Night Court

No one in my family has watches (or watched) sitcoms. I’m not sure why, but my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, all prefer police procedural, medical dramas, mystery shows, or news magazines. It’s been that way since I was a kid, and well, I’ve always found it interesting. Does my family just not like to laugh?

Since I wasn’t actively exposed to sitcoms, I came to discover them on my own, which made them feel more personal to me. Discovering bit sized comedy escapes became a passion of mine, and I look fondly back on those after-school blocks of syndicated sitcoms like Home Improvement, Seinfeld, and Wings.

Due to the nature of television in the 90’s, I didn’t see very many shows from start-to-finish. In fact, when it came to sitcoms, outside of Saved by the Bell, I’m pretty sure I didn’t see any shows start-to-finish. It wasn’t until the release of DVD that I was afford the opportunity to re-explore the world of Lanford, IL, the set of Tool Time, and the 4077.

I’ve focused most of my sitcom watching (and discovering) on the 90’s and early 2000’s. These are the shows I was either familiar with or exposed to and have always been curious about. For some reason, I haven’t made a deep dive into 80’s sitcoms yet, with exception of M*A*S*H and The Golden Girls.

One show, I was curious about, but never gave much time was Night Court. I remember the fantastic theme song and the court setting, but as a kid, the idea of watching any court room show seemed boring. I remembered Bull, the bailiff and in my own memory he was the main character. It was until a friend of mine, Pikapal, began rewatching Night Court that I realized it was a show I needed to take a look at.

On Christmas Day 2022, I finished my final episode of Wings (well the final episode that was streaming, there is still another 20+ episodes that can only be found on the DVD that I need to watch) and I decided to boot up FreeVee and check out Night Court. The first episode is well… slow. But aren’t all sitcom pilots? I really wasn’t sure the show would be for me, but I kept on watching until the second episode, which happened to be a Christmas episode guest starring Michael J Fox. It was wonderful. Suddenly, I saw the potential of Night Court and I knew this was a world I wanted to spend more time in.

Sadly, I just haven’t had time. I’ve been moving and my television watching has been put on hold. I’m behind on several shows, wrestling matches, and movies. Watching an old sitcom hasn’t been at the top of my list of things to plow through right now. But last night, the reboot of Night Court aired on NBC and when I got home tonight, I fired up Peacock and decided to give it a watch.

The pilot episode was very similar to the original pilot. It was a bit light on the jokes, and more of the introduction of characters, but John Larroquette made it worth watching. Then the second episode aired and well… I really enjoyed it. The show retained the heart of the original Night Court, but sped up the scenes and jokes for the modern audience. It’s a bit goofy, light-hearted, and well… hopeful. It’s positive in a way that I love about sitcoms. It’s not all doom and gloom and it made for a very enjoyable night.

Sitcoms don’t get a lot of attention these days and well… I don’t really enjoy many of them. Night Court is an exception though and I really look forward to checking out this new season as well as making my way through the original season which aired almost forty years ago. It’s not the greatest sitcom I’ve ever watched, but it definitely seems worth my time.

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