters lost all depth and became caricatures. In the later years, the characters were all written and acted like "Oh Bull, you're so dumb." (laugh track) "Oh Dan, you just think about sex all the time." (laugh track) "Oh Harry, you're so wacky." (laugh track) I recently saw an SNL rerun with Mike Myers as a television network executive introducing the "Nude House of Wacky People." I wouldn't be surprised if the inspiration for that skit came from the complete and utter lack of life this sitcom displayed in later years.
When Brandon Tartikoff came on pimping the show as well as Cosby Show and Misfits of Science. What the Hell? It was one of those "We have to do X amount of cases by midnight" episodes and this couple that were a neilsen family got bailed out by Brandon.
There's no denying all of the bite that the show lost once Dan became a "born again." The variety and cast of characters began to diminish and the interplay was hurt all around. The producers tried to imply that his edge might return in some of the final episodes but it was really too late to go back. As wacky comedies go, this was one of the best, it was a shame that its finale went largely unheralded while "Cheers" finale was viewed en masse.
This show was never funny. The jokes were lame, and all the problems were resolved too easily. Every show had to teach some stupid lesson. I HATED the black lady who played the cop. I think her name was Roz. She tried to be tough, but it just came off as being stupid.
To the above post, Marsha Warfield did not make this show chum (Incidentally, in a later episode when Bull's mother comes to visit, Lisette informs Harry about chum being bloody pulp fed to sharks). True, Roz wasn't as funny as Selma or Florence but she did have her moments. One was the diabetes episode in which the viewer gains a bit more insight into who Roz is when during insulin shock, she reminisces about her father making her an ice cream cone. Also, Marsha Warfield was great in the episode in which the gang drag her to an anger management course, only to be held up by a young armed robber portrayed by none other than Don Cheadle who was most recently in Traffic and Swordfish.
I don't know what everybody's complaining about, this show never jumped! When I saw the earlier episodes, I thought this isn't cool. I always thought Selma Diamond was some old hag, but she still rocked! It's was the 1986-92 cast that laughed my ass off, Long Live Harry, John, Charles, Richard, Marsha, and the one with the sexy ass, Markie Post!!!!
THIS SHOW IS WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE STUPIDEST, MOST IDIOTIC, LAME-BRAINED PIECE OF CRAP TO EVERY REACH THE AIRWAVES!! EVERY ACTOR WHO EVER APPEARED ON THIS PIECE OF **** SHOULD RECEIVE THE GILLIGAN CURSE!!
i have to comment on this show cause i know harry anderson. he bought some real estate here in new orleans and i renovated a small theater space for him. after he got to know me a bit he gave me a key to the place so i could get in early as he usually showed up at odd hours. when i would go in around ten the place was empty and the tv, which was on in his office eternally, would be tuned to bravo and i would sit there and hear night court while i worked cause it was on when i got there and came on again shortly before i went home.he would actually have it on while he was in his office on the phone! weird.
Not a shark jump at all, but one little scene seems to be stuck forever in my brain - when Phil the bum is pan-handling for money to buy food, and Dan takes out a piece of dental floss, cleans his teeth, and offers Phil the "meat". There have been worse things on TV, sure enough, but for some reason I still remember that one scene after all these years. Funny and sicko, all at the same time. Anybody else remember it?
This show jumped the day it was conceived in some writers mind! This show didn't just jump the shark - it jumped down the shark's throat and was ****ted out before it ever hit celluloid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Oh, have I said it was stupid yet?!?
When the "Dan Fielding" character was (foolishly) allowed to metamorphose from Smug, Shallow, Self-Serving Cad and Bounder to Sensitive New Age Guy -- *literally*, overnight! -- the show lost a good deal of its nastily incisive "bite," 'tis true, 'tis true; and the relentlessly annoying (and UNFUNNY) Yakov Smirnoff didn't much help matters, either. However: the show still remained an eminently watchable, entertaining and (occasionally) borderline *brilliant* one, all the way up to the unfortunate Final Episode -- what in God's name was *that* all about, anyway? -- and I'd be perfectly willing to make some nice, helpful individual with a complete run of taped episodes a significant and remunerative offer, yes *indeedy*. (Plus: Markie Post almost single-handedly got me through *puberty*, all right...?) 
It's very simple. NIGHT COURT was a show that went on too long. It's embarrassing to see the last 2 seasons' episodes. It's not that the stories are that different from the previous years, or that Dan Fielding is less of an un-P.C. pig (it bothered me much more when he went insane at the start of Season 9). The show just has a palpable lack of energy in its last few years. One post said the show went downhill when Reinhold Weege left after Season 6. I thought Season 7 was OK, but after that this show didn't jump the shark--it's energy got eaten by it!
Night Court started their jump when Christine got pregnant, then really jumped after Phil died and Dan's character completely changed. How stupid!! Thank goodness they got rid of Lana who did Mac's Job (can't remember her real name-Karen something) and then dumped Ellen Foley eventually, too. Adding Lisette was no bonus towards the end of the series. John Astin was a riot as Harry's father!! Night Court had one of the stupidest series finales ever, with Bull going in a UFO. Dumb!!
This show jumped right around 89-90. Christine's Pregnancy? Like that has never killed a show before. But, did anyone notice how the first 15 of this show was fun and kooky and the last 15 minutes were based on some angst, medical problem or some such requiring a sermon?
I agree...this show jumped at the beginning of the 1990-91 season , when Chris Cluess and Stuart Kriesmann became exec producers. The season before, with Christine pregnant et al, at least had the zany elements of what made the show great, even though you could tell the actors were getting tired and they had a minimum of 3 subplots running in each ep. But when Cluess and Kriesman added that reporter girlfriend for Judge Stone and the Stenographer and newsstand guy (did either one ever get more than one line per ep)...Chirstine's divorce...THAN the whole Phil death thing....yikes. Pretty embarassing to watch.
Jump for Kwan Lee (ugh!). Jump for Yakov Smirnov. Jump for preachiness. Reverse Jump for Giant 8-Ball. Reverse Jump for Markie Post (YOW!). Reverse Jump for Art the Janitor. Reverse Jump for mentioning cast members who died, instead of pretending they never existed (remember Bull's mourning for Selma?). Reverse Jump for every single weird offender who appeared before the court. Reverse Jump for Marion Ross' metafictional cameo appearance. Reverse Jump for Dan Fielding (period). Final tally: 3 Jumps, 7 Reverse Jumps, which puts Night Court 4 Reverse Jumps ahead of anything before or since. In short, Jumped, but not enough to count.
Why did the show change so many cast members??? We get like 4 defense attorneys: Shields, Liz Smith, Billie, and finally Christine. There are two court clerks, Lana Wagoner and Mac while three bailiffs! I don't know about you, but I liked the cast with Lana and Liz. Liz Smith wore cool 80s clothes and Lana was so cute and you could tell she had a crush on Judge Stone. In place of Lana we get boring Mac. Of course we know why the female bailiffs went through so many cast changes!
Night Court took the route of so many other sitcoms and started taking itself way too seriously in its later years.
Was a good show, but eventually became a baseline for how many clip shows is too many for one series. How many clowns with guns locked themselves up in Harry's office and were forced to listen to old story lines?
I don't know about anyone else, but for me Night Court jumped the shark when Bob and June Wheeler (the very strange, possibly Southern couple, with incredibly bad luck) left the show. Sure, they were only occasional characters, but they were still the funniest folks on the show. My favorite episode with the Wheelers had them trying their hands at raising chickens. Unfortunately, they ended up buying an incubator with a faulty regulator. Bob (Brent Spiner--YAY!) mentioned the "blood curdling peeping and the god-awful smell of meringue."
It was a great show in the beginning...like Cheers the first season or so had a low key feel...often there was a "message" but not blatant hit you over the head stuff...both shows got more gag oriented after the first season or so...but Night Court tanked towards the last few seasons...the writing just wasn't funny anymore...but it was a great show for five or six years...used to watch it and Cheers back to back from Seven to Eight every night
When Ellen Foley left. No one could say "I've been deloused." like her.
This show jumped on day 1. How this show ended up on A&E is truly mind boggling. It is neither Art or Entertaining.
Enough about Mel Torme, OK? It was funny the first couple of times. Harry's obsession with "the Velvet Fog" just got to be too much.
I agree about the last two seasons not being good. Suffered from toomanyseasonitis. Does NO ONE remember Elayne Boosler being the blind smart ass woman? Always insulting everyone.I forget what she did. And I loved that show where the old couple was arrested for fighting? Harry asked them why didn't they get divorced? The old woman says "we're waiting for the children to die. the baby is 56 and a divorce would kill him". God that was funny.
Great show...probably my third favorite all time sitcom behind The Simpsons and Married With Children. The cast of Harry, Bull, Roz, Dan, Christine, and Mac was one of the best sitcom casts of all time. Also, it had one of the best final episodes eve...
In addition to the previous comments about the court's strange layout, ever notice that in some (usually the early) episodes, the cafeteria was on the ground floor, and, in other, on the same floor as the courtroom?
Night Court never jumped..the show was screaming out loud drop dead funny to the end but..it is so sad to say but every sitcom I've watched since the last new episode of Night Court was broadcast is NOT FUNNY! Primetime T-V network comedy jumped the shark with the demise of NIGHT COURT! The last of the funny primetime sitcoms!
This was one funny show. The scene where Dan gets the court illustrator to draw naked pics of Markie Post is hilarious, especially when the visiting judge finds them. Classic
What a run! Eight or nine seasons and they didn't jump the shark til the very last episode. I loved all the guest stars and all the twists and turns the series took over the years. And really, the only thing that bothered me about the last episode was the aliens. They needed Bull to come with them to Jupiter(?) to reach the top shelves? Let me ask you this: who built the top shelves in the first place? Other than that the character arcs made total sense and they all ended up where I thought they should
Oh Night Court definitely jumped the shark in the season cliffhanger where Dan was presumed dead because, as the telegram stated, his "plane went down north of Hudson Bay." The show should've died right there. As soon as the next season started, all the jokes were lame and repetitious to the point of self-plagiarism on the part of the writers. Plus all the actors started doing stupid things to their hair! John Larroquette's got all bushy, practically a pompadour, Harry Anderson lost his perfectly dweeby short haircut, Markie Post got rid of the hairstyle she'd had since The Fall Guy... plus all the characters got lazy and old. All of the scenes played like long drawn-out setups for stupid one-liners. The writing got so stupid - maybe this was during that writers strike that happened back in the 80's? Now that I think about it, just about every sitcom got ******** around that time and never recovered. Damn unions. Ronald Reagan was right...
I will put this show in the "never" category, as I remember watching it and having many side-splitting moments. However, I think a lot of the bashers have only watched in reruns, and I can understand this, because when I have tried to watch the reruns, I can't. It was on in a different era. And to the people who mention the eight-ball, I totally agree. That whole episode was a prank-war between Harry and some younger judge (with Fielding always ending up the victim), and was funny from beginning to end. "Do the words 'innocent bystander' ring a bell, sir"?
I used to LOVE this show!!! IMO, Harry, Christine, Mac, Bull, & Roz were the funniest cast of their era. I also loved Phil, Buddy, the Wheelers, Art...the cast was awesome! What ruined it for me was the addition of vacuous, pointless characters like Lisette the stenographer, Bull's annoying blind girlfriend, played by Elayne Boosler, & Margaret, Harry's tough as nails reporter girlfriend played by the marginally talented Mary Cadorette. It was an awesome show in it's time, but they let this show go on way too long.
This was one of the best shows with the DUMBEST endings ever possible. John Larroquete was the man, he was so shallow, perverted, slutty characters ever. He was cruel, mean and cutting to the people he was prosecuting. Bull, Roz, Selma, Mac, etc were also extremely funny. And man did I, and still want to be locked in a hotel room with Markie Post for a week. That good girl portrayal was enough to make me burst my jeans. I would even love to bang Ellen Foley, but she was outshined by Markie...
This show was always kind of preachy but Dan's character broke it up. Toward the end, with the Phil foundation, Dan lost his comic touch. How many times can a group of people be stuck in a courthouse?
naaa this show never jumped you could find a little or a lot of humor in every episode, my favorite scene, Christine comes to a party wearing this REALLY low cut dress revealing lots of boob then sits across the table from Dan and heaves her umm elbows on the table, immediately Dan looks at her and says 'those are new'
This is a show that practically defines its own moment when it JTS'd. It was created and produced by Reinhold Weege (writer for the great Barney Miller). At the end of the Weege-produced episodes of Night Court, you can hear his deep laugh on the closing production credit. Weege quit the show a couple of years before it ended, and his laughing production credit was deleted. When the show began, it was a nice vehicle for the mildly eccentric comedian Harry Anderson. After Weege left, it went all over the place. There was one episode where Judge Harry imposed a sentence on an *animated* Wile E. Coyote. Give me a break! And Markie Post's virginal character becomes an unwed mom for no reason, finally falls in love with Harry (long after anyone cared), left him, and then made John Larroquette's character go crawling for her in the final episode. Man, what a mess!
"Harry, I just wanted to let you know I no longer take drugs or drink alcohol. I have completed rehab, and am now a kinder, gentler person. I hope that my complete emasculation and sucking away of all comic qualities from my personality won't be a problem." "Sure, John, that's fine, I'll just wow the studio audience with my zany card tricks. Wait 'til I pull a live rabbit out of Mel Torme's rotten anal sphincter! That'll kill 'em!" "Hello, please allow me to introduce myself. I'll be playing Roz, a stereotypical tough black large female, but with a twist: I like to start licking before my face hits the floor! Represent! Christine, slide your Mormon-wannabe twat dis way!" "Hello, I'm Brent Spiner, and I'm a acting whore. Please **** me, put me in a horrible role playing a deviant, and then toss me aside when you're done. You may keep the condom if you wish." "If anyone doesn't mind, I'm done playing the pre-eighties Marie Osmond, and I'd like to start spreading my legs and bouncing my watery tits on-screen at every opportunity, while my bastard child mugs shamefully and proves there is no God." "Hey Christine, would you like to sit on my...oh wait, no drugs, no drugs now, can't violate parole. That's swell Christine, golly gee." "Hey Harry, as the ineffectual and pointless character who is so underwritten that I stand out as cardboard in a ****ing South Park pilot, please allow me to do nothing else but be tall and get coffee for everyone. And I'm Mac, not every other bailiff on the show." "Harry, me soil myself. Please come change me poopie white and brown ass. Harry! Me need you. It not easy being tall. Me am clever, and have a big heart. Me take it from chicken." "Hi, I'm John Astin! Please kill me!"
Markie Post did one Halloween episode dressed as Elvira, Mistress of the Night. Her cleavage stood proudly as a testament to all that's good and right about cheesecake TV. The minute the cleavage was covered again by her tight, white, flimsy dress blouse, the shark jumped. Or, at least, something jumped (in my pants!).
Beginning of 1990 season. The producers knew their days were numbered, so they did a deliberate parody. That season was supposed to end with Harry and Christine marrying, Dan entering a seminary, etc. and the show ending. (Knowing that explains why that season started the way it did.) HOWEVER, after the season started NBC decided to keep the show around, so they abandoned that trajectory in mid-stream. They should have known to quit while they were ahead.
I believe "Night Court" jumped the shark when the writers tried to write Markie Post's pregnancy into the show. Yes, I will concede that doing something like writing the pregancy of a main cast member into any show is difficult, but the "Night Court" writers failed miserably. It just didn't work. Dan Fielding (John Laroquette) testified in a trial of a criminal. His testimony was key to the criminal's conviction. The criminal escapes and swears vengance on Fielding. An undercover detective is assigned to protect Fielding and recapture the vengeful criminal. In the process of doing of doing both of the aforementioned things, he falls in love with Christine Sullivan (Markie Post's character) after knowing her for about an hour. They later go on a date and the next thing you know, the detective has to go to South America (!) to go catch a drug lord and Christine is pregnant with his baby! If this isn't absurd enough, the detective comes back from the assignment the day Christine gives birth (!) That's supposed to be coincidence. Yeah, right. After the birth of their son, Christine and the detective get married and divorced in about a week. It was ashamed to see such a great show like "Night Court" go from being very funny to absolutely implausible. Nevertheless, I watched it until the day it went off in 1992.
When Harry and Christine did it. That was it. Dan had flipped out and the whole show just went over the top from there. The finale was one of the biggest disappointments ever.
In regard to the poster who said "Harry, I just wanted to let you know I no longer take drugs or drink alcohol...." LMFAO!!! That's great! You should have been a writer for this show before it fell flat on it's ass! The dynamics and inconsistencies are nailed PERFECTLY! Too bad the ******* they had for writers during the last few years didn't understand this -- if they had, I might still watch it on reruns.
Did anyone notice that in the opening credits everyone seems to be reacting to something Harry said. Y'know, Mac nods approvingly, Dan kisses up, Christine smiles, Roz smiles, and of course Bull is in Harry's office talking to no one.
I never saw the last episode but some disparaging remarks made here clued me in to the ending. I can't remember the episode, but I was married a few years, I was incredibly sick, my apartment (NYC) had been ripped off,we lost everything worth anything. I was watching on a 13 in B&W television with rabbit ears,(borrowed).I had been on antihistamines for 5 days while in school. I was sick depressed badly and I laughed so hard I rolled off the couch and nearly collapsed a lung, smashing my shoulder but good. My wife thought I was having a heart attack.
I never really had a problem with aliens visiting Bull and taking him away to their home planet. Night Court was (for the most part) a goofy show, and IMHO having Bull being taken away by aliens seemed a fitting an end to the character on the show. (I forget the reason for taking him away, BTW. I really hope it's not because they needed him to reach the top shelf.) However, what always bothered me was the fact that Bull got MARRIED a few months before. I've always wondered what happened to his wife; how long did she wait for her husband to come home? Did she search for him? Did she kill herself when he never returned? Because the producers (unwittingly) ended the series on a sour note, I'm going to have to say the series jumped when the aliens took him away.
I think Christine getting married made it jump. Actually a few tidbits here and there. Ellen Foley did not technically get replaced. Her career had just taken off. She had a minor hit single (hit the lower 30s of the Hot 100) and wanted to scale back to concentrate on her singing. The producers said either this or singing. She chose singing. The Sally Rogers character on Dick Van Dyke was based on Selma Diamond. Also Marcia Warfield while not especially funny here was a riot, if you have ever seen her night club act. Also little known. Originally NBC had four failing comedies. (this was in the early 80s when Gary Coleman was the only thing keeping NBC alive.) Night Court, Duck Factory, Love Sydney and Family Ties. They put all four comedies on at 8:30pm (Central Time) Family Ties on Monday, Love Sydney on Tuesday, Duck Factory on Wednesday, and Night Court on Thursday. The strongest TWO were to survive. And the reason we have Night Court and Family Ties is that Monday and Thursday were stronger nights for NBC. Remember this was right around when Cheers Started and before then only Diff'rent Strokes, Facts of Life and Gimme A Break were keeping NBC afloat.
Night Court never jumped. It was a bit slow the first two years, and a little "odd" the last two years. However, the years in between were some of the funniest TV I've ever seen. Dan Fielding is perhaps the greatest character in the history of television. No wonder John Larroquette won all those Emmys. And has there ever been a hotter woman on TV than Markie Post? I can't wait for the DVDs to come out, I may never leave the house again.
They jumped the shark when the started doing shows again. There are 2 episodes that have exactly the same premise, Dan must read all the charges against someone before midnight or they will have to let him go. Both episodes have a timer in the corner & Dan reads as fast as he can.
Night Flight was the centerpiece of the weekends of my teenage years. Out half the night raising hell then mellowing out to NF and its weirdness. Most of the stuff I would say has already been mentioned by others, so I will just say that I echo their sentiments that this was the greatest piece of television ever. The best memory I have of NF was that one night I saw the video for the Police's "So Lonely". I stayed up for the repeat cycle to see it again. I have never seen it since, but I can still vividly see Sting, Stewart and Andy in the London Underground walking through train cars with army-type radios. Someone above posted this (to which I must respond): "Man oh man, this was the absolute best show on TV -- if it can even really be called a regular "show." From the weird and eclectic movies ("J-Men Forever," "Trip to the Moon," and that weird rock/stoner comedy with Malcolm Macdowell, Lou Reed, and a pusher space robot named 'Electric Eddie' or something like that) to cutting edge videos, to real trippy animation and filler pieces, Night Flight had it all." =====> The name of the Movie you speak of is "Get Crazy". It is one of my favorite flicks. It had a ton of cameos in it. Ed Begley, Jr. was a rectum of a record exec (Serpent Records); Lou Reed was a rock star who came out of retirement because "Max Wolf at the Starlight Theatre" was dying; Malcolm McDowell was Reggie Wanker, a rock balladeer with a monster in his spandex; Lee Ving (the lead singer/yeller of Fear) joined an all-girl group of punkers (NADA) on stage and acted like their two-footed dog; The drug dealer was "Electric Larry" -- when he opened his case full of pills, some chick asked him, "Are you married?"; John Densmore (of the Doors) was Reggie Wanker's drummer; the best was Captain Cloud and his freaks, all of whom arrived for "New Years' Eve 1967" in 1982. What a great flick.
When they made Harry's character sad and mournful instead of fun and wacky. You can tell by the longer hair and the glasses. The show actually became depressing.
This show was your "genesis" jump...."in the beginning." The constant moralizing made me lose my breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nobody is more overrated than Harry Anderson as a comic. This show falls into the same pitiful category as Mash. Compare it to Barney Miller if you want to see how an ensemble cast should work.
One of the cleverest and most under-rated shows of all times. Should have ended a season sooner.
I used to watch this show religiously. I'll have to agree with the above posters that Selma Diamond was brilliant, and her death left a huge hole that they patched, but, never fully filled. However, I remember this one episode where Harry freaks out and thinks he is a super hero and leaves the bench. They have a substitute judge, and the episode deals with Harry hulled up in his apartment ordering weird items and trying to build some sort of weapon, or spaceship, or something (it's been a while). I just thought that this episode in particular interrupted the flow of the series.
When Dan Fielding embarked on his Self-Improvement Spree after Phil the Bum died: Dan ran the Phil Foundation, which was bilked by Phil's lookalike brother Will, who became the new bum after Dan went hiding in public parked dressed like the Phantom of the Opera.
When Christine got pregnant and then had the child, the show started a fast slide down. All the tension between her and Harry and Dan went away, and diaper jokes just aren't that funny.
I absolutely loved Night Court. I always thought it was one of the funniest shows ever on TV. I used to cry I laughed so hard! There's never been a show that has come close to the hilarity of Night Court. I will say though, that when Christine got married and had a baby, it started on its downhill slide. But all the years prior to that were pure gold. Dan Fielding RULES!!!!
My gut reaction wanted me to vote for a NEVER JUMPED, simply because it was the most underrated, and BEST show on the NBC's original Must See TV Lineup. Better than Cosby, Family Ties, Cheers and LA Law. Like I said, I WANTED to vote NEVER JUMPED, but then I recalled the terrible last season or so where Dan lost his charm. I won't go as far as to say that Dan's womanizing was the entire reason for the show's greatness, but it WAS a very big part of it. What were they thinking changing that? It is like the Red Sox giving up Babe Ruth. Sire, they COULD have still done well with what they had left, as they were still a decent team. But WHY do it?
Remember when Dan Fielding had a "little person" for a boss? After insulting during his first appearance, Dan would just be so groveling it was pathetic! My favorite episode with them was the one in which Dan had to care for his daughter. Predictably, Dan didn't want to do it since he thought she would his boss' height, THEN she turned out to be this gorgeous woman who wanted to jump Dan's bones! Of course, the "little person" threatens to do Dan harm if he lays a finger on HIS daughter! The ending after it is over and she says, "All dressed up and no where to go!" while opening her bathrobe and revealing nothing making Dan go to the fire hose is one of the sexiest and funniest scenes I've seen on a network sitcom!
Two of the funniest scenes on "Night Court" are 1. When the two feuding sisters can't decide what to do with the ashes of their father, Herb. Harry takes the urn until they work things out. In the meantime, the coffee maker is broken. Art the janitor plugs in a new one and uses the "Herb tea" to test it out. Next scenes shows Dan drinking a cup of coffee. 2. The defendant who gets punched out because he can anticipate what's going to be said. After his verdict, Harry, Dan, and Christine all say the same thing to him in unison. A great comedy bit!! But the best scene in the entire series was Kelly Hu in towel!!
Well I personally never liked Selma Diamond, I loved Florence Hallop--she took no **** from anyone. So I think it jumped twice. First when they added Roz--she was ok, but lacked the talent of Florence. Then slowly the characters made their peace and it was funny --then oh ****, Weegee left, and it got ok, but was never the same--then when Phil the Bum died--so did the show!! But I do not care what anyone said John Astin was awesome. Hell, he did Gomez so well, and he was a weird character, so was Harry's father!
The shark swam around a bit each time one of the main characters changed. It took me a bit to get used to Markie Post, but she grew on me. But when Christine got married, the whole whacky dynamic changed permanently, and it never came back. They should have hidden Markie Post behind the desk until she was too big, then given her a temporary leave and replaced her with a series of quirky public defenders until she was ready to come back.
NIGHT COURT jumped when Marsha Warfield joined the cast. This woman was NOT FUNNY. Yes. I watched this show on a regular basis. Let's face it, it is a WEIRD show. Harry Anderson always seemed strange to me. I always thought it was sort of a bad ripoff of WKRP IN CINCINNATI. I AGREE WITH A PREVIOUS POSTER THAT SAID THAT IT DID NOT BELONG ON A&E. NIGHT COURT IS NOT WHAT I WOULD CALL CLASSIC ENTERTAINMENT.
Did anyone else ever notice that part of the add-on laugh track was some moron who sounded like he was going to have a heart attack because he was laughing so hard? And that he did it after EVERY joke? And it happened during EVERY show? Obviously, the producers had no respect for the audience to think the viewers would believe that some fool enjoyed Night Court so much that he managed to attend every taping.
NIGHT COURT was one of the better NBC comedies from the 1980's with some smart writing and a mostly talented ensemble cast headed by charming Harry Anderson as Judge Harry Stone. This show stayed consistently funny for most of its run and never really jumped the shark, though it did have a hiccup or two along the way. The first hiccup was the tragic death of Selma Diamond. Diamond was irreplaceable and I have nothing against Marsha Warfield, I just missed Selma. The other hiccup for me was when John Larroquette started winning all those Emmys and the show became all about Dan. Once again, this was an ensemble show that found a breakout character and decided to shift the focus to him. This was an ensemble show and if they liked Dan Fielding that much, they should have spun him off instead of making NIGHT COURT about Dan. Even with this shift in focus, this show was still always watchable and never jumped the shark.
I enjoyed this immensely growing up. Strangely, the twisted humor and sexual innuendos were a good mix that stuck with me well after puberty (or maybe I'M just strange). The show was sort of surreal too, just like a real night court. Unfortunately, Harry Anderson tended to be cornball, and was responsible for one of the more annoying trends of the 80's, the "Baby on Board" bumper sticker (it wasn't really a bumper sticker, but a goddamn diamond-shaped window decal that actually enlarged the driver's blind spot. What a way to keep junior safe from severe cranial injuries!). Bottom line, it was Dan Fielding and Bull (good) vs. Harry and Christine (semi-evil). The other bailiffs were hit or miss, and the fact that they kept dying off was kind of funny as well (fit in well with the show's overall theme).
In my opinion this show never JTS, BUT it did have its not-so-good moments... As previous posters have said the unfortunate deaths of some cast members and others leaving left holes that were hard to adjust to. But the show always had a edgy sense of humor that you could count on. Funniest moments that I remember were: When Dan had to go undercover to try and sting a corrupt judge who was trying to sting him and him trying to 'point' the microphone hidden in his shorts at the judge and then when Harry found out what Dan had said, right at the end of the show when he was being 'debriefed' by Harry. Another was when they had Mel Torme on and he got shackled by Dan in Harrys not-trick shackles while Harry was trying to save his dad from being institutionalized. Another poster brought up the one about the fire hose, and then there was the old couple that was brought in for making too much noise 'she says she likes your bat!'. And lastly the 100(?) cases by midnight to save Christine. Funny show... bring on the reruns!
I just wanted to clarify something I have not seen (or think I haven't seen) the explanation of John Astin's character as Buddy Ryan on Night Court. You see, he was NOT Harry's father from what I remembered. He was married to his mother. You see, Harry's mother left him when he was 5 and then, unbeknownst to him, went to a mental institution. That is where she met Buddy and they fell in love, got married, she got her head on straight, and had a job helping children who were abused. She thought it would be better if her ex kept and raised Harry since, when she left them, she was just 21 and came from an unhappy family-thus, therefore having a nervous breakdown. Harry nor his father knew that. Buddy was told before she passed away after 22or 23 yrs. of marriage that she wanted her son to know what happened, give him a gift from her to him and a picture of how she looked. If you already have this info., ignore it, but if not, I'm glad I can help.
When Christine Sullivan married Tony--who always called her Sullivan.
This show never jumped the shark, ever. The departure of Reinhold Weege doesn't count. I've been watching the show since it has been showing repeats on A&E. Ever since, I've been hooked, but when it stopped airing on A&E, I had to wait 'til this year for TV Land to acquire the show & now, I'm going to watch it part-time due to me starting 12th grade, but I will watch it full-time on the year I graduate & on snow days. I still laugh my head off & I found Markie Post to be a little sexy.
I've always loved Night Court! Just like Barney Miller, this show had a jazzy ass theme song! Gotta also love the hilarity! True, the first season, it had to find itself! Even with the deaths of Selma Diamond and Florence Halop in Seasons 2 & 3, this show still had the hilarity and mishaps between Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Roz (who joined in S4) and Christine. But when Reinhold Weege left production in 1989, this show still had a little left in the tank, but by 1990, I couldn't really watch the show as much. 1). Dan went from this sex perv and prosecutor w/ no heart to a guy who we once knew as a sex perv, as a nice guy w/ a conscience. 2). I tuned in also to see the closing credits and Starry Night Productions, but when Weege left, that too was gone. 3). There was love tension almost going on b'tween Harry and Christine. 4). The series finale ranks right up there w/ ALF as worst series finale ending. Why in the hell did they have Bull go to Jupiter w/ those two moronic nerdling idiots? Anyway, from the opening dialogue and kick ass slap bass sax theme to the closing credits and Starry Night Productions, Night Court is one of my best and most favorite '80s sitcom out there!
Night Court is one of my all-time favorite comedies, but it's a complicated show to evaluate. It was obviously heavily inspired by Barney Miller (similar producers, many re-occurring guest stars, etc.), but NC eventually developed its own personality. The one thing I can say for certain is that NC is the only program ever that perfectly balanced sophisticated humor with wild slapstick. The first season was somewhat lethargic, but that's because it was trying to find a style. Most of the comedy was driven by two characters, Bull and Dan; these two are the heart and soul of the show. Dan is one of the most interesting sitcom characters ever, and one of the funniest. Yes, he was greedy, sex-obsessed, snobbish and cowardly... but John Laroquette played him so well that he was loveable in a goofy way.
Christine and Tony get married in an Italian restaurant. I think most of the audience would have rather seen her and Harry get together.
It's surprising that nobody in all of Night Court's commentary thought to bring up Sheila the Wonder Slut. She was that sexy, red-haired vixen who was in four or five episodes between the 86-88 seasons. Her entrance on the show was always marked by one sultry word from her: "Dan". Dan responded to her like an 12 year old boy with the latest Victoria's Secret catalog dangled in front of him. In one of Sheila's episodes, Dan was in a motorized wheelchair, dark sunglasses, and a neck brace. As always Sheila promised him a night of pleasure, but in the end, Dan's chair wound up getting stuck doing doughnuts in the middle of the courtroom and he never hooked up with her. Sheila's character was a constant promise of sex for Dan and laughs for us. She was responsible for putting Dan into a coma after having sex with him in a hospital bed, curing his unfortunate case of impotency (the South shall rise again!), and giving him a well-needed five minutes in the broom closet in one of Night Court's "marathon case" episodes. Sheila was like a guardian angel looking out for Dan and making sure he was always thinking with the wrong head. When Sheila was ditched and Dan stopped identifying in court those industrial-strength sex toys that she'd probably picked up for him at the Home Depot, that's when Night Court rendered the verdict guilty: the shark had been jumped.
"Night Court" is one of those shows that required a certain amount of experimentation before perfecting its core cast. For instance, the second try at court clerk gave us Charles Robinson's Mack, whose quick wit bounced perfectly off Harry Anderson's quirky Judge Stone. Same thing with the public defender. After a couple of tries, producers lured Markie Post away from "The Fall Guy" to go head to head with John Laroquette. Christine was very self-confident, never backing down from Dan Fielding. Certainly, the deaths of Selma Diamond and Florence Halop created holes incredibly difficult to fill. That's when producers went the opposite direction. Rather than give Bull a third crusty, pint-sized pal, in came Marsha Warfield's Roz, whose presence couldn't be ignored. While she and Bull became fast friends, she hardly needed his protection. With that, the identity of the entire show was firmly in place. Through experimentation, "Night Court" got its bumps and jolts out of the way quickly, forcing the shark into a U-turn. The aliens taking Bull to another planet in the series finale was a bit of a stretch, but by that time, it wouldn't have made a difference any way!
This hilarious never jumped the shark because this is one is the funniest show I've ever watched. I love Harry Anderson, he is hilariously funny and I love it how he plays tricks on some of the court staff and he makes me laugh everytime I watch the show. Harry is someone you'd want to hang out with because he's warm and caring and just plain funny ! I know I would never get tired of being around him. John Larroquette is funny and witty in the series, it may look like his this big tough guy, but deep down, he's a warm and caring guy too. Richard Moll is amazing ! He and Harry are the two funniest characters in the whole series.
I loved this show and honestly don't believed it jumped the shark until the final episode, which was perhaps the worst send-off of any show in history. Harry turns down several plum jobs, including a teaching post at Koch Community College, to stay at night court? And Bull gets taken away by aliens? Come on. But until then, it was one of the funniest shows on television. The episode where they had to get the whole docket done by midnight and the last case is this incredibly slow-talking guy? Hysterical. And after Phil the bum dies, the executor tells Dan "he gave a lot of money to the New York Harmonic." "You mean the Philharmonic." "Yeah, NOW."
In the original seasons, court was in session. Most of the jokes revolved around Harry's rulings, Dan's defense, and the Zany courtroom cast. Later it revolved more around on their personal lives and quit trying cases all together.
To the person who complained about the "laugh track" having containing a "moron who sounded like he was going to have a heart attack because he was laughing so hard?....Obviously, the producers had no respect for the audience to think the viewers would believe that some fool enjoyed Night Court so much that he managed to attend every taping." Actually that 'laugh track moron' WAS THE PRODUCER Reinhold Weege. And yes he was at every taping (until the final seasons). Sounds like he enjoyed his job. To quote: "Weege loved working in front of a live audience (an annoying laugh, heard from the audience in every episode, is either Weege or his father), and told his writers to keep adding new jokes all the time right up until the moment the audience went home."
First of all, I have to say that 'Night Court' is one of those many shows, that I watched back in the day, and now watch religiously on TVLand, or any other channel I can find it on, because I LOATHE reality TV. I don't watch TV, to see crap that I could be subjected to in real life. Having said that, I personally don't feel that 'Night Court' ever jumped the shark. Yes, there were some plots I didn't especially like, but I at no time ever stopped watching it. And that was for a couple of reasons. The main one being the forever talented John Larroquette. I know this is so politically incorrect, but I loved it when he hit on Christine! And I think that was because, after that one episode, where Dan tried to guilt Christine into sleeping with him, you kind of knew where he was coming from, when he hit on her. I did not especially like Christine's pregnancy, or her haircut during that time. But I was quite relieved when that whole story ended, including her relationship with Tony, the father of her child. I didn't care for any of the lady bailiffs, including Roz. They were all a bit too perpetually surly for my tastes. I didn't mind Mac or Kwan Lee, because they were supporting characters, and there were not a whole lot of episodes based on them anyway. And I could take or leave Harry Anderson. I found one thing about the ending confusing though. Bull did get married, did he not? It seemed as if he got married, then his new wife was forgotten about. And I thought it was quite fitting, that Dan Fielding, after being confronted by the mother of yet another woman, he was about to mistreat, would reflect on his life and how he treated women. I would have loved to have seen the look on Christine Sullivan's face, when she opened up the door to Dan Fielding, and listened to him declare his love for her!
Night Court is a show I really wanted to say never jumped. It's one of my all-time favorites, and it kills me that it's constantly overlooked in favor of other 80's NBC sitcom fare such as Cosby and Cheers (though I do like Cheers, and the earlier Cosby's are okay). The first season was a little slow, but that's expected of any new series. Season two kicked things into high gear (or at least, a higher gear), and when the cast finally came together fully in 1986 (with the arrival of Roz), it was one of the best sitcoms ever. But, I have to admit, Night Court jumped the shark. When? You could say it was the softer Dan Fielding, but he eventually turned back into a snake, causing a minor reverse jump. The show really jumped at the beginning of the 1990 season. As others have said, the last two seasons (1990-1992) were a waste. The show wasn't immediately bad after Reinhold Weege left (though by far the show was at it's best during his tenure), when the 1990 season began, it just wasn't as 'sharp'. That's not to say it was awful, relatively speaking it was never an 'awful' show, but considering the high standards NC had set, it was impossible to not be disappointed. And that last episode, geez, THAT was pretty bad. I can't decide which was more disappointing, the Seinfeld finale, or NC's. It's hard to sustain a series, not to mention a sitcom, for 9 seasons. Even Seinfeld couldn't do it, so it's understandable, and if you can overlook the last two seasons, the show really is fantastic. NC is currently running on TV Land, and since we still haven't gotten a season two DVD set (though we are promised a 'Best of' set), that's the place to head for an NC fix.
The show REALLY jumped during that really long story arc that started with Phil dying and then Christine broke it off with Tony and all of a sudden became "Harry's Woman". Dan gets rid of his fabulous expensive suits, becomes the phantom, goes delusional from a long lack of sleep, ect. These episodes are why I hate Harry/Christine 'shippers. The episodes were horrible and somehow they are a majority of the hardcore fans' favorite episodes. Actually, any episode that includes Harry and Christine kissing or as an item is the hardcore fans' favorite episode. I can't stand to watch my favorite character getting tortured at the expense of a romantic subplot. I hated the arc most because Dan went through that mental breakdown and became a creepy way-too-nice- guy. He became a shell of all he used to be. These episodes are really painful to watch, but you just know that the shippers loved it because there's so much loving between Harry and Christine. Forget that Dan Fielding is having a damn nervous breakdown and suffering, 'cause Harry and Christine are kissy faced!!! I didn't like that all of a sudden at the last second, the writers decided to pair Dan with Christine, creating some twisted love triangle with Our Favorite Defence Team in the final episode.
I loved "Night Court" for the longest time. However, like most shows, the shark was indeed jumped. What did it? Yes, the dreaded addition of a cute kid (ie Leon). UGGHH! One would think the idiot suits at the networks could get it through their heads that a cute kid doesn't necessarily get you ratings, especially with an established show. Just the opposite occurs quite often. Well, "Night Court" was good while it lasted. RIP Selma Diamond and her replacement. BTW does anyone remember seeing at the end of Diamond's season of "Night Court" a picture of her during the credits with Harry Anderson's voice saying in a weird tone, "We're...gonna...miss...you...Selma"? That's bugged me for 20 years about whether that was NBC's cheap attempt at a RIP piece or if it was some kind of premonition about Diamond's death.
To reply to the person asking about the Selma picture at the end of the first episode after her death. This was done after an entire episode centered around Bull's reaction to Selma's death. It was actually a very solid episode that gave Florence her intro and helped fans accept her more. At the end of the episode they showed a picture of Selma and you hear an old clip of Harry saying "Quite a story isn't it?" and Selma replies, "I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me!" Then silence as the credits rolled into commercial. I always thought that was a very good tribute but in retrospect it looks VERY eerie now.
Night Court, in my opinion, was probably the best thing about prime time television in the 1980's. It existed around a time where TV was fun to watch. I remember when they had the Thursday night power house lineup. It was so amazing. It was The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, and Night Court. Four fantastic sitcoms back to back. What more could you ask for? This was way before the reality tv show grip started enslaving our airwaves(ironically enough, started by MTV in 1992). I"d have to say that Night Court is probably one of my top favorite shows to watch these days, next to other shows I like such as Cheers, All In The Family, Beavis and Butthead, and Headbangers Ball. Night Court certainly didn't jump the shark, but towards the end, I could tell that it was starting to lose a lot of steam. I thought that Lisette was a little too weird for my tastes and Jack the blind man who ran the newsstand was a little weird. However, if I had to choose some interesting moments of Night Court, it would be where Harry was trying to ask the court reporter Margaret out and ends up taking advice from Dan on asking her out. The end of the episode was both touching and funny at the same time where Harry and Margaret kiss and Dan watches from the door, only to be ordered out by Harry. Margaret then asks, "Who was that?" and Harry replys by saying, "That was the man you went out with last night". I thought that line was extremely funny and to me, it proved that Harry still had it in him. The funniest moments in my opinion would have to be the episodes with Selma and Florence. Selma had such sarcastic lines and definitely had some episodes where she showed her funny side. On the first episode of the third season, I felt sorry for Bull. He was having a very hard time dealing with Selmas death and he dealt with it by going on a drinking binge. I thought it was interesting right then and there when Florence showed up and sharpy criticized Bull for getting too drunk, saying that it served him right. Of course, when Roz came on to the cast, I think thats when the show got extremely popular. I definitely like the episodes where she had the spotlight. The episode where she was dating that ex-con whom Christine was pen pals with was amazing. It turns out that he had escaped from prison and wanted a taste of freedom or something like that. So technically, the show never jumped the shark but it had its moments where it almost did. Nevertheless though, it will certainly rank up high as one of the funniest shows of the 1980's.
Many Night Court fans think when Christine had her baby that the show jumped the shark. The real shark jumping point was when she got a divorce after a two week marriage.
The whole Phil/Will thing was the defining shark jump point for me. The show had been slipping, then they went and killed off the funniest side-character (Phil the bum). I really don't consider that to be the shark jump, but rather when the writers, I guess realizing the mistake they made, brought back the same actor to play Phil's twin brother who was rich, but somehow Dan cons into being a bum like Phil. Do you get that? I didn't and the show was never the same again.
The show jumped when Dan's character changed. I remember an early episode when someone commented on something disgusting that he'd done, and his reply was "You say that as if it were a bad thing". He also presented a 2 sided character, exhibiting a personal life that most people would find utterly reprehensible and without any redeeming qualities, and at the same time maintaining a successful career as a prosecutor. Remember the Halloween episode where he got a conviction against the ghost haunting the courtroom? Dan as a nice guy could never compete with Dan the creep.
I agree that the show jumped around 1990. As a loyal fan at the time, I remember my anticipation of the "Potty-Man" episode that lampooned Andrew "Dice" Clay, and my subsequent disappointment with how weak the show turned out to be. In the show, the Potty-Man character ends up in court for some reason, and Dan is, of course, a big fan. In the end however, everyone gangs up on the Potty-Man for his non-PC humor, and Dan "realizes" that the Potty-Man's humor is "wrong." While Andrew "Dice" Clay and Night Court's pre-1990 humor are quite different, they are both irreverent. Old school Night Court was not at all Politically Correct, but in this episode, the show went on record as being completely P.C. If Reinhold Weege had still been there, I doubt he would have gone out of his way to diss the Dice-Man. It's a shame that a once irreverent show had become so lame. Naturally, it wouldn't be long before the once-great show was put out of its misery.
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09-30-2013, 04:32 PM
Night Court Boned the Fish When...
I was 14 when the finale aired and even back then I was like "HUH??" when they had Dan go after Christine. Though of course I loved Harry's "MY Christine???" I know there are fans who love the Christine/Tony relationship but I really didn't like them together. It just seemed (and still does) so cliched to have the good girl and the bad boy fall for one another.
