Boomers

It's a good concept for a sitcom.

Gen X wanting more nostalgia whether it's good or not.

It has the same wholesome goofy vibe as the original and it’s a real easy sitcom procedural. I get why it’s popular.

Wholesome? I remember the original show being pretty raunchy for its time. Probably a lot more so than the new one.

And now with one is ✨Melissa✨ Raunchy.

Because it's easy and fun.

It's also not a family sitcom which is nice.

God? Thought that died out a long time ago.

Because it is TV for the lowest common denominator

Yeah . Clever. You know I meant good. 🤪

Because Kenneth finally gets a satisfying finale to his favorite show

And no Jena Maroney to mess it up with werewolf shenanigans.

Yeah, I knew.

Maybe we are too nostalgic. I seem to recall John Larroquette having some real comedy chops, though.

What’s your favourite show?

And Gen X, thanks very much!

Damn right.

I was looking forward to this.

a. I enjoyed the original and this was using the same premise but updating it, so not purely a reboot.

b. I like Melissa Rauch.

c. I love John Laroquette.

I only got through two episodes and really didn't laugh and gave up after that. I really wanted to enjoy this and was disappointed.

It does get better actually, there is some really great scenes between Melissa and John and it’s starting to find its heart again. I think where it is still a work in progress is finding it’s comedy style; the original was absurd and it worked but this I think they are trying to start semi-normal before really leaning into the craziness the first series got away with. Also, they do need to revamp a few of the characters but that comes with every new series.

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Massive is an overstatement. Nostalgia fades quickly.

I'm not sure how massive - maybe 20% of the audience of the original?

The most recent episode did have a pulse.

Probably The Wire.

Mr Plinkett.

It's a fun, easy to watch show. The sitcom genre has really been neglected recently so us sitcom fans are willing to watch anything halfway decent...while we fold out our laundry.

Many people want shows they can crash on. A light comedy that’s not going to make you overthink or be overwhelmed or feel too bad after a long day at work or after seeing the latest horrible news 24/7

Is it though? This is the first I’ve heard of it.

I recently rediscovered The John Laroquette Show on RewindTV. Holy shit I forgot how good that first season was. It was incredibly bleak for a sitcom, John being a rock bottom recovering alcoholic becoming the night manager of a bus station, trading quips with a very progressive black man who ran the snack counter, in a will they/won’t they maybe romance with a hot as hell hooker with a heart of gold, and a revolving door of high profile guest stars and cameos. Yeah it went to shit in the second season and had just started turning things around in the third before it got shitcanned but man that first season was incredible. It was gutsy in a way broadcast tv wouldn’t dream of these days, and way before it’s time feeling more like an HBO series than NBC. It’s not streaming anywhere so if you have RewindTV it airs on Sunday’s.

Is it?

Is it? It’s not really funny

I thought Melissa Rauch was really good and the bailiff lady is funny. Also people don't remember Night Court that well because it wasn't on syndication that much so it's just pleasant

It’s NOT. It sucks.

It took the original Night Court some time to find its footing, but this show seriously needs to ramp up the wackiness and show more of the crazy court cases to live up to the original.

I mean it's still impressive given that the original aired before streaming and there were probably less than half the amount of channels outside of streaming.

It's pretty hard to compare audiences from the '80s when there were only a handful of channels making primetime content to now when you have content on demand from dozens of sources at all times. For a new show on network television, ~7 million viewers is pretty substantial, and a 1.0 rating in 18-49 makes it one of the most successful shows in that (lucrative) demographic currently airing on television.

I couldn’t get past the first episode. No idea why it’s popular, if that’s true

Is this gaslighting? There were not many laughs in the 1st and 2nd episode. They better get the crazy cases going or this show is not going to last. Maybe get Brent Spiner to reprise his guest role?

The original started out very wholesome. Dan didn’t really start going full perv until a few seasons in. He actually started out pretty stuffy and dull.

I read it as “god, are you there? It’s me root_fifth_octave.”

i member

It’s not , it sucks.

it already premiered? where?

it's a lighthearted sitcom, there are very few made at this point but obviously there's still an audience.

There are places for sitcoms along with prestige TV. Not everything needs to be Breaking Bad, Atlanta, House of Dragons etc.

90 day fiancé is one of the most tuned into tv shows on TV. Sometimes people just want something light and fun.

*gasp* You don't think the media would just plant stories to drum up false interest do you? That would be unethical!

Mmm... Easy and fun. Just how I like my...................................TV shows.

They got a bunch of likeable actors and kept the same premise as the original, so it works. And I can't take my eyes off the actress India de Beaufort, so that helps.

It's a comedy? I guess the bar is low these days.

It is not.

What are you talking about? Mr. Plinkett has always been a fan of Newhart.

Spooooky, Scaarrrrryy

I blame Mr. Plinket

Boys becoming men, men becoming wolves

Sounds like it will be a full moooooooooooooooon

There's a sucker born every minute?

The original is incredibly wholesome. With typical 80s style raunchiness thrown in.

I recently watched it again for the first time in decades, and every other episode is one of the cast having an issue and the others coming through to stand by for them. From helping Roz deal with her diabetes, to pitching in to help with Christine's baby, to standing up for Harry, to just looking out for the random defendant of the week.

Early in the show there is an episode where Dan gets engaged to a frumpy looking rich woman. Everyone assumes it is because of the money, but he gives a speech about love that is very touching. Of course, status quo wins out in the end and she leaves him. But instead of instantly defaulting to type, Dan turns down a one night stand and starts to walk away. He slows down, lowers his head and says in a low voice "...Harry"

And Harry puts his hand over his shoulders and they walk away together. Its a very touching moment.

Overall there is more of that in the show than people remember. Yes, its zany and silly and full of juvenile sex jokes but at its core there is a great story of friendship and compassion, and the cast does a great job at selling it.

Honestly, network television is all about appealing to the older demographic now. So there are endless crime procedurals, multicam sitcoms with audiences - some of which are reboots of old favorites, and sensationalized 'news' shows featuring the murder of the week. All simple products with very little depth. And it's exactly what brings in ratings from those who still watch TV traditionally. It 'moneyballs' Nielsen. CBS cracked the code a few years back and now the other networks have followed suit.

I love when Tracy does the cut cut scissors thing with his fingers.

“Do you remember that show Night Court, Lemon?”

“Do you remember that show Night Court, Lemon?”

Harry Anderson was a very special comedian/actor and you can't just recreate magic (no pun intended) like that. In the couple episodes I managed to get through, John Larroquette was carrying the whole show.

More sophomoric than raunchy, really.

The first season (two really) of the original was touch and go too. I just recently rewatched it with my daughter.

Finding the right costars to make that chemistry can take time. Markie Post didn’t join as a regular cast member until the 3rd season.

Give it some time.

It wouldn’t be reddit if someone wasn’t misusing the word wholesome.

I remember it being pretty great. (My favorite joke, such as I remember it: "You're done already?" "No, someone said 'come in'.")

I don't remember the second season, though. What changed?

I keep watching it, even though it’s pretty rough so far. de Beaufort and Lucretta are playing way too broad. Talwalker’s character offers nothing of interest yet. The laugh track feels more fake than usual. Rauch’s take doesn’t quite fit; maybe if she dials back the cheeriness...?

Larroquette is still perfect, and the only reason I keep watching in the hopes they figure it out.

Because there are no other sitcoms on anymore.

This one isn't very good though, aside from John, so I expect 2-3 seasons before cancelling.

Funny, I disagree on those points exactly. I think Rauch hasn't quite found the right tone, and Lucretta is playing a bit too broad. I think the characters would both benefit from the actors dialing it back just a little. (Same with de Beaufort.)

Night Court was all over syndication in the 90s. It was a contemporary of Cheers, not Seinfeld and Friends. I don't know how old you are, but I'm guessing it just got cycled out of syndication before your time.

Is it though?

It was renewed for a second season after the 2nd episode aired. In these times, that's basically a mega-hit.

The small bit I saw reminded me of David Bowie's Goblin King telling his goblins to laugh. Night Court is one of my favorites. The people gaslighting and saying the first season took a while to get going are gaslighting you. Every episode is great.

This new one doesn't even have jokes, just pauses and a laugh track.

Wholesome and raunchy can exist simultaneously in a sitcom. Night Court had some raunchy jokes but it was ultimately about everyone being a family and justice being fair and about people which is incredibly wholesome.

Laroquette is the best in The Tenth Kingdom which is where I know him from.

Ensemble shows always take time to get good. The first season is always going to be rough because ensemble shows rely on the friendships of the characters.

Production of the first season, the actors are (usually) meeting for the first time, or getting to know their characters relationships with the other characters. The actors themselves still need to get to know each other behind the scenes.

That's why second and third seasons are usually when ensemble shows (think the various Star Treks) start to hit their stride. The characters' chemistry on screen and their friendships finally start to mirror the real friendships made behind the scenes.

For example: Riker and Troi in TNG had all this established backstory and an implied previous relationship, but the first two seasons, it felt like they barely knew each other when they interacted. But as the time went, and friendships built, their on-screen chemistry matched an implied genuine friendship off-screen. Same thing with Picard and Dr. Crusher.

the RLM guys sure liked it a lot. Also hot damn, Rauch is petite, even with her ultra high heels can't reach Larroquette's shoulder

> Ensemble shows always take time to get good. The first season is always going to be rough because ensemble shows rely on the friendships of the characters.

Sitcoms in general need 10-15 episodes to "find" their characters. Smaller show orders often translate that to a full season today, which is one of the big reasons I think the format has waned.

This is true. Longer show orders just also generally meant a longer time for the cast and crew to be around each other. When it takes 5 or 6 months to record 22-26 episodes instead of 2 and a half or 3 months to film 10-15 as you pointed out, it just limits the building of those relationships.

Going back to my Star Trek reference (because I'm an obsessive), the movies were always better when they had to use a smaller budget in more creative ways.

I think now that shows have become more expensive to produce, the money gets pooled up to pay actors instead of using them to extend episode orders.

Much of my POV in this is also coming from watching That 90s Show recently, which I thought had a decent first season. And much of what I've mentioned (at least in the case of this show) can be chalked up, in-universe, to the fact that it was Leah's first summer there. So much like the actors themselves, the character is just getting to know a lot of these other people for the first time.

I'm sure that Season 2, with an "extended" order of 16 episodes, is going to be even better, because the friendships were already starting to form. When we hit their "next summer", I guarantee that the show will take off even more.

The humor got a lot more bland and “family friendly,” John got a new love interest that was annoying AF and pissed everyone off because we all wanted him to get with Carly, they toned down John’s demons and made his struggles with alcoholism more of a punchline than something serious, Carly gave up being a call girl and bought the bar in the station turning it into a nightclub, Dexter lost a lot of his edge and developed this sort of odd couple relationship with Gene, who used to be more of the moderate blue collar foil to his Malcom X mentality. Basically it became a generic sitcom. It was still good, it just wasn’t the same shocking breath of fresh air wtf am I watching season 1 was.

One of my favorite shows and that’s a good summary. I’d add that the third season veered off into an entirely different direction, much more absurdist and the characters became more like caricatures. But it was really funny and while I preferred the dark, realism of the first season the third season was preferable over the relatively bland second season.

Thank you! I had no idea this was available.

This is great because in 30 Rock you have to clarify which completely absurd werewolf-related throwaway joke you are referring to.

So far, the ratings have declined every episode.

They seem to have almost completely forgotten the concept of having funny cases.

Yes he delivered what america wanted. A reunion of friends... from nightcourt!

"How I Met Your Father" is in the same state. HIMYM was a hit, but it's first handful of episodes are pretty uneven, although it hits stride a little early, with "Okay Awesome" (S01E05); HIMYF didn't really nail its characters until episode 8 or 9 of its first season (totally normal for a sitcom, but a near-death-knell for a 10-episde first season).

Apparently it is the 11th most watched scripted show on television.

Because Plinkett no longer needs those hack frauds to fix his vcr

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That’s a massive hit!

The ratings bar for comedies is low.

Court? At night? I’m already laughing!

“This Is a Dark Ride”

Yeah this article is what we call a paid advertisement

I enjoy it, it’s cute and happy and we really don’t have to much to choose from in that dept.

Different from any other "news" how exactly?

You’re right. This article is just what we call ‘news’

The only thing I’ve seen of it is a Red Letter Media video.

First I heard of it, Hope it is going to follow the original Night Court and be funny and not a DARK AND TRAGIC reboot.

That's pretty normal for any tv show, even successful ones.

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Oh man, I forgot about Chi McBride as the janitor!

Cracked me up when I next saw him as the super-serious principal in Boston Public. Such a contrast.

And a super young Mila Kunis, at least in one episode.

Has Bull guest starred yet?

Not a lot of original cast members left who can.

It’s old school quirky…that 80’s vibe just hits different now

Dang I love Chi McBride, my fav part of Hawaii 5-0, anyone know if the three seasons are streaming anywhere else?

lol the original is pre-Gen X, isn't it? Kind of weird to do a continuation of a series from nearly 40 years ago. Surely the target audience is boomers who still watch live TV.

I'm gen X and was a young teen when it came on and I only watched it because of everyone except the judge , Harry Anderson. It was the only show in it's time slot worth watching. If there was something better on I would have watched that.

I must have been watching a different show then. Watched 3 episodes and barely let out a chuckle.

OK, the article says it got high debut ratings, but have those ratings been sustained over the following episodes? High debut ratings could easily due to nostalgia for the original.

Let’s hope that continues, it’s an awful show.

Well, e5 was my last one for now. But, having already been renewed, they have an opportunity to turn this around. If I read enough good things about it, I'll give it another chance.

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She stopped being a hoojed

Today i learned two things:

1. There’s a Night Court revival and
2. It’s supposedly a “massive hit”

Trying to convince us of something that isn't true is called "gaslighting," and that's what this article is attempting to do.

<spoiler> ahead

Well, many of us loved the original. Harry, Christine, Dan, Bull, Roz/Thelma, Mac, even Soon Lee wasnt too awfully annoying.

I was really enjoying the first 4 episodes of the new reboot, then 5 was kinda...meh...

Then 6. Episode 6 deserved to be sandblasted from time itself.

The scene: A down and out, bottom of the barrel NYC district Night Court. (The kind of place lower than a Union Station workers toilet)

The cast: The lowest/most incompetent/inept/noobs of the NYC legal system process the very dregs of NYC. (hookers known by their first names, etc)

The story; Into the legal system sewer come a bunch of infant do-gooders on a (very hollywood) crusade to ignore the laws, and free a self admitted vandal. Boo-hoo. Suddenly, (because it's 2022-23) it's not a legal issue, but a racial social justice matter, preached by snot nosed little buggers who probably cant wipe their own butts.

Oh my. Arent they superior!?

Only in hollywood would they not be put out on the corner at $5 a pop, strung out on crack, earning for the guilty scum who just posted bail.

It was preachy and so totally un-funny and out of the realm of basic common sense as to just switch off, and watch re-runs of Cheers.

The show isnt remotely mature enough to have entire episodes spewing political messages of any kind @ s1e6. Maybe season 3 when they have an audience. Certainly not the first third of season 1.

>PLONK<