47 Fun Facts About Night Court

On which network did the original Night Court air from 1984 to 1992?

NBC. The show arrived in January 1984 as a mid-season replacement, and within three years the stopgap had climbed into the Nielsen top ten.

What was Judge Harry Stone's full first name?

Harold T. Stone was played by Harry Anderson, a real-life magician who worked the trade into the character.

Night Court's creator had previously written for which police sitcom?

Barney Miller. Weege wrote and produced for the precinct comedy, then set his own show in an after-hours courtroom, insisting he had seen real ones that were even more bizarre.

What is prosecutor Dan Fielding's real first name?

Reinhold. The series revealed he was born Reinhold, to rustic parents he had told everyone were dead, and the name was a nod to the show's creator, Reinhold Weege.

What is the middle name of Night Court bailiff Aristotle "Bull" Shannon?

Nostradamus. Aristotle Nostradamus Shannon looked far fiercer than he was: in season one a charity turns the gentle bailiff away because his size and appearance are too intimidating.

Who played public defender Christine Sullivan?

Markie Post. She guested as Christine in season two and joined full-time in season three, having started in television behind the camera on game-show crews.

What was court clerk Mac Robinson's full first name?

Macintosh. Charles Robinson played Mac from season two to the end of the run, and stepped behind the camera to direct three episodes himself.

Marsha Warfield's bailiff Roz shares her full name with which Hollywood actress?

Rosalind Russell. Roz took over as bailiff in season four, and Marsha Warfield brought her back in the 2023 revival, by then working as a private investigator.

Who played the chain-smoking bailiff Hacker in the first two seasons?

Selma Diamond. The comedy writer turned actress died of lung cancer after season two, and Florence Halop, who replaced her as bailiff, died of cancer just a year later.

After Night Court, John Larroquette's own sitcom cast him as the night manager of what?

A bus station. In The John Larroquette Show he played a recovering alcoholic whose new job, with a robbery and a missing bus in the pilot alone, tests his resolve to stay sober.

Which one-season Charlie's Angels star was cast as Night Court's Christine Sullivan but never made it to air?

Shelley Hack. By her account the part had been rewritten from a funny lady into a straight woman and wasn't working, so she and the producer mutually agreed at the eleventh hour that she would go.

Which singer, Meat Loaf's partner on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", played public defender Billie Young?

Ellen Foley. She sang the girl's part on the 1977 record, but Karla DeVito took her place on the tour, and Foley spent just one season in Harry's courtroom.

Which crooner appeared as himself as Harry's musical idol?

Mel Tormé. The running gag grew into repeat guest spots and a real friendship: when the singer died in 1999, Harry Anderson delivered a eulogy at his funeral.

Which future Star Trek actor played frequent defendant Bob Wheeler?

Brent Spiner. He played hard-luck Bob Wheeler in the mid-1980s, before Star Trek made him Data, then returned to the role in the revival more than 30 years later.

Which comedian played Night Court's recurring Soviet émigré Korolenko?

Yakov Smirnoff. Born in Odesa in Soviet Ukraine, he emigrated to the United States in 1977 and built his act on the naive newcomer, the same persona he brought into Harry's court.

Which Addams Family star played Buddy Ryan, Harry's stepfather who turned out to be his birth father?

John Astin. His Buddy had spent years in and out of mental hospitals, and capped each alarming story with a wide smile and the line "...but I'm feeling much better now."

Which comedian played prosecutor Oscar Brown in Night Court's final season?

Gilbert Gottfried. His loud-mouthed Oscar Brown was hired because Dan had gone missing, and Dan turned up hiding in the sub-basement as the Phantom of the Courthouse.

Family Guy once showed which US president playing the Night Court theme, backed by Secret Service agents?

Bill Clinton. Ernie Watts played saxophone on the real theme, so the cartoon handed the tune to the president who had played sax on a late-night talk show during his 1992 campaign.

Which future movie star played a cynical teenage runaway in Night Court's second episode in 1984?

Michael J. Fox. Already on Family Ties, he played a shoplifting runaway who sneers at a defendant calling himself Santa Claus, an old man who somehow knows details of everyone's past.

Which Looney Tunes character stood trial in Harry's court for years of harassing a bird?

Wile E. Coyote. Harry found him guilty of harassing the Road Runner, told him to go to a restaurant if he was hungry, and ordered him to leave that poor bird alone.

After a first season on Wednesdays, Night Court moved to which night?

Thursday. Parked at 9:30, the show broke into the Nielsen top twenty in its second season and held the slot for four years.

Which sitcom topped the ratings in Night Court's best year?

The Cosby Show. Night Court peaked at seventh in 1986–87, closing the comedy block that the top-rated show opened, and all four of that block's shows finished in the Nielsen top seven.

At the start of its final season, Night Court was the Wednesday lead-in for which soon-to-be hit?

Seinfeld. The newcomer was starting its first full season behind a veteran in its ninth, and within months the network flipped the pair so that it led off the hour instead.

Christine Sullivan's actress came to Night Court from which action series?

The Fall Guy. She played bail bondswoman Terri Michaels there from 1982 to 1985, guesting in Harry's court in between, and became a regular as soon as she left.

Night Court's Harry Anderson later opened a nightclub in which city?

New Orleans. He had worked its streets as a young performer, and did his one-man show at his own club there until Hurricane Katrina's devastation sent him to Asheville.

Dan Fielding, like the actor who plays him, comes from which state?

Louisiana. Dan hid his roots until the hick parents he had told everyone were dead came up from there to visit him at the courthouse; John Larroquette was born in the same state.

Which sitcom staged a Night Court reunion in "The One with the Cast of Night Court"?

30 Rock. To cheer up Kenneth the page, Tracy brings in three of the old cast to film the wedding of Harry and Christine that the original series never showed.

In Night Court's pilot, how does Harry explain his appointment as a judge?

He was home when they phoned. On the mayor's last day in office, a Sunday, aides worked down a list of a thousand candidates; Harry's name was at the bottom, and nobody else answered.

In Night Court's fifth season, what happens to Bull before he gives away his life savings?

He is struck by lightning. Hit on the courthouse roof and clinically dead for a few minutes, Bull wakes convinced that God has told him to give everything he owns to the poor.

Mac marries Quon Le Duc, a woman he knew in which country, so she can stay in the US?

Vietnam. Mac had served there in the war, and a wedding meant only to stop her deportation turned into a real marriage that lasted to the end of the series.

What prompts Mac to quit as court clerk near the end of Night Court's fifth season?

An inheritance. His grandfather leaves him $2 million, and Mac walks out, leaving his friends at the mercy of the most incompetent court clerk in New York.

On one Night Court Halloween, Harry traps himself inside what while practising a magic trick?

A safe. Locked in while rehearsing an escape act for his Halloween party, Harry nearly suffocates, and is left lamenting his obsession with magic and pranks.

Which office in Albany does Dan run for in Night Court's sixth season, falling for his opponent on election day?

State assembly. A courthouse fire drives everyone down to the morgue during the campaign, and when Dan finally meets his opponent on election day, sparks fly between them.

Which condition is Roz diagnosed with in Night Court's fifth season, briefly making her quit?

Diabetes. Sure her life is over, Roz resigns in frustration, then accidentally overdoses on insulin and has to be talked down from the edge of the courthouse roof.

Before Night Court, Harry Anderson played con man Harry "The Hat" Gittes on which sitcom?

Cheers. Anderson called it his first acting job, though Harry the Hat was basically the character he had already developed hustling drinks in bars as a street performer.

After Night Court, Harry Anderson starred as which humorist in a CBS sitcom based on his columns?

Dave Barry. Dave's World turned two of the Miami Herald columnist's books into four seasons of family sitcom, and when it ended in 1997 Anderson all but walked away from acting.

Harry Anderson played the adult Richie Tozier in the 1990 miniseries of which Stephen King novel?

It. Stephen King wrote the grown-up Richie as a disc jockey, but the miniseries turned him into a television comedian, called home to Derry to face Tim Curry's Pennywise.

Before Night Court, John Larroquette's first film job was narrating the opening of which 1974 horror film?

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. He did it as a favour to his friend, director Tobe Hooper, and decades later confirmed the old rumour that he was paid in marijuana.

Richard Moll came to his Night Court audition bald because he had just played what?

A sci-fi warrior. Moll had shaved his head for the B movie Metalstorm, the producers liked the look, and when asked to keep it he said he would shave his legs for the part.

Which Batman villain did Richard Moll voice in Batman: The Animated Series?

Two-Face. After nine seasons as a lovable bailiff, Moll turned his deep growl to villains, voicing both the upright Harvey Dent and the scarred crime boss he becomes.

Who plays Judge Abby Stone, Harry's daughter, in the 2023 revival?

Melissa Rauch. A fan of the original, she set out to produce the revival with her husband Winston rather than star in it, and ended up wearing the judge's robes herself.

In the Night Court revival, former prosecutor Dan Fielding takes which role in Abby Stone's courtroom?

Defense lawyer. The man who spent nine seasons prosecuting is talked into becoming the court's public defender after the one assigned to it quits on Abby's first day.

In the Night Court revival, what is revealed to be Abby Stone's actual full first name?

Abracadabra. Abby had always believed she was an Abigail, until she learned that Harry, the judge who loved magic tricks, had wanted his daughter named after the magic word.

Which Just Shoot Me actress plays Julianne, the ex-con prosecutor out for revenge on Dan in the Night Court revival?

Wendie Malick. Dan had prosecuted Julianne years earlier; she came back as a recurring thorn in his side, then joined the cast in season three as the court's new prosecutor.

Night Court is set in a criminal court in which New York borough?

Manhattan. The show was inspired by the real evening sessions at 100 Centre Street, where arraignments ran until 1 a.m. and tourists could watch from the public gallery.

Why did John Larroquette's Emmy streak end after four wins?

He withdrew his name from the ballot. He told a critic at the time that it was someone else's turn, and admitted years later that he had not thought his recent work was as good.

Who plays Donna 'Gurgs' Gurganous, the eccentric bailiff of the 2023 Night Court revival?

Lacretta. Harry's court always had two bailiffs, but her Gurgs keeps order alone, in a part the stage actress said she wanted because Gurgs is weird in a great and interesting way.