Starring:
From Back Cover:
Order! Order in the court!
(Okay, I'll have a ham sandwich.)
Now in session: Night Court, the gleeful series (1984-1992) about the devoted (but infinitely wacky) public servants who dispense criminal-court justice to an eccentric parade of New York's after-hours denizens. Harry Anderson plays judge Harold T. Stone, whose rulings are guilty of comedy in the first degree. Join Stone, attorneys Fielding (John Larroquette) and Sullivan (Markie Post), clerk Robinson (Charles Robinson), bailiff "Bull" Shannon (Richard Moll), matron Russell (Marsha Warfield) and more in this compilation featuring the debut episode that first set the gavel pounding plus five other tales of disorder in the court, including Fielding trying to keep his cool while looking after his boss's niece (Teri Hatcher) in Who Was That Mashed Man? Court's been called to disorder. You are hereby sentenced to laugh.
EPISODES:
My Comments:
After poor sales of Season 1 on DVD in 2005, Warner Brothers released this "Best Of" compilation - much to the worry and dismay of fans. Thankfully, the release of this disc does not spell the end of Night Court on DVD. Season 2 is due for release in early 2009.
N
Not Rated (MPAA)
4 Stars
2006
Television
Main Index
Starring:
Year(s) Aired: 1984
Year of DVD Release: 2005
Rated: Not Rated
Approx. Running Time: 313 minutes
Format(s): DVD (2 discs)
My Rating: 4 Stars (Out Of 5)
From Back Cover:
Court's in session. So's the fun!
They all come out at night. That's when you'll meet the weirdos, wannabes, lecherous fiends, nutballs and strange-os - and those are just the people in charge of Criminal Court, Part II, State of New York.
"I like him. He's nuts," a defendant says about judge Harold T. Stone. Magician/Comic Harry Anderson portrays Stone, a man with a joy-buzzer sense of courtroom decorum and a gleeful enthusiasm for velvet-voiced scat singer Mel Torme. John Larroquette and Richard Moll, who would team with Anders for the show's 1984-1992 run of law and disorder, are among the cast of this 13-episode Debut Season presented on 2 discs with a Loaded Docket of Extras. Night Court: it's where they'll try anything!
Episode Summary:
DISC ONE
Episode 1: All You Need Is Love (Pilot)
Disorder in the court! Harry knocks stuffiness out of the law while adjudicating a domestic dispute.
Episode 2: Santa Goes Downtown
You better watch out! A defendant named Santa Claus helps Harry in a case involving wayward youths.
Episode 3: The Former Harry Stone
Does Harry have something to hide? Everyone wants to know what's inside his Criminal Record file.
Episode 4: Welcome Back, Momma
Mom? A woman before the bench knows a lot about Harry and claims she's his long-lost mother.
Episode 5: The Eye of the Beholder
He's a tough case! Bull is in a funk after a charity group labels him too menacing for volunteer work.
Episode 6: Death Threat
The court copes with a death threat... and with a disheveled defendant who says he's God.
Episode 7: Once in Love with Harry
A lovestruck hooker hopes to reel in Harry. And Dan runs for council against a dead guy. Guess who wins?
DISC TWO
Episode 8: Quadrangle Of Love
Courting disaster! Court doesn't run smoothly when Dan and Bull woo the same attractive lawyer.
Episode 9: Wonder Drug
The clerk is crocked! Under the influence of strong cold medicine, tipsy Lana lip-locks Judge Harry.
Episode 10: Some Like It Hot
It's sweltering, the A.C. is out... and things get hotter when a defendant threatens to torch the building.
Episode 11: Harry and the Rock Star
Fandemonium! Rock fans crowd the gallery and clamor for Harry after he dates a rock goddess.
Episode 12: Bull's Baby
Welcome to the "daddy" track, Bull. He's perpetually exhausted when he cares for an abandoned infant.
Episode 13: Hi Honey, I'm Home
Three's a crowd: a presumed-dead husband, his remarried wife and her spouse come to court.
Extras Docket:
My Comments:
This was one of my absolute favorite shows when I was a kid. It's still a favorite today, though the later seasons were much better than season 1. But you really can't go wrong with any episode of Night Court.
B
Not Rated (MPAA)
4 Stars
1984
Television
Main Index
Starring:
Year(s) Aired: 1984-1985
Year of DVD Release: 2009
Rated: Not Rated
Approx. Running Time: 525 minutes
Format(s): DVD (3 discs)
My Rating: 4 Stars (Out Of 5)
From Back Cover:
LAUGHS, GAMES, PRANKS: THIS COURT'S ALWAYS IN RECESS!
Disorder in the court! Judge Harold T. Stone, Dan, Bull and Selma return for a rollicking second season of dispensing justice to the assorted nuts of Night Court. New to the courtroom: Noo Yawk-savvy defender Billie Young and Vietnam vet Mac Robinson, the court clerk. On the 22-episode docket: an invisible man, a mogul madam, a lovelorn nun, hookers, pickpockets, flashers, wackos, weirdos, gonzos and great guest stars, including Michael Richards, Stella Stevens, Jack Gilford, John Astin, Lou Ferrigno, and, as substitute defender Christine Sullivan, Markie Post, who will become a full-time cast member in Season 3. Join the fun as Judge Harry throws the book at crime - the joke book.
Episode Summary:
DISC ONE
Episode 1: The Nun
Nun but the lonely heart. Sister Sarah William develops a crush on Harry.
Episode 2: Daddy for the Defense (a.k.a. Christine and Mac)
Public Defender Christine Sullivan arrives at night court with a one-man cheering section: her doting dad.
Episode 3: Billie and the Cat
The case of the kidnapped cat: Billie knows the whereabouts of a purloined feline - and she's not talking.
Episode 4: Pick a Number
A timid soul with a $3 million lottery ticket wants Harry to give it away to a worthy recipient.
Episode 5: The Computer Kid
Hack attack. An obnoxious young computer wiz uses his tech skills to disrupt Harry's court.
Episode 6: Bull Gets a Kid
The Volunteer Fathers Organization matches Bull with a foster son. But the boy has a surprise for his new dad.
Episode 7: Harry On Trial
Harry's courtroom clowning always gets him laughs. Now it gets him a hearing with the Board of Judicial Review.
Episode 8: Harry and the Madam
Filled with the names of the rich and powerful, a madam's little black book makes for red-hot evidence.
DISC TWO
Episode 9: Inside Harry Stone
If laughter is the best medicine, why aren't Harry's jakes curing his mysterious stomach pains?
Episode 10: The Blizzard
A secret hideaway for two: A snowstorm strands Dan in the elevator with a man who finds him very attractive.
Episode 11: Take My Wife, Please
When his Vietnamese friend is threatened with deportation, Mac does the logical thing: He marries her.
Episode 12: The Birthday Visitor
His birthday. Her place. Harry puckers up for a birthday kiss from Billie, only to discover they're not alone.
Episode 13: Dan's Parents
"Thank God they left the livestock in the car." Dan's supposedly passed-away parents are very-much-alive hayseeds.
Episode 14: Nuts About Harry
It's Harry to the rescue when patients at a mental hospital turn to the court system for help.
Episode 15: An Old Flame
Thelma turns up the heat under an old flame. And a substitute judge is too good to be true.
DISC THREE
Episode 16: The Gypsy
It's magic. Bull's convinced he's under a gypsy curse, so Harry counteracts the spell with his own powers of sorcery.
Episode 17: Battling Bailiff
And in this corner: Bull, the Battling Bailiff! Bull quits his job to embark on a career in pro wrestling.
Episode 18: Billie's Valentine
Cupid takes aim at Billie's heart... and misses. Her new boyfriend isn't the dreamboat he appears to be.
Episode 19: Married Alive
Dan dates a plain, gawky girl. It must be love - or the $40 million she's due to inherit.
Episode 20: Mac and Quon Le: Together Again
Dan and Billie vie for the same job. Quon Le is hauled into court with her hooker roommates.
Episode 21: World War III
Yakov's back, and he's brought his dancing-bear-trainer brother and the KGB with him.
Episode 22: Walk, Don't Wheel
Harry's invited to speak at the mayor's reception. And America's hap-hap-happiest family trashes a motel.
My Comments:
Season 2 of this fantastic show introduces us to Christine Sullivan and Mac Robinson, who will go on to be key characters throughout the rest of the series.
B
Not Rated (MPAA)
4 Stars
1984
1985
Television
Main Index
Starring:
Year(s) Aired: 1985-1986
Year of DVD Release: 2010
Rated: Not Rated
Approx. Running Time: 526 minutes
Format(s): DVD (3 discs)
My Rating: 4 Stars (Out Of 5)
From Back Cover:
Christine and Flo join the nutty Night life.
This season, life in Judge Harry Stone's court starts with a tear (as the gang says farewell to Selma) and a horselaugh (as they welcome wiseacre Flo to the municipal menagerie). And it's all fun from there in 22 absurdly hilarious episodes as Harry and his staff (including another newcomer, Legal Aid attorney Christine Sullivan) contend with New York's zaniest nuts and dolts: the usual winos, weirdos, hookers and con artists, plus an orangutan, a rock star, a man from Saturn and a gorgeous witch who has Harry under her spell. The 3-Disc set of Season 3 ends on a dark and stormy night, when four expectant moms fulfill their expectations with the panic-stricken assistance of the whole Night Court crew. Lullaby and good Night Court!
Episode Summary:
DISC ONE
Episode 1: Hello, Goodbye
While Harry searches for someone to take Selma's place, Bull goes on a bender to mourn his friend's passing.
Episode 2: The Hostage
Spaced out. A weird little man who claims he's from Saturn grabs an evidence gun and takes Dan hostage.
Episode 3: Dad's First Date
Dinner, a movie and a charge of soliciting a prostitute. Things don't go well when Christine's dad goes on his first date in years.
Episode 4: Mac and Quon Le: No Reservations
Mac's grandfather has millions, and he's not about to leave them to a grandson who married a foreign girl.
Episode 5: Halloween Too
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered. On Halloween, Harry falls for a beauty who claims to be a witch.
Episode 6: Best of Friends
Dan's college buddy Chip has changed a bit over the years: he's now an elegant redhead named Charlene.
Episode 7: Dan's Boss
"Follow the yellow brick road." Dan makes fun of a dwarf... who turns out to be his new boss.
Episode 8: Up on the Roof
Health care crisis: a rock star's shrink is more interested in his bank account than his mental well-being.
DISC TWO
Episode 9: Wheels Of Justice - Part 1
No money, honey. In a financial bind, the State of New York stops paying its employees.
Episode 10: Wheels Of Justice - Part 2
Distraught when he can't help a family in need, Harry walks out of the courtroom... and doesn't come back.
Episode 11: Walk Away, Renee
Bull flips over a lady who happens to be a lady of the evening. Who's going to clue the lovelorn bailiff in?
Episode 12: Dan's Escort
Escort-for-hire Dan is nonplussed when an aging client requests some extra, umm, services.
Episode 13: The Night Off
A loopy substitute judge puts Harry, Dan and Mac in the slammer and appoints Flo and Phil the Wino as counsel.
Episode 14: Harry and Leon
Judge Stone plays Judge Hardy when he becomes foster father to an oprhaned shoeshine boy named Leon.
Episode 15: The Apartment
Bad timing. A social worker pops in to check on Leon while Harry hosts a wild birthday bash for Dan.
Episode 16: Leon, We Hardly Knew Ye
Leon's going home with great adoptive parents. So why is Harry so blue that even Mel Torme can't cheer him up?
DISC THREE
Episode 17: The Mugger
There oughta be a law: Christine calls it quits after she's mugged.
Episode 18: Could This Be Magic?
Abracadabra, they're gone! Harry's childhood hero, a now down-on-his-luck magician, makes off with Harry's possessions.
Episode 19: Monkey Business
Bull goes ape when he discovers that the baby orangutan he's befriended will be used for animal research.
Episode 20: Flo's Retirement
Hold the party and the gold watch. Flo reaches mandatory retirement age, but no one wants to see her go - especially Flo.
Episode 21: Hurricane - Part 1
Dan and Billie vie for the same job. Quon Le is hauled into court with her hooker roommates.
Episode 22: Hurricane - Part 2
Juvenile court. Harry, Christine, Dan, Mac, Bull and Flo learn everything there is to know about birthin' babies.
My Comments:
Season 3 marks the last of the revolving door that was the cast of this show with Markie Post finally taking her permanent place as the attorney opposing Dan Fielding. And while new - and temporary - addition "Flo" is funny enough, season 4 will finally bring us the hilarious and incomparable Roz.
B
Not Rated (MPAA)
4 Stars
1986
1986
Television
Main Index