Here’s Why the Night Court Reboot Is a Soap Opera
The sitcom Night Court, which first aired on NBC from 1984 to 1992, returned to the airways in 2023. Not only is it airing on NBC once again, but also on Peacock, the exclusive streaming home of Days of our Lives. The show features five-time Emmy winner John Larroquette reprising his role as Dan Fielding alongside an otherwise original cast. Sure, Night Court 2.0 is a sitcom doing an excellent job of capturing the original’s ridiculous spirit. But it is also a stealth soap. Here’s why:
Generational Trauma
Sure, Dan has a whole new, wacky cast to play off of. But the lead, played by Executive Producer Melissa Rauch (Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory), is Abby Stone. The daughter of Harry Stone (the late Harry Anderson), who presided over the original show.
How many times have soaps introduced an original character…but tied them into someone who came before? A core family, as it were. Dan is interacting with a new Judge Stone. And being influenced by his relationship with the old one.
Filling in the Blanks
We learned on the first episode of the reboot that Harry had died. A few episodes later, we met Abby’s mother (played by Murphy Brown’s Faith Ford, who started her career on Another World, BTW), answering that question and making it clear that Harry did not get together with Christine (Markie Post) after the show ended, like some fans were hoping. In the finale of Season One, we caught up with another original court employee, Roz (Marsha Warfield).
When Season Two began, we learned about Roz’s suspicions about her fiancee, and, in the finale, we were invited to their wedding. Also at that wedding, viewers learned that Christine had died years earlier. Multi-year storytelling. How soapy…
Blast From the Past
Also at Roz’s wedding, viewers were teased with the possibility that Dan had a son he’d never met, whose mother was Julia Duffy (who, in the early 1970s, played Penny on The Doctors). An illegitimate son suddenly popping up at a major life cycle event? Can it get any more soapy than that? Watch and find out!
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