What's the verdict on the new "Night Court"? According to critics
and fans of the original series, watching it is a pretty hard time.
No property is safe from the reboot treatment. If something was even
moderately popular back in the day, there's a good chance a studio will try to bring it
back to life in the 21st century. We've seen this happen time and time again,
and 2023 kicked off with a reboot few likely saw coming: "Night Court."
The original "Night Court" ran from 1984 to 1992, and it saw a variety of cases go up in front of
an inexperienced judge, often to humorous effect. To kick off 2023, NBC has revived the property,
but this time, Melissa Rauch of "The Big Bang Theory" is playing the judge, the daughter of
the original series' Judge Harold T. Stone, who was played by the late Harry Anderson.
"My name is Abby Stone. You used to work with my dad."
The show also gets a leg up by bringing back original cast member John Larroquette.
The series premiered its first two episodes on January 17, and it got a
pretty lukewarm reception from critics. Amy Amatangelo of Paste Magazine wrote,
Fans of the original show weren't especially happy either. It's not
unusual for new TV shows to require a few episodes or even an entire season
to find their footing. But even with a certain amount of grace,
it's clear from social media that plenty of "Night Court" fans just didn't like this new take.
Someone on the show's subreddit asked their fellow users what they thought about the first episodes,
and the consensus was that it was a vast step down from the original. One replied,
The series didn't fare much better on Twitter, where plenty of people
checked out the first two episodes only to walk away feeling dismayed. One wrote,
"Break this down! Everybody out!"
Another summed up their reaction in one word:
It's always possible that the first two episodes simply stumbled,
and the season will get better. But a lot of viewers may have already checked out,
and for those who stick around, the show will face an uphill battle in trying to win them over.
It doesn't help, according to some, that the "Night Court" reboot doesn't adequately follow
up on the original series, despite clearly being a continuation. There are plenty of callbacks to
its predecessor, including returning cast members and cameos from Clarence, the stuffed armadillo
that was ever-present throughout the original series. And the original judge, Harry T. Stone,
is frequently mentioned by Rauch's Abby Stone and Laroquette's Dan Fielding.
But some fans need answers. One wrote on Twitter,
"Bull, we decided to take you to Jupiter."
"Florida?"
"No, no, Bull. Jupiter, the planet."
The person who posted that tweet was at least partially mistaken,
though. Bull was actually abducted in the next-to-last episode of the series to air.
There was one more episode in which he did appear, with the abduction not mentioned,
though the episode with the abduction was the intended finale.
Elsewhere, some fans are confused about Harry
having a daughter who's old enough to be a judge in the present day. One tweeted,
They added, however, that "Night Court" occurs in a universe with definitive
proof of God and extraterrestrial life forms, so some things you just
have to let go. Maybe Harry just had a secret daughter for a few seasons.
"This is bad. I wish this was an episode of 'Night
Court' 'cause then there'd be some big joke right now."