The Three Best Episodes of the NIGHT COURT Revival Season One

https://jacksonupperco.com/2024/01/23/the-three-best-episodes-of-the-night-court-revival-season-one/

The 2023 revival of Night Court is the least well-received “reboot” we’ve covered this month. But it’s the most simply built, and with only a few, albeit major, improvements, it has the most chance to enjoy a decent-sized run. For starters, the classic design of an ensemble workplace sitcom set in and around a court at night will always be conducive to the type of idea-led humor that’s currently popular, for while there must obviously be regular characters with clear relational dynamics that can and should influence the storytelling (and validate our definition of what a sitcom is), the success of both the original Night Court and any series similarly constructed (like the police station-set Barney Miller, from which creator Reinhold Weege hailed) resides in the strength of its weekly notions — specifically, the cases brought into the courtroom, or sheer court-related events, that are then able to inspire the ensemble interactions that uphold the “situation.” The funnier and/or more emotionally compelling the setup, especially through some kind of personal stake for the regulars, the more likely it is to yield a winning installment. Thus, greatness on Night Court, like many sitcoms, is predicated two-fold: on there being a reliable ensemble, both collectively and individually, and on said ensemble having a reliably premise-appropriate stream of episodic ideas to encourage smart utilization.