Night Court (1984)

Quite good

These are funny episodes, but not the funniest. I definitely would've chosen different ones for a best of compilation of Night Court, like the competing judge episode, the time crunch episodes, the game show episode, etc. But this is good, since season 1 didn't get enough sales to warrant a season 2. But if this sells well enough eventually, maybe there'll be a season 2. One episode is on the first season dvd and they unnecessarily put two parts of a three part episode arc on there. Anyway, still a good collection of episodes July 13, 2008

Nice Try WB!

I have the first season of the Night Court collection. The reason I have it is because there are a lot of episodes I may have missed when it first aired and so on. Season two is when I started paying attention, even more so when Christine came into the picture (not sure which season that was.) Hell, she still looks good last I saw her in "There's Something About Mary," There's Something More About Mary (Widescreen Collector's Edition) but never mind. Anyway, I have written a review for "The Wayans Brothers" collection made by WB, also, and am a fan of both shows. The Wayans Bros - The Complete First Season I've waited this long to no avail for the other seasons and to find out that at least Night Court has this DVD instead of season two? WOWWWWWWW! What first season of any collection has ever been as good as the later episodes? Of course poor sales will become the weakest part of a lot of collections when the shows first started. Check this, the people that collect any TV show DVD will want the first seasons of a collection, regardless of its strength because they are fans. Happy to know it exists, they await the season they look forward to and come back to get the first season for their collection (some people don't purchase in order, they purchase their favorites first.) I can't think of an example right now, maybe someone reading this review can help with that if they agree, but if Warner continues to focus on sales of the first seasons of different shows, we may continue to see these "incomplete collections" dubbed TV Favorites that people will not buy because they feel cheated waiting for the real deal, like Me! I know what's happening and I'm not going for it because WB's just taking the easy way out. By that, I mean not even getting the fan's POV and not taking the time and effort to reach it's public to get the sales they need to sell season one. Sometimes a commercial isn't enough, maybe not package them as a season-by-season basis. A box-set of all the seasons would be cool because at least it could be on a limited edition type deal with extras included (I think they did that with "Friends" Friends - The Complete Series Collection and several others.) Amazonworld, keep writing your reviews and make it known that it is important to finish something that you start, especially the classics that we've waited to own for decades! Don't give up and don't sleep, anything can happen... GONE! Night Court - The Complete First Season If you have time, also check out DC Cab (feat. Marsha Warfield,) D.C. Cab and Blind Date (feat. John Larroquette.) Blind Date February 13, 2008

It could have been better.

I have been a huge fan of the Night Court series since the beginning. The quirky characters, the outrageous situations and bizarre courtroom antics made this show tops in my book. Unfortunately, this DVD barely scraped the surface. The Her Honor episodes were in 4 parts not 2, and I personally could have found better episodes for this DVD. It's fine for the casual fan but a die hard fan like myself would like more. What's it going to take for Warner Bros. to put out more Night Court? February 9, 2008

Boo...Hiss

Personally I think that Season 1 would have sold a lot better if TV Land or other channel had been showing re-runs. There's a whole generation that has missed out on this great show. When you look at which shows are released they're usually those that are still being re-run. Chico and the Man is another wonderful series that they're mistreating by putting out a pitiful collection instead of the series.

That being said, no WAY am I buying this poor substitute. We want SEASON 2! June 20, 2007

Not even close to the best episodes of a classic comedy series

There are two parts to my review - an informative portion, and then a rant. First, the informative portion:
There are only six episodes on this DVD:

All You Need is Love - Season 1 (January 4, 1984)
Her Honor, Part 1 - Season 4 (aired April 29, 1987)
Her Honor, Part 2 - Season 4 (aired May 6, 1987)
Death of a Bailiff - Season 5 (aired October 15, 1987)
Who Was that Mashed Man? - Season 5 (aired November 19, 1987)
Fire - Season 6 (aired November 2, 1988)

"All You Need is Love" was the series premiere and is redundant if you already own season one, the only season of Night court on DVD.

"Her Honor" was actually a 4-part episode that spanned the fourth and fifth seasons. In these episodes, Harry is not reappointed to his judgeship and Christine is given the opportunity to be appointed instead. This is an odd choice since you only get the the first two episodes of the 4-parter, but not the resolution of the entire situation.

"Death of a Bailiff" has Bull being struck by lightning and surviving. When he recovers he says that God has told him to give away everything he owns. Bull sets up shop in the courthouse and proceeds to follow his divine directive.

"Who Was that Mashed Man?" has Dan's evil boss tasking Dan to look after his attractive niece. The other subplot has Harry having to rule against an actor who used to portray a superhero who wants to be able to dress up as his character in public. As a result, the actor becomes suicidally despondent and Harry must try to talk the old actor into wanting to keep on living.

"Fire" has everyone retreating to the morgue for shelter from a fire in the courthouse. Meanwhile, Dan is awaiting the election returns to find out if he has been successful in his bid for State Assemblyman.

If you're young enough to have never seen Night Court before, it might be worth the low price of admission to purchase this, but if you are at all familiar with the series I think this compilation is a waste of time. It is too small a dose of the show and the episodes are not the very best of the series.

Now for the ranting portion of my review. Warner Brothers has shown tremendous insight into what audiences want with their DVD's and boxed sets of classic movies over the last five years. That's why I can't figure out why they don't have the same insight when it comes to one of the most original and timelessly funny shows ever aired. Unfortunately, it took time for Night Court to reach its "classic phase", which really didn't start until the beginning of season three in 1985 when Markie Post began playing public defender Christine Sullivan, and ended in 1989 when creator Reinhold Weege left the series. Those four seasons were just about perfect, but that is not to say that the other five were turkeys by any stretch, and I think the show remained very funny up to the end in spite of a few misfires. However, season one was the weakest of all the seasons with the weakest cast - Mac wasn't even the court clerk back then - as the series struggled to find its way. So, naturally, sales of season one are going to be weak too. The attitude WB has taken with Night Court would be the same as if they had started their release of classic movies to DVD with the obscure "Ice Follies of 1939", and when sales were weak assumed that it would be a waste of time to restore and release "Casablanca" or "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". I know this is an exaggeration, but the logic is the same in both cases.

WB should release the subsequent seasons of Night Court. I guarantee that fans like myself that had a standing date with my TV to watch the show every week will yield a return on the studio's investment. June 16, 2007

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