Night Court: Her Honor, Part 1

Less buttoned-down
than three years ago.

Night Court: Her Honor, Part 1
NBC
April 29, 1987
Sitcom
DVD
C

Changes in the cast since Season One

• Markie Post is now the public defender Christine Sullivan, replacing (in order) Gail Strickland, Paula Kelly, and my personal favorite Ellen Foley;
• Charles Robinson joined as court clerk Mac Robinson in Season Two;
• and Marsha Warfield had become female bailiff Roz Russell the previous year, after the deaths of both Selma Diamond and Florence Halop from lung cancer.

As for Bull and Harry, they're certainly recognizable from the Pilot (Bull wasn't that complex a character anyway), but Dan has gone sleazy in the meantime.  In this episode, he also goes off the rails because he fails to be made a judge, although Christine succeeded.  More of the focus is on him though, despite the episode title, until it turns that Harry hasn't been reappointed.  The studio audience and/or laugh track is having a grand old time, but I found nothing special about this except that Harry is reading the Tower Commission Report in two scenes without comment.*

Wil Albert, who had played Kip's Uncle Saul on Bosom Buddies, is Mr. Peele here and would be a Jeweler on Who's the Boss?  Brent Spiner and Annie O'Donnell, who had played Bob and June Wheeler on previous episodes would return for Part 2 of this one.  Linwood Boomer wrote both parts (and Parts 3 and 4, which would air in the Fall).  Jeff Melman would direct all four parts, and another 73 episodes.


*Iran-Contra had broken the previous fall, just after the mid-term elections.  It would not impact TV, including sitcoms, as much as Watergate had, but then, this time a president wouldn't resign.