Night Court Reboot Was a Victim of Impatience

I had my share of doubts about the reboot of one of my favorite series, Night Court, but the Melissa Rauch-led series did pleasantly surprise me. So, I was very disappointed when I learned NBC chose to cancel the show after just three seasons and end it on a cliffhanger. 

While I'll be the first to admit the series reboot had its share of issues, including multiple cast changes, I think the show ultimately fell victim to what I've seen in other series, impatience.

In 1987 (when the original Night Court was in its third season), Star Trek: The Next Generation began airing in syndication and many believed the popularity of the original series and movies would result in a quick cancellation. While this almost came to fruition, TNG both survived the first season and went on to six more, followed by multiple movies of its own and other spinoffs. 

In a way, Night Court was in a similar situation. The only difference is both NBC and the showrunners seemed to give up on the show almost after it started.

Much like TNG, Night Court needed time to gain an audience. Fans of the original series probably weren't going to ever embrace it. However, the original version of the show had been off the air for 21 years, giving the reboot a whole new generation to target.

Instead of recognizing that and giving the show time to attract that demographic, the writers kept falling back on the original, keeping Dan Fielding (John Larroquette) as a series regular (he should have been phased out by season 2), with multiple guest appearances by Roz Russell (Marsha Warfield) and other characters associated with the original. Mixed in with that were cameos by Rauch's castmates from The Big Bang Theory.

As TNG learned with the various callbacks to its original series, nostalgia is only going to get you so far. At some point, that tactic begins to have a negative impact, making the show seem like it isn't good enough to stand on its own feet when, in reality, nobody was giving Night Court a chance to do so.