Night Court reboot review: What TV revivals get right and wrong

Ah, the time-honored tradition of TV reboots: the way to squeeze more money out of TV properties once seemed dead.The newest genre is night pavilionwhich is a renaissance night pavilion. It premiered last night on NBC and I still can’t believe they actually went through this.

Now, I like the original night pavilion – In fact, I have a years long twitter bit Ask for return. Just kidding, I think I’m the only one (non-fictional) who feels so strongly about this show and wants a show, which is why it never happens.But the joke’s on me because night pavilion Reboot is here.After a colleague said she thought night pavilion only one 30 rock Invented and not a real show, I knew I had to review it because only the truest and best fans of the show could. Although I wasn’t expecting much.Fans wanted something from the reboot – a return to a place, people and tone – there wasn’t night pavilion A reboot may be offered. Although this time, at least, try to hit them, and sometimes it succeeds.

night pavilion is a sitcom set on a New York City night scene, and it’s real. I think real night shows are nothing like the hilarious romps that were on our TV screens in the 80’s and early 90’s for 8 years and made them shine again (last season sucks). The court is presided over by the unconventional Judge Harry T. Stone (Harry Anderson), who is both sympathetic and corny (a lot of magic happens in that courtroom). Prosecutor Dan Fielding (John Larroquette John Larroquette) is a jerk who only cares about money and women, although he occasionally appears decent and deep. Christine Sullivan (Maki Post) is the bubbly public defender, Mike (Charles Robinson) is the sarcastic, sweater-wearing court clerk, and Roz (Martha Warfield) is ) and Bull (Richard Moore) are two bailiffs. Rhodes is angry most of the time. Bulls are weird and tall.

In content and form, the show is very contemporary, but also very anachronistic. It’s your basic multi-camera sitcom that you do in front of a live studio audience, which was pretty much all sitcoms back then, and very few now, stand-alone comedy and the age of cable TV and streaming. A mob of petty criminals, alcoholics, punks, sex workers (a different term is used for them), psychopaths (but fun!), and other motley characters representing New York City’s seedy, eccentric underbelly parade past Judge Stone’s The judge’s bench is crowded with the court gallery every week. Chaos usually ensues (but fun!). The walls had cracks and peeling paint, everything had a layer of grime on it. Despite Fox News’ assertion that we’ve fully returned to the crime and drug-ridden days of 80s New York City, the city used to be a seedier and more dangerous place thanks to soft-hearted liberals. night pavilion reflects this to some extent. It’s a ridiculous show, and it’s a joy to have. The jokes come quickly and are often punctuated with some impressive physical comedy. It celebrates the weird and revels in the absurd. In my childhood memories, it has the potential to be funnier and better looking than it actually is.

Rebooting is difficult. The best either completely reinvent the show, giving it its own enough independent identity that it can succeed in its own right (Star Trek: The Next Generation), or they appear three seconds after the original goes off the air, making it nearly identical to the show you know and love (Criminal Minds: Evolution). In between, you get something that isn’t quite like the original show enough to keep its fans, but is too much like the original show to attract new fans. night pavilion Falls into a middle ground; there’s no way not to use its settings.

Or, as my brother – my most frequent and favorite night pavilion Watch Mate – Say, “This show can’t be good.” Maybe, but it’s not bad either.

In this version, our judge is Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch), Harry’s daughter who moves from a two-bus judgeship in her hometown of upstate New York to her father’s Old nightclubs in New York City stomp the venue to get closer to him now that he’s dead. (By the way, don’t count Abby’s age. In the original show’s timeline, she couldn’t be older than 30. It can’t be that young here.) I like Rauch, even though I don’t quite buy her being Harry’s daughter. The character reminds me of Kristen, who is just as bright and lively, and is from upstate New York.

Also in the cast are brand-new characters Olivia (India de Beaufort), prosecutor Neil (Kapil Talwoka), court clerk and bailiff Gurges (Lacretta, no last name). Olivia is the star here, deftly filling the biting, superficial, selfishly flattering role Dan has vacated. night pavilion Still writing the best lines and getting the best acting out of Prosecutor! Gurgs alternate between leading Bull and Roz, and would benefit greatly from gaining a personality of their own. She has potential. Neil is there.

On her first day in the night court, Abby started out as the new Judge Stone, who cared and spent a lot of time with the defendants just like the old judges did. This prompted the immediate resignation of the public defender. Needing a replacement, and it’s partly her responsibility, Abby decides to find her father’s former colleague, Dan, who stopped practicing law years ago and doesn’t want to start over. But Abby and a box of trick snakes convince him to come back.

Dan Fielding in the original series was a walking human resources violator who couldn’t possibly exist in a sitcom these days, so he didn’t. The new Dan Fielding is a bright but grumpy widower who becomes Abby’s father figure (or “emotional support whiner”). Larroquette is as good here as he is everywhere. Shin Dan has maintained his sarcasm, but he’s also old, tired, and sad. Some of this was necessary because time passed and Larroquette is now 75 years old. But some because the new show decided to write him that way. In that respect, Dan’s change is emblematic of the show itself. It’s been remastered to fit these times, but it doesn’t quite recreate the magic of the old show. Part of that is because it’s not 1986 anymore.But it’s also partly because the writers haven’t quite nailed down what makes night pavilion It started off fine.

Jordin Althaus/NBC/Warner Bros.

thirty years later night pavilion After it went off the air, Harry fell in love, got married, had kids, and died. Dan falls in love, gets married, and loses his wife. And the other regulars of the series were apparently caught in a rift in the space-time continuum and wiped from existence, since they weren’t even mentioned in the first seven episodes.new night pavilion There’s a major hurdle to clear because its cast is popular, and half of them (Anderson, Post, and Robinson) are dead. Of all the ways I thought the revival would handle this, I didn’t expect what it ended up doing, which was to give Anderson his due and make his loss a major part of the show (in fact, it was its catalyst ), and ignore Post and Robinson entirely. We hear more about Dan’s dead wife, whom we’ve never met and cared about, than about a character we’ve known and loved for years. Harry’s stuffed armadillo, Clarence, shows up, but says nothing about Kristen, whom Harry and Dan have fallen in love with at various (low) points in the show. Do they think we won’t notice or mind? No respect!

Beyond that, the show does a good job of creating a feeling that’s both familiar and fresh. When Dan first returned to the field, he thought the place “hadn’t changed.” In many ways, this is true. The theme song makes a triumphant return, albeit in an updated and abridged version. We hear one of Dan’s signature screams. I think some of the jokes were actually written for the original show; there are references to Vanna White, Weird Al, and all the important parties. The courtroom walls had a fresh coat of paint, but otherwise looked much the same.But the sex workers with tiny clothes, big hair and $50 fines are gone, and the gallery now looks more like a spectator Judge Judy Instead of various misfits who may or may not be there because they had nowhere to sleep that night.

We even see a sudden change from slapstick comedy to very serious and painfully serious material that is old night pavilion often insists on inserting its script, no matter how inappropriate those moments may be. There were some dark moments that brought me back to the original, where at least three characters nearly killed themselves due to loss, loneliness, and, uh, diabetes. Harry at the unconscious Dan’s bedside, begging him to wake up – will the laughing stop? Seriously, I swear this show is hilarious.

But aside from any reference to original series regulars who weren’t Dan and Harry, something important is missing.best episodes and funniest moments night pavilion Driven by the accused of the court. They are unique and closely tied to the show’s setting. Now, they are almost accidental.

In the first seven episodes of the show night pavilion, at least, the main plots feel like they could happen on any show, even if it’s not a courtroom or one that takes place at night.I do not watch night pavilion See people training for marathons at random gyms, looking for a quiet office space, or trying to date after losing a spouse.I read night pavilion Seeing those who believed they were ambassadors from Saturn and/or the future take an entire courtroom hostage happened at least twice in the original show. Where is my Dan Fielding instantly chased by a giant 8-ball?

For all my tweets about how much I want night pavilion Reboot, I’m not even going to watch the revival at all.i really don’t want to go back night pavilion If Harry, Christine and Mike were not in the universe. I thought I could only be disappointed, but I was wrong. There are bright spots. This is an interesting watch. It’s clearly made by someone who knows and loves the source material (or at least half Harry and Dan). Like Gurgs, it has hope. It just needs to figure out what it really wants to be. But so was its predecessor, which didn’t really find its footing until season two or three.

If you are a fan of the original night pavilion, which leaves just enough to be at least worthy of a nostalgic watch. What I’m not sure about is how appealing a fairly conventional sitcom is to someone who hasn’t seen the show before. If you like what you see when you reboot, I encourage you to check out the original. All nine seasons are now available to watch for free on Freevee. Maybe skip the last one.