Just Don't

I watched the first two episodes of the Night Court reboot? Revival? Whatever you want to call it. While I don't believe this series is anywhere near or will become the classic the original 1984-1992 series was, it wasn't that bad. Starring Melissa Rauch (The Big Bang Theory) and John Larroquette, Rauch plays Judge Abigail "Abby" Stone, the daughter of former night court judge Harry Stone. Abby is just as optimistic as her father and it's a shame that the court system is just as jaded as it was back in the 80s. I get these are TV shows but still.

Judge Stone persuades former Assistant District Attorney Dan Fielding (Larroquette) to return to the night court as a public defender. He makes it clear that this is only temporary. Larroquette is still adeptly able to play Dan Fielding and his droll wit, yelps, and physical comedy harken back to those original nine seasons. Abby and Dan are joined by ADA Olivia (India de Beaufort), court clerk Neil (Kapir Talwalkar), and bailiff Donna "Gurgs" Gurganous (Lacretta). Apparently, no one has a last name.

The cast is all good. Like I said, this show has potential and my major criticisms could all be washed away in a couple episodes. First, we don't really know the characters. What little we know about them really came from a psychic that was being arraigned shortly after the show began. In the original series, we learned about the characters through the way they talked to each other when discussing the newly appointed judge. And keep in mind that 3 of those 6 characters would be gone by the end of the second season. The other thing is they relied way to heavily on the original series. The pilot was filled with nods and inside jokes from the original series that would pass over the heads of people who aren't familiar with the show. This was tamed down with the second episode but it's strange that the spirit of Judge Harry Stone (or Harry Anderson) hangs so heavy on the series. Again, all that could change next week.

One scene, when Abby was trying to convince Dan to return to the night court and he asks "Why me?" Taking a beat, Abby responds "Because there's no one else." A sad reminder of the passing of both Anderson and Markie Post, who played public defender Christine Sullivan.

I recommend checking this series out (Tuesday at 7PM CST on NBC, streaming next day on Peacock), if only to see how it expands and improves on the original series, which is very outdated in a lot of ways. But I also recommend the original show which you can find on FreeVee.

October 25, 1973

Is Brutus really going to buy clothes from guys that wear those pants? And that tie? The 70s were wild, man!

I'm assuming that it's not really Brutus' job to care about the tea cozy designs, it's just his job to help sell them. You would think that Brutus would've already been yelled at about sharing his opinions and that he would just stop doing that.

Some people never learn...