Every Question Night Court's Reboot Can Resolve | Screen Rant
The recently announced reboot of the classic sitcom Night Court will have a number of questions to answer about the original series' erratic ending. Chief among these will be what happened to the rest of the cast apart from Dan Fielding, whom John Larroquette will be returning to play in the reboot.
Premiering as a mid-season replacement and running for nine seasons from 1984 to 1992, Night Court is still regarded as one of the best situation comedies of all time. The series centered around the night shift in an arraignment court in New York City and the unorthodox staff who worked there. The show was part of NBC's legendary Thursday night Must See TV comedy line-up, along with other classic comedies like Cheers, Taxi and Family Ties. Night Court earned multiple Emmys for its writing and acting, including John Larroquette's unprecedented four consecutive wins for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Despite its success, the show fell out of favor with NBC executives and was bumped around the schedule in its final seasons before being abruptly cancelled. The two-part episode that became the series' finale ended with several unresolved cliffhangers, as most of the characters were given a chance to pursue new opportunities outside the courtroom. The ending was so random that it inspired an episode of the sitcom 30 Rock which was devoted to a mock effort to give the series some closure. However, with Night Court receiving a reboot focused around the daughter of Judge Harry Stone, it now falls to this reboot to answer the many questions fans have had for almost 30 years.
Many are only familiar with Night Court because of a season 3 episode of 30 Rock, appropriately titled "The One with the Cast of Night Court." The episode had Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) producing a new Night Court series finale, in a bid to lift the spirits of the depressed Kenneth The Page (Jack McBrayer), who was sad that Night Court never got a proper ending. Harry Anderson, Markie Post and Charles Robinson played parodies of themselves, who agreed to reprise their Night Court roles only for old grievances to nearly tank the project. Things ended happily, however, with the finale ending with Judge Harry Stone declaring himself and defense attorney Christine Sullivan to be husband and wife.
The 30 Rock episode "The One with the Cast of Night Court" exaggerated how silly Night Court could be at times, recalling a non-existent storyline in which Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) played a werewolf lawyer. One thing the episode did not blow out of proportion, however, was how erratic the actual final season of Night Court was and how its final episode ended with multiple plotlines unresolved. Ironically, this was because the show's producers were ready to end the show after eight seasons and the final episodes of season 8 were meant to build up to the wedding of Harry and Christine and Dan renouncing his old life to become a priest. When Night Court was unexpectedly renewed, the show was thrown into sharp relief and the first few episodes of Night Court season 9 were devoted towards restoring the status quo. Strangely enough, almost the exact opposite chain of events played out at the end of Night Court season 9.
The two-part episode "Opportunity Knock Knocks" ended with multiple cliffhangers which suggested a season 10 was in the works. This was because Warner Bros. was shopping the series around, hoping to continue in syndication or another network besides NBC. When these plans fell through, the show was abruptly cancelled — a decision the cast was informed of in a memo, handed out just before the final taping. To add insult to injury, the ensemble were also asked to have their dressing rooms cleared out by Monday. It was an unceremonious ending for the once beloved show and, ironically, one that would not be out of place in an episode of 30 Rock. Yet "The One with the Cast of Night Court" does raise the question of whether or not Christine and Harry ever did get married, as fans had hoped, and if something similar to the events of the 30 Rock episode will have happened in the backstory of the Night Court reboot.
Even ignoring the 30 Rock episode, the biggest question fans of the original Night Court have regarding the reboot is how the love triangle between Harry, Dan and Christine will be resolved. The original TV series ended with Christine being elected to Congress and resigning her position as the public defender in Harry's court. Dan also resigned his post as prosecutor, having had a revelation that he was truly in love with Christine and that he needed to follow her to Washington DC to prove himself to her. This followed Christine privately giving Harry a more than-friendly kiss, during which she declared that he was the person she was most going to miss the most in her new job.
The Night Court reboot is said to center around Harry Stone's daughter Abby following in his footsteps to become a judge, but nothing has been said in the show synopsis about who her mother was. Did Harry and Christine finally tie the knot and have a daughter together? If so, why isn't Christine mentioned in the spinoff summary? Did Harry move on to a new love after Christine?
The news that John Larroquette is returning as Dan Fielding in the Night Court reboot is something of an incongruity. On the one hand, Dan was the breakout character of the original series' ensemble and Larroquette is an amazing actor, so it makes sense that the reboot producers would want to include him in the new production. On the other hand, Dan was a divisive and politically incorrect character before the term "politically correct" had been coined.
At a glance, it's hard to see how any comedy today could include a rampant womanizer like Dan Fielding as part of its cast. What many miss, however, is that Dan Fielding was a nuanced character and the reason why Laroquette's performance was so acclaimed was because of how he could believably play Dan as a jerk with a heart of gold, who was still capable of outstanding moments of heroism and generosity even while acting in a cynical and sleazy manner. While Dan was depicted as having an eye for the ladies, he never played games with the law and took pride in his work as a prosecutor. It's also worth noting that Dan largely renounced his wicked ways over the course of Night Court season 8 and he appeared ready to make a similar change to his life as the show ended.
The character description for Dan Fielding in the reboot announcement describes him as a "former night court prosecutor," yet he is still said to be a part of Abby Stone's court team. Could Dan have returned to his old digs, having followed his heart and earned Christine's love and lived out a life with her, or has he taken on a new career? Is he still a skirt-chaser as a silver fox, or will he have turned over a new leaf and become more sensitive with time? The classic TV show reboot could either emphasize Dan's status as a relic of an older age struggling for relevancy while mocking what he was, or it could forge new ground by showing how he has evolved, while still remaining the same scheming lecher that fans of the classic series loved. Either prospect seems equally likely and equally hilarious.
The two part "Opportunity Knock Knocks" finale was largely devoted to Christine's Congressional campaign and Dan's revelation that he truly loved Christine, but also proposed big changes to the lives of most of Night Court's ensemble. Judge Harry Stone was suddenly deluged with job offers, including a partnership in a prestigious law firm and a promotion to the New York State Superior Court, but he ultimately decided to remain in his current job where he felt he was truly making a difference. Bailiff Bull Shannon (Richard Moll) was called to a higher purpose, literally, leaving Earth with aliens from the planet Jupiter who needed a tall guy to reach the things on their highest shelves. Nothing was said about them also taking Bull's wife, Wanda, whom he married earlier in season 9.
Court clerk Mac Robinson (Charles Robinson) didn't entertain any new job offers, but he did quit law school to pursue his dreams of becoming a filmmaker. This built upon a season 9 subplot involving how the video of Bull and Wanda's wedding, which Mac had filmed as an artsy auteur project, had accidentally been released in an arthouse theater and developed a cult following akin to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Bailiff Roz Russell (Marsha Warfield) didn't have a major subplot and was barely in the finale apart from a scene in which she assured Harry that she wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon, having just bought five new pairs of handcuffs.
It's unknown if any of the rest of the original Night Court cast is planning on reprising their roles for the reboot apart from John Larroquette, but the show will have to address what happened to the rest of the original team, if only with an off-hand joke or Easter egg. While it's highly unlikely Mac, Roz and Bull are still working their old jobs, there's still a chance they might pop in to see how Harry's daughter or Dan are doing. This seems more likely than an unexpected cameo with them showing up in court, perhaps after a fight broke out between Mac and Tommy Wiseau at his latest film premiere, regarding who was the real king of cult cinema.