Night Court:S1-3 (3pk/GFST) [DVD]

i'm not sure what i find more irksome: hearing a masterpiece (The Addams Family, Gilligan's Island, The Monkees) blindly dismissed as a turkey, or a turkey (I Love Lucy, The Simpsons, Married With Children) unduly hailed a masterpiece.the all-time example occurred in the '80s, who's best sitcom was somehow officially listed as...Cheers. (honestly, has whoever's responsible even SEEN Cheers? i've taken math tests with more entertainment value! i've seen more likeable characters in documentaries about Nazi Germany!) and just to rub salt in the wound, the true finest sitcom of the decade, Night Court, is frequently glossed over and often seems all but forgotten now.well, i'm here to set The Record straight once and for all: Night Court is not simply the greatest sitcom but the very best series of any sort from the '80s. whereas Cheers is a monumental turd fit to be screened only in federal prisons...and even there only as a last resort.ev'rybody got that? good. now then...it admittedly took a bit for it to fall into place, but the appeal of Night Court has always lain in the tightrope it walks between the semi-fantasy sitcom of the '60s and the "socially relevant" approach that had become so prominent in the '70s. this is a series where characters are likely to be wrongfully fired as they are to encounter The Angel Of Death. problematic love interests here can be anything from a porn star to (literally) a witch. the series thrives on that fine line in a way that would sadly fall by the wayside.our fearless leader here is Judge Harold T. Stone (Harry Anderson), who's passion for whimsy is his weapon against that most ruthless of all villains, Cold Hard Reality. presiding over a Manhattan arraignment court, he sees humanity at it's most downtrodden and unlucky on a daily (nightly?) basis. his maverick knack for practical jokes marks him as a textbook nonconformist, and his looking about 20 years old doesn't do much for his image either. but he never shirks his duty when put to the test. he's the kind of careful, thoughtful mediator the United Nations could use.it's probably only fair to mention that Anderson is pretty much playing himself. he's not really an "actor" in the Charlton Heston/Al Pacino sense as much as in the William Shatner/John Wayne mold. but hey, sometime that works out. according to the pilot episode commentary, series creator Reinhold Weege had never even heard of Anderson upon developing the series, and he just happened to fit the mold when he came along. (well, as Mark Twain said, "of course truth is stranger than fiction. it's not required to make any sense.")what's more, Anderson wrote some of the best episodes. he didn't very often, contributing maybe one script a year from season 5 or so on, but they're always treats when they come along.i don't quite remember who (some writer or producer), but i once heard someone say in an interview that the best sitcom characters are always nasty bastards. i don't know if i'd go that far, since there's certainly as much room in the formula for the likes of Herman Munster and "The Fonz." but still, it is a fruitful angle that has benefited many a fine actor. (my favorite is probably Chris Barrie as Arnold Rimmer on Red Dwarf.) indeed it's one of the great perversities of Nature: traits we would find obnoxious if not reprehensible in a flesh-&-blood acquaintance we somehow tolerate, sometimes even relish, through the filter of storytelling.in case you missed it, this is my buildup to district attorney Dan Fielding (John Larroquette). he may not seem so edgy in a world that's since seen House, but there was a time when Fielding seemed to be the very pinnacle of lack of scruples over the airwaves. but of course, however "cool" the bad-boy thing might be, it's too narrow to be the sole driving force for very long. it could be argued that Dan is the character who had the most development over the course of the series. he never quite shed his monetary greed and/or carnal lust and/or ruthless career aspirations, but along the way there was more than one glimpse of a heart, some ethics, even a touch vulnerability under that sleazy exterior.probably the best actor herein, Larroquette earned all four the Emmys he garnered in the role. television hadn't seen such a graceful hybrid of the two sensibilities since Jackie Gleason played volatile but loveable "everyman" Ralph Kramden. (it could be simple coincidence that Gleason is Larroquette's idol, but then again, maybe not.)and then there's the bailiff Bull Shannon (Richard Moll), television's most poignant "gentle giant" since Herman Munster. the outsider (and/or "weirdo"), Bull's crises are the most potentially tragic. whether an object of ridicule (or worse) for his naivety or fear through someone's preconceived notions, Bull is the courtroom denizen we're most likely to empathize with. Harry is the brain of the series, Dan is the id, and Bull is the heart.these are only the most obvious of the delightful characters who join us along this odyssey. Markie Post as passionate if goody-two-shoes public defender Christine Sullivan. Charles Robinson, who's court clerk Mac serves as resident "everyman." (once he's introduced that is.) John Astin as Buddy Ryan, a mental patient friend of Harry's late mother who turns out to be his father. Bull's fellow bailiffs, who go from spunky old ladies (Selma Diamond, Florence Halop) to no-nonsense Roz (Marsha Warfield). Eugene Roche as Christine's well-meaning goofball of father, Jack. of course, quite a few of these characters don't arrive until somewhere around the fourth season, so just thin of them as something to look forward to.i've always loved sitcoms, but they never seemed to be sitcoms of the moment. my sitcoms of choice are the ones from the '60s, the ones on which just about anything could happen. for my lifetime, though, sitcoms seem to of shunned that fantasy element in favor of a ho-hum day-to-day life in the Real World rut. while Night Court lasted, there was a glimmer of hope that the sensibilities didn't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive, that the whimsy of old and the new realism just might be able to work together. but alas, it's the one and only opportunity they've ever had to do so.it was our own last triumph of art for art's sake in sitcom form. in England, the '90s would see sitcom mastery from both extremes with the conventional As Time Goes By and the innovative Red Dwarf. then, in the '00s, Canada would come out of left field with a quirky little gem called Corner Gas. but sadly, the American sitcom hasn't even tried to aspire to that standard since Night Court.

Cable TV is positively drowning in genre programming, as we've all witnessed. Sci-fi for the nerds. Naked people trying to live in a swamp. Rednecks drag racing. And tons of old repeats all over the place. It's obvious some of these networks are targeting people my age - around 60 and older, with admittedly good shows here and there ("Perry Mason" does require the viewer to have more intelligence than a kumquat), the old Andy Griffith shows with Don Knotts as Barney Fife, M*A*S*H, which has been shown so much that despite its quality, I'm sick to death of. And of course you get all the insurance for old people, Joe Namath and others pushing for "services" that will "help" us with Medicare, when Medicare itself has all the information you'd ever need, and at no charge - take that, Joe! But one cable channel recently amidst the usual drek (I mean "Saved By The Bell?") added "Night Court" to its line-up during midday, and with me being retired and my wife disabled during this pandemic, we started re-watching a great show we hadn't seen literally in decades and we're hooked. The first three DVD's is as good a place to start as any out of nine seasons, as the series loosely followed a chronological order. The show, created by Reinhold Weege, the creator of "Barney Miller", another great show, and often featuring some old M*A*S*H writers like Dennis Koenig, is exceedingly clever, and as time went on, while we got acquainted with Harry Anderson, the madcap municipal judge in an off hours courtroom, Bull, played by Richard Moll, a 6 ft. 8 inch monolith, and especially John Larroquette, as District Attorney Dan Fielding, other actors came and went. Two unfortunately would not live past the third season - Selma Diamond, who was very popular, and Florence Halop, who was also quite cute as another older diminutive bailiff. The stories were great, and the biggest draw became by the fourth season more off the wall humor, and the additions of the permanent cast until the series ended, with Charles Robinson as Mack, Marsha Warfield as Roz, the ultra tough bailiff and Markie Post, the beautiful but somewhat ditzy defense attorney. What makes the show so good besides this chemistry was John Larroquette, who was tasked as Dan Fielding as being a sex maniac, extremely selfish and butt kissing sarcastic jerk, with moments of decency revealing that aside from his sex life, he was actually a good person, but given to incredible situations that required the character to adopt as many moods, faces and reactions that was ever asked of a good actor. He would receive several Emmys as Best Supporting Actor, and finally asked the committee to stop nominating him. Only Larry Linville, the incredibly talented actor who played the legendary Frank Burns on M*A*S*H in my view had as much talent and ability to switch personalities on the snap of a finger. The imagination and skill of the writers and actors make this truly one of the greatest comedies of all time. It is definitely worth having in your DVD library.

Great series, I had forgotten about the hilarious Selma Diamond being in the first two seasons. A great assortment of actors, Harry Anderson as the Judge keeps the whole thing together.The quality of the transfer to DVD is as good or better than anything I've seen from the mid eighties (my goodness, I am old).There seems to be some confusion about the packaging, with all three seasons being on 3 discs. This is simply not true. Three Seasons, but they are on a total of 7 discs. Season 1 - 2 Disks for 13 Episodes. Season 2 - 3 Disks for 22 Episodes and Season 3 - 3 Discs for 22 Episodes. That is 6-8 24 (or so) min episodes per disc. That seems about normal for most of the half hour comedies.(I edited this only to correct the number of disks per season.)Some of the old shows don't stand up well, or are funny if your tastes run a certain way. Night Court is one show that stands up through time and , in my humble opinion, if you don't find it funny, you have NO sense of humor.As others have said, I kind of wish the rest of the series was available in a bit more economical way that season by season. This is one show that's worth the space in your library.

This is 100% opinion, but the show where good, is not quite as great as I remembered it back in the 80s. Probably because the 80s was the worst decade for American television. By comparison this show just seemed so good then. Still good and if you liked it, buy it.

メル・トーメも亡くなった今、ジャズファンも楽しめる作品☆　或る時代のNY下町の感じが◎。