My Hopes for Season 3 of the "Night Court" Reboot

The TV news I had been waiting for had finally arrived: NBC's Night Court reboot was renewed for a third season! I had been worried about the show, because the strike messed up a lot of things regarding several of my favorite shows, and Night Court was no exception. Before I go into further detail about this, here's a bit of history.

Of course, as we know, the original Night Court series premiered on NBC in the middle of the 1983-84 TV season, and lasted for nine seasons, serving as one of NBC's landmark sitcoms during that period. The cast had changed quite a bit, but the familiar cast featured Harry Anderson as eccentric judge Harold T. Stone, Markie Post as defense attorney Christine Sullivan, John Larroquette as the often sleazy prosecutor Dan Fielding, Charles Robinson as court clerk Mac Robinson, Richard Moll as dimwitted bailiff Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon, and Marsha Warfield as the no-nonsense bailiff Roz Russell. That group wasn't the original cast, but it's the one fans of the series know the most.

In December of 2020, 28 years after the original series ended, a reboot/sequel series was in the works. After a couple of years, the Night Court reboot premiered on January 17, 2023, and the current series stars Melissa Rauch (aka Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory) in the lead as Abby Stone, the daughter of the late Harold T. Stone (whose portrayer, Harry Anderson, passed away in 2018), who is following in her father's footsteps and serving as a judge in the same night court that her father worked all those years ago. As expected, John Larroquette returned as Dan Fielding, with the premiere episode seeing Abby recruit Dan to serve as a public defender after her last one quit. As we learned, a lot happened with Dan in the three decades that passed. He did get married to a woman named Sarah, who tragically died prior to the reboot's events. So married life has cooled down the once womanizing Dan for the better, but his sarcasm remains, which is hilarious.

The rest of the cast included India de Beaufort as prosecutor Olivia Moore, who (for the most part) is a female equivalent of what Dan was in the original series, Kapil Talwalkar as Neil, the court clerk who has a crush on Abby, and Lacretta as Gurgs, the night court bailiff. Talwalker left the series after Season One, and Season Two's fourth episode debuted Nyambi Nyambi as Neil's replacement, Wyatt.

The show, to me, is basically a tribute to the late Harry Anderson, and we've seen some other callbacks as well on the series. Season One's finale ended with Dan moving to his native New Orleans and becoming a judge, and the final scene showed him reuniting with Roz Russell, who was stunned to see that Dan had become a judge. The final moment of the opening season was Marsha Warfield's first appearance in the reboot as Roz, and she resurfaced again in the official Season Two opener, and in the second season finale. There were a few other things I wanted to see in this reboot, but I wasn't confident in the series' future. Now that the renewal has happened, I can now list my hopes for Season Three of Night Court.

Returning Side Characters

Tragically, a lot of the core cast of the original series is no longer with us, though some episodes have basically honored those late cast members. I said before that the whole series, to me, is a tribute to Harry Anderson, and I believe Markie Post (who passed away in 2021) was honored as well. After binge-watching the OG series, I saw a few side characters I want to see back on the reboot. We saw the Wheelers back in an episode, and I actually want to see Buddy (John Astin) back in a one-time appearance. Buddy, as many fans recall, was introduced as a friend of Harry's who was later revealed to be Harry's biological father. Another side character I want to see on the reboot is Quon Le Robinson, the wife of Mac Robinson. Quon Le was played by Denice Kumagai, and she was quite an amazingly hilarious character for sure. Her appearance would definitely honor Charles Robinson, who also passed away in 2021, less than a month before Markie Post.

Bring Back Werewolf Pam (and Give Us an On-Screen Transformation)

A crazy episode that stays with me is from the first season, titled "Blood Moon Binga." The episode pretty much was an homage to the insane and wacky cases from the original series, as well as the wild defendants. One of them took "wild" literally, as one case centered on a woman named Pam Allen. who attacked a delivery man and chased his truck before humping a child's teddy bear. As it turns out, Pam has a medical condition: she's a werewolf. With that, Pam is given a chance to prove her case, and by that, I actually mean that had to prove her condition by actually transforming into a werewolf.

We see Pam handcuffed to a courtroom bench throughout the episode, and in the final moments, Gurgs voices her disappointment over not seeing Pam transform, and the moment is interrupted by Neil's revelation that he had a crush on Abby. He had been trying to charm Abby's mother, Gina (the main story of the episode, also a big tribute to Harry), and after Gurgs put two and two together, she was promised to keep Neil's crush a secret. Gurgs turned her attention to Pam, only to see that she was gone, with Gurgs and Neil later hearing a demonic howl, which revealed that during their convo, Pam turned heel and shifted to her villainous werewolf form.

Pam briefly returned in the first season finale, but I'm hoping we see the werewolf villainess return in Season Three. The third season will consist of 18 episodes, and if it gets a fall premiere date, that means that we could get a Halloween-themed episode that could open the door for Pam to return. And one more thing: Pam needs to transform on screen, because I'm curious to see what Pam's werewolf form looks like. Pam Murphy appeared as Pam Allen in the Season One episodes; I loved her performance so much. She had that hilarious deadpan demeanor, which made her heel turn in the final moments that much more delicious.

Check out Pam Allen's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

A Tribute to Bull Shannon (Richard Moll)

The main thing I want the most, what I want so badly in this reboot, is a well deserved tribute to the late, great Richard Moll. On October 26, 2023, Moll passed away at the age of 80, with his passing leaving John Larroquette and Marsha Warfield as the only surviving core cast members. Moll's performance as Bull Shannon was absolutely phenomenal. Bull made me laugh a lot, and he brought out some tears as well, because let's face facts, we need more Bull Shannons in this world--it would be such a better place.

Moll's passing happened during the reboot's run, so I was hoping for a tribute to Moll during the second season. However, the strike messed up the original airdates for Season Two. Had the strike not happened, chances are we would have seen a longer season with a fall premiere. Now that we are getting a third season, the premiere needs to be an outright tribute to Moll. Richard Moll was one of three cast members who remained on the show from beginning to end; the others were Harry Anderson and John Larroquette. We all saw Bull's kinship with the different bailiffs, especially Selma; that was a very deep and emotional friendship. It was hard to watch Bull's mourn Selma's passing, as well as Florence's (actresses Selma Diamond and Florence Halop both passed on a year apart), because he loved both so much. The third season definitely needs to begin with a tribute to Richard Moll, which would definitely require another guest appearance by Marsha Warfield as Roz.

Again, I'm so elated that the Night Court reboot is getting a third season! I enjoy the reboot; it's an amazing way to continue the wackiness that the original gave us, and it's been an amazing show so far! Here's hoping the success of the Night Court reboot continues on!