Night Court

Night Court
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Reinhold Weege
Starring	Harry Anderson Markie Post John Larroquette Charles Robinson Richard Moll Marsha Warfield Karen Austin Paula Kelly Selma Diamond Ellen Foley Florence Halop
Opening theme	Jack Elliott
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	193 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Reinhold Weege Larry Strawther Gary Murphy Chris Cluess Stu Kreisman
Producers	Bob Stevens Nat Mauldin Linwood Boomer Tom Straw Kevin Kelton
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	23–24 minutes
Production companies	Starry Night Productions (1984–1989) (seasons 1–6) Warner Bros. Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	January 4, 1984 (1984-01-04) – May 31, 1992 (1992-05-31)
Related
Night Court (2023 TV series)

Night Court is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 4, 1984, and ended on May 31, 1992, after nine seasons consisting of 193 episodes. The show is set in the night shift of a Manhattan Criminal Court presided over by a young, unorthodox judge, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portrayed by Harry Anderson), and was created by comedy writer Reinhold Weege, who had previously worked on Barney Miller in the 1970s and early 1980s.

• Harry Anderson as Judge Harold "Harry" T. Stone
• Karen Austin as court clerk Lana Wagner (season 1)
• Gail Strickland as public defender Sheila Gardner (pilot episode only)
• John Larroquette as assistant district attorney Reinhold Daniel "Dan" Fielding Elmore
• Paula Kelly as public defender Liz Williams (season 1)
• Richard Moll as bailiff Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon
• Selma Diamond as bailiff Selma Hacker (seasons 1–2)
• Ellen Foley as public defender Billie Young (season 2)
• Charles Robinson as court clerk Macintosh "Mac" Robinson (seasons 2–9)
• Markie Post as public defender Christine Sullivan (guest season 2, full time seasons 3–9)
• Florence Halop as bailiff Florence "Flo" Kleiner (née Nightingale) (season 3)
• Marsha Warfield as bailiff Rosalind "Roz" Russell (seasons 4–9)

• Mike Finneran, as building superintendent/repairman Art Fensterman
• Martin Garner, as newsstand owner Bernie (seasons 1–3)
• Terry Kiser, as tabloid courtroom reporter Al Craven (seasons 1–2)
• Jason Bernard, as Judge Willard
• Rita Taggart, as prostitute/frequent defendant Carla Bouvier (seasons 1–2)
• Denice Kumagai, as Mac's wife Quon Le Duc Robinson (seasons 2–9)
• John Astin, as Harry's step (later revealed to be birth) father Buddy Ryan (seasons 3–9)
• Mel Tormé, as himself
• William Utay, as vagrant/Dan's errand boy Phil Sanders (seasons 3–7), and Phil's corrupt twin brother Will (seasons 8–9 after the character of Phil was killed off)
• Brent Spiner and Annie O'Donnell as frequent defendants Bob and June Wheeler
• Leslie Bevis, as Dan's periodic lover Sheila
• Yakov Smirnoff, as Russian immigrant Yakov Korolenko
• Eugene Roche, as Christine's father Jack Sullivan
• Daniel Frishman as District Attorney Vincent Daniels, Dan's tyrannical dwarf boss
• Bumper Robinson, as shoeshine boy Leon (season 5)
• Ray Abruzzo, as NYPD detective/Christine's husband Tony Giuliano (seasons 7–8)
• Mary Cadorette, as reporter/Harry's girlfriend Margaret Turner (season 8)
• S. Marc Jordan, as newsstand owner Jack Griffin (seasons 8–9)
• Joleen Lutz, as court stenographer Lisette Hocheiser (seasons 8–9)
• Gilbert Gottfried, as prosecutor Oscar Brown (season 9)
• Florence Stanley, as Judge Margaret Wilbur

Every episode of Night Court opens (after a cold open) and closes with a jazz-influenced, bass-heavy theme tune composed by Jack Elliott, featuring Ernie Watts on saxophone while featuring video footage of prominent New York City landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York County Courthouse.

Night Court's theme was used in the season-5 Family Guy episode "Bill & Peter's Bogus Journey", featuring animations of former US President Bill Clinton playing saxophone along with Secret Service musicians playing backup.

Night Court's theme was sampled for the remix to Cam'Ron's 1998 single "Horse & Carriage". It was produced by Darrell "Digga" Branch and featured Big Pun, Charli Baltimore, Wyclef Jean, and Silkk the Shocker.

Following the end credits theme music, a distinctive laugh can be heard dubbed over the vanity logo displaying producer Reinhold Weege's "Starry Night Productions".^[1] This same laugh can be heard coming from the studio audience throughout numerous seasons of Night Court. At first it was thought to be the canned laugh of voice actor Mel Blanc or even star Harry Anderson; but in fact, it was the laugh of Chuck Weege, Reinhold's father, who attended nearly all of the tapings in person (until Reinhold left the show after the sixth season).^{[citation needed]}

Night Court received a number of awards and nominations. Both Selma Diamond (in 1985) and John Larroquette (in 1988) earned Golden Globe nominations, but lost to Faye Dunaway and Rutger Hauer, respectively. Paula Kelly was nominated for an Emmy after the first season. Larroquette won four consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series from 1985 to 1988, before he withdrew his name from the ballot in 1989. Selma Diamond was nominated in 1985, and Anderson received three nominations in 1985, 1986, and 1987. The series received three nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1985, 1987, and 1988. The series also received many awards and nominations in the areas of lighting, editing, sound mixing, and technical direction. The show was nominated for 31 Emmys, winning seven.

After its primary run in broadcast syndication, the series aired on A&E Network for many years. It then aired on TV Land from 2005 to 2008, then began airing on Encore Classic on December 2, 2013. From 2016 to 2022, the show aired on Laff.^[13]

As of March 2023, the series airs on the Weigel Broadcasting owned Catchy Comedy network weeknights.^[14] The series was also the subject of Catchy Comedy's inaugural weekend "Catchy Binge" on April 1–2, 2023. Since June 2024, it is now also broadcast on IFC,^[15] usually airing in marathons on Mondays and Tuesdays, and sometimes an episode or two is shown in the early mornings on weekends.

Network Ten first broadcast the series in the 1980s and 1990s. 7TWO began showing reruns in June 2011. Reruns are currently being shown on Foxtel Comedy Channel. ^{[citation needed]}

Aired weekdays on both Comedy Gold and JoyTV.^{[citation needed]}

Sat.1 aired the series as Harry's wundersames Strafgericht (Harry's Miraculous Criminal Court) in 1988.^{[citation needed]}

Italia 1 aired the show as Giudice di notte (Night Judge) from 1986 until 1988.^{[citation needed]}

TVE aired the show as Juzgado de Guardia (Court on Duty/Call).^{[citation needed]}

The show screened weekly on TVNZ 1 in the 1980s and 1990s, and was rerun in the late 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

Warner Home Video released the first three seasons on DVD in Region 1. Seasons 4–9 were released as Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) DVDs as part of the Warner Archive Collection.^[16]

On June 13, 2023, Warner Bros. (through Studio Distribution Services) released Night Court: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.^[17]

Special releases

The Television Favorites compilation DVD included the pilot episode, "All You Need Is Love"; both parts of the fourth-season finale, "Her Honor"; the fifth-season episodes "Death of a Bailiff" and "Who Was That Mashed Man?"; and the sixth-season episode "Fire", which marked the beginning of Harry's relationship with Christine.

Harry Anderson, Markie Post, and Charles Robinson appeared in the 30 Rock episode, "The One with the Cast of Night Court". John Larroquette is also mentioned; Harry says he had just spoken to John, which annoys Markie (who has not had recent contact with her absent former co-star) and begins an argument between them that lasts for most of the story.

In December 2020, NBC announced it was working on a sequel series to Night Court. The show is executive produced by Melissa Rauch and Winston Rauch, with Dan Rubin writing. Larroquette returned as Fielding, while the show's central character is Abby Stone, a judge and the daughter of Harry Stone. The show is produced by Warner Bros. Television Studios for NBC.^[28] In April 2021, it was reported that Rauch would also star in the series as Abby Stone.^[29] In May 2021, it was announced that NBC had given a pilot order to a sequel series.^[30] In June 2021, Ana Villafañe joined the cast for the pilot, portraying an Assistant District Attorney and Lacretta plays a bailiff Donna "Gurgs" Gurganous.^[31][32] In July 2021, Kapil Talwalkar joined the cast for the pilot, playing a court's clerk Neil.^[33] In September 2021, it was announced that NBC had given the production a series order.^[34] In February 2023, it was announced that following the strong reception of the first four episodes, NBC had ordered a full second season of the show.^[35]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Night Court.

• Night Court at AllMovie
• Night Court at IMDb