What’s your verdict on the new NBC? Premiere score!
Hear, hear: night court It’s back in session on NBC, with the new Judge Stone presiding.
the great explosion Alum star Melissa Rauch plays Judge Abby Stone, daughter of the original Judge Harry Stone (played by the late Harry Anderson). The Tuesday series premiere opens with a cheerful Abby arriving on her first day as the new judge in her father’s old courtroom, but not many people remember Harry and the adults. night court crew. Former District Attorney Dan Fielding (John Laroquette) is still around – but he’s turned into a milkshake fling at a nearby café. The barista’s party is just a cover so he can hand out subpoenas as a tackle server, but the goofy beard he’s sporting is very real. (And hey, they kept the old song!)
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Abby soon meets her new co-workers: sheriff Gigli Gorges (L’Acreta), ambitious prosecutor Olivia (India de Beaufort), and frustrated writer Neil (Kabil Talwakar). Her first case is a psychic accused of fraud, and when Abby puts a psychic to the test, we learn that the judge is “very happily engaged,” even though her fiancé lives out of town and hasn’t yet moved to town. (Hmmm). The beleaguered public defender pushed the court to try harder next time – and so he resigned immediately. Sitting in her late father’s old judge’s chambers and examining his old stuff (Clarence in armour!), she decides she needs a new public defender who “cares about people as much as I do.”
So she knocks on the door of her father’s friend, Dan, who tries to shoo her away at first, but lets her in once he hears that she is Harry’s daughter. He offers his condolences and reveals that his wife Sarah had also recently passed away. When Abby says she is the new night court judge, Dan lets out a horrified shriek, mocking her offer to be the new public defense attorney. But she tugs at my heartstrings by reminding him of how he once coaxed Harry back into the courtroom, so he reluctantly agrees to pay a visit to his old turf.
Once Dan arrives, he quickly clashes with Olivia, and though Abby tries to get him to stick around, he walks away, leaving her high and dry. Meanwhile, poor Gurgs is driving herself crazy trying to figure out who rearranges letters in court evidence to tell dirty jokes – but Abby knows it’s Neil, who’s overqualified for his job and bored. She looks up to him for what he really wants to do, and her optimistic attitude causes Nell to agree to give her more time with her cases so she can dig further. In addition, Dan wanders into Harry’s old rooms and asks the janitor if he should open his heart again and risk getting hurt. The janitor has been too busy getting rid of dead birds, and when Dan opens a box of Harry’s things, a bunch of spring-loaded snakes appear in his face. Classic Harry.
Next thing we know, Dan shows up in court with a freshly cut beard and ready to serve as the court’s public defender – for a few days, at least. Assigned to defend a stripper in a trench coat, he makes a thunderous account of the reasons why the man should be so harshly convicted… before remembering that he is no longer the Attorney General. He quickly changes his pace and defends the guy – which, of course, lights up Abby and the rest of the court before he leaves. This is it night courtafter all.
Well, it’s time for your verdict: give a file night court View the top score in our survey, then hit the comments to share your thoughts.
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