Court is still in session at NBC: The network has renewed its Night Court sequel series for Season 3, TVLine has learned.
We hear the Season 3 order is for 18 episodes.
The continuation of the 1984-92 courtroom comedy stars Melissa Rauch (The Big Bang Theory) as Judge Abby Stone, who presides over the same New York City night court as her late father Harry Stone (played on the original series by Harry Anderson, who died in 2018). John Larroquette reprises his role as attorney Dan Fielding, who now serves as the night court’s public defender. The supporting cast includes India de Beaufort as prosecutor Olivia and Lacretta as bailiff Gurgs.
Night Court did shake up its cast in Season 2, with Kapil Talwalkar leaving the series as court clerk Neil. Nyambi Nyambi joined the cast as a series regular as new court clerk Wyatt. Season 2 debuted in January, with original cast member Marsha Warfield returning as former bailiff Roz in both the premiere and the March 26 finale.
Night Court’s sophomore run averaged 3.9 million total viewers and a 0.44 demo rating (with Live+7 playback), down 25% and 37% from its freshman run. Out of the 15 scripted programs that NBC has aired this TV season, it ranks 10th in audience and No. 8 in the demo.
Night Court fans, we’re calling you up to testify under oath: Hit the comments below to share your thoughts on the renewal news.
Good news.
It’s a good Sit Com. The characters are starting to come into their own.
We need more of these. Glad it is not cancelled.
Agreed! Characters really developed this season! With all the cancellations lately, I’m glad a show I watch is coming back next season!
Quite an awful and unfunny show, so let’s bring it back.
I bet the Lopez show gets renewed also.
Bad programming.
I agree that this is an awful show. I have tried to like it. The writing is atrocious.
Agree on the writing. While I liked Happy Endings overall, the “jokes” here are too much like worst of that show – a character uses an ordinary expression, then clarifies “by that I mean” something no one ever means by that expression. And it’s supposed to be funny. (It was at first, but not when it’s all the time.)
There’s a good show in there, but they have to find it.
Well you don’t have to watch!
Given the decline in ratings, a lot of people have stopped watching it.
I never understood why people say. “if you don’t like it, don’t watch”.. Every viewer counts toward a renewal, even hate watchers. Why else would “Velma” be coming back? Hate watchers brought it back.
So, if you like a show, and you want it to stay on the air, the last thing you ought to be telling anyone is, “if you don’t like it, don’t watch”.
So happy!!! Season 2 was a major improvement and looking forward to watching more!!
The new character, I think his name Wyatt is a very engaging addition to the show. Still hot and cold with Olivia. So, glad it will continue.
She’s a bit too one-dimensional and de Beaufort’s mid-Atlantic American accent makes me think I’m watching and one of those SNL Cinema Classic sketches. They have the time now to flesh out her character, though she could go the way of Neil. The original went through several clerks and defense attorneys in the first couple of seasons, Karen Austin and Paula Kelly → Charlie Robinson and Ellen Foley (of “Do you love me? Will you love me forever?” fame) → Robinson and Markie Post, before they found the right mix. In short, they should fix the character or replace her.
Huzzah! This is excellent news. Season 2 was a vast improvement over Season 1. It was pretty danged funny and I can’t miss more Dan Fielding.
I agree S2 was better than S1, but it still needs some tuning… Olivia, for one, seems aimless. I may be wrong, but I feel like most of her stories involved Gurgs, with only a few involving Judge stone. They need to expand her interactions with others; I’m not talking one-liners, but plotlines.
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One great improvement in S2 was how they toned down the “silliness” or “zaniness” that Judge Stone brought to every situation in S1. I know they wanted to demonstrate she’s living the legacy of Harry Stone, but it felt too broad in S1, and while downplayed in S2, I’d still like to see her being less zany in S3.
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And more Dan. Always more Dan!
I wholeheartedly agree with you. For me, Abby (and Neil and Olivia) were the main weaknesses. I couldn’t stand Abby’s silliness. It was way over the top. She needed to find a bit more of the old Bernadette from her TBBT days and I am glad she did. A tougher Abby is funny (such as when she threatened to cut off her own hand if it didn’t stop cramping and start working when she had to fill out all of those forms). Olivia was better in S2 but she still needs some developing and like you said, more Dan. Always more Dan!
I don’t love the show, but it’s decent and got better in season 2. Glad to see it renewed and hope it keeps improving.
Well and I think the reason season 2 was better is they brought back familiar faces like Brent Spiner and the actress who played his wife and they now have a daughter to help them with there cons as well as Marcia warfield as it’s still sad that her and Dan larouquette are the only two from the orignal as Marcia warfield has great chemistry with Dan laraoquete and I also liked Dave foley when he appeared and Wendy malick who are familiar to nbc audiences as they were in news radio
Agree completely with everyone saying season 2 was a big improvement over season 1. Glad its coming back
Yay!
it’s a bad reboot. Switching Dan Fielding from a prosecutor to a public defender changes his entire character from the original series. But really, this show doesn’t reflect the changing times from the original. The writing is sub-standard too. The cast is okay. I watched the first few episodes but turned off after that.
Agree with everyone that S2 was an improvement over S1. Also agree that there’s still some fine-tuning that could be done. The original took about four years to really gel into what we all remember.
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I still think they could use a second baliff to balance out Gurgs. And while Olivia wasn’t as off-putting in S2, something needs to be done there, either a major tweak or a replacement.
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I did like the balance of OG callbacks in S2, just enough to recall the original but not too much as to overwhelm the next generation. Two Roz appearances (she’s always welcome), the Wheelers (appearing once or twice a year would be fun), and Christine’s sister were well-done, hopefully they continue that light sprinkling in a longer season. Would be nice to check in with John Astin as Abby’s grandfather or Denice Kumagai as Quon Le, if possible. And some acknowledgement of Richard Moll would be welcome.
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Glad it’s coming back for S3. I feel MUCH better now.
Yay! Love this good ole fashioned cheesy sitcom!
I just read on India’s Instagram that she’s not a part of season 3 so I guess another cast shakeup. So no more Olivia.
I’d like to see Yakov make an appearance.
Great! I kind of want to know what happened to the rest of the original cast. Did Bull get off Jupiter? What happened to Leon? It would be fun to get some more answers.
I suppose it warrented a “barely squeaky by” renewal, but it is still a poor step child of the original (Night Court). Without that pedigree I don’t think it would have made season 2.
With the exception of Larroquette, they all simply try to hard and overact.
Speaking of Larroquette, they need to find some way to have him be the prosecuter again. He works better there
great! Love the new show. They did a good job updating it!
Mediocrity rules at NBC. If you want quality, go rewatch the ’80s original. If you’re under 35, watch it for the first time & actually have a laugh.
BTW, whatever happened to the following Jon Cryer sitcom with “Black Scrubs” (to quote Peter Griffin; Family Guy)? That was pretty mild but watchable.
Yawn
Good news! Happy for the cast and crew.