“How often does an actor get a chance to revisit some character that he played three-and-a-half decades ago?” That’s a question John Larroquette asked himself after repeatedly declining an invitation to reprise his role as Dan Fielding in a reboot of Night Court. The sitcom makes its grand return to NBC tonight at 8/7c with a double-episode premiere. The only returning series regular sat down with some of his new costars and creative team at TCA for a look at how much has changed, but also how much things have stayed the same. “The idea of trying to revive something that you did 35 years ago when you were young and agile and acrobatic and maybe funny to try and, at 75 years old, to go back, that seemed a real error in judgment on my part if I had said yes… It was easier for me to say, ‘I don't really think it's a great idea.’ And then, once [Melissa Ranch] told me that she had decided that she would like to be in it, I knew I was sort of stuck, as it were.”
(Trae Patton/NBC)
"Night Court just has the foundation, the construct for an organic story generator and these amazing cases coming in out of the doors,” The Big Bang Theory actress Melissa Rauch said of developing the series with her husband Winston alongside fellow executive producer Dan Rubin. She was planning to remain behind the scenes, but FOMO made the role of Abby Stone, daughter of Judge Harry Stone, one she couldn’t turn down. “I'm not really a person who is necessarily led by jealousy by any means. I very much keep my eyes on my own paper. But when I thought about this lucky actress that was going to get to do all of these wonderful scenes with John, I was, like, ‘Uhhh, I'm going to be kicking myself if I'm on set behind the monitor, watching this.’ So, then, I decided to join.”
“We are really lucky that we have the psychological history from the first iteration of the show to play off of,” Winston Rauch explained about the sequel series. “In the ‘Dan's Operation’ episode of the first version of the series, he says that his greatest fear is ending up old and alone. That's the number one thing for him. And for Abby Stone, her dad at five years old was abandoned by his mother, and she was in a psychiatric hospital. So, Abby is not a damsel in distress. She's seeking out this surrogate father figure to reconnect after having lost her father, and to play on that history gives us so many layers to the character before we even get going.”
Although the cast is new, there is familiarity to the show. For Lacretta, who plays bailiff Donna “Gurgs” Gurganous, calling back to her memories of the series was a key part of the job. “I had watched so many of the episodes in syndication with Bull and Roz being my reference,” the actress explained. “I didn't really watch many of the first two seasons of those bailiffs that we unfortunately lost. But I didn't want to be either/or, but I also didn't want to be the archetype of the big Black woman. I pulled from everywhere to create Gurgs, and I'm very pleased with her.”
The title and format may be the same, but as executive producer Dan Rubin says, this Night Court brings along new stories to tell. “It's New York City, and the New York City of the '80s is not the New York City of today,” Dan shared. “The crimes are prosecuted in a different way at times… I live in New York, I love New York, it's a weird place sometimes. There's weird things that people get up to, and at night, they only get stranger. So, I think that that's the fun of the original, and what always drew me to it was the heightened reality. Anything can happen in that courtroom, and we certainly have fun with that.”
Melissa Rauch describes this iteration of Night Court not as a reboot or a revival, but as a “new-boot.” While the faces and cases have changed, there are some surprises in store for both new fans and longtime Night Court viewers. “We were very lucky to get some great guest stars on our show this season,” Winston Rauch revealed. “We have Melissa Villaseñor from SNL. We have Faith Ford, Pete Holmes, Lyric Lewis, Gary Anthony Williams, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, and Wendie Malick. We had a wonderful array of seasoned comedic actors that made our show so much better.”
Night Court premieres tonight at 8/7c on NBC, with episodes available to stream on Peacock the day after air.