Night Court – Television Favorites

Night Court
Warner Brothers Television Favorites
Harry Anderson, John Laroquette, Markie Post,
Charles Robinson Paula Kelly, Richard Moll, Selma Diamond, Marsha Warfield
6 Episodes
Warner Brothers 2006

Warner Brothers Television Favorites is a good idea done right. Not everyone wants to get, or pay for, a complete season of a well-liked television comedy show but would like a few episodes in their collection. This is what you get with this very budget friendly series. Night Court features six episodes from the first six seasons of this really funny court comedy. Even hard-core fans of this great sitcom will want this 6-show sample, especially since only season one has been released so far. Night Court was a great ensemble cast situation comedy starring Harry Anderson, John Laroquette (who won so many Emmy awards as best supporting actor he withdrew his name from the competition), and stand-up comedy legend Selma Diamond to name a few.

Night Court ran for nine years and only overstayed its welcome in the last few shows. Warner Brothers Television Favorites features the pilot episode, All You Need Is Love, that introduced Judge Harry Stone to the viewers and had Paula Kelly as the Legal Aid lawyer, as well as shows from seasons 4, 5, and 6. Unfortunately, you do not get an episode with rock star Ellen Foley (of Bat Out Of Hell fame) as the legal aid attorney. It would have been nice also if the powers that be had included the commentary included with this pilot episode in the season one box set.

Also included here is Her Honor parts 1 and 2 where Christine Sullivan (Markie Post) gets named a judge while Harry loses his position. This two parter ends with Harry out somewhere planning the “prank de resistance” unaware he has his job back. This particular episode also features Brent Spiner (of Star Trek The Next Generation fame) as Bob Wheeler, one half of the Bob and June Wheeler bad luck redneck couple that was a regular feature on the show.

Who Was That Mashed Man? is the show featuring the Red Ranger (Robert Barron), a childhood hero of Harry’s who has been forced to remove and give up his mask by the corporation that owns the rights to the character. Any resemblance to the Lone Ranger story is, of course, purely coincidence. This episode also features Teri Hatcher (of Desperate Housewives fame) as the niece of D.A. Vinnie Whatisname (the very short guy) who tries to get into Dan’s pants.

Death Of A Bailiff, from season 5 has Bull giving all his earthly possessions away because God told him to. Fire, from season six, has the gang trapped in the morgue when the building catches fire and Dan hoping he will be elected as a State Assemblyman.

Fans of Night Court will probably nitpick the episode selection here. The best show each season was when Harry had to decide thirty or so cases in half an hour, allowing the writers to slip in all the sight gag and one joke cases they had come up with: unfortunately, none of these is included here. It would also have been nice to get one episode with Selma Diamond’s replacement, Florence Halop as Florence Kleiner. Also, the show credits are definitely a little fuzzy (something also true in the season one box set).

Still, Night Court Television Favorites is a great idea at a very decent price that will satisfy the cravings of all Night Court fans until they can get the complete series and please those who only want a sample of a few episodes from this great television situation comedy.

Episode List:

All You Need Is Love Pilot
Her Honor, parts 1 and 2 Season 4
Death Of A Bailiff Season5
Who Was That Mashed Man? Season 5
Fire Season 6

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