Steven Helmer Publications

People who know me know I'm really not that big on nostalgia. However, there are exceptions to that, including my tendency to re-watch some of my favorite shows from when I was a kid (and some from before I was a kid). This includes Night Court , which I've watched in re-runs more times than I can count, including as recent as this morning. One thing I've noticed as I once again rewatched the series that ran from 1984 until 1992 is, while the outstanding ensemble of main characters is obviously what people remember, the show also got a nice boost from what I like to refer to as part-time employees. These are characters that were only on the show for a short time, either for certain storylines as a fill in for when one of the main cast members was absent or left the series. They may not have been there long or received top billing, but they kept Night Court rolling. Here are my five favorites:  Court Clerk Mavis Tuttle (Alice Drummond) - I won't go into details about th...

I am a person who has always believed a television series can be made stronger by having a good nemesis for a beloved character. House, MD , for example, finally hit its stride for me when the series introduced Edward Vogler ( Chi McBride ) and wasn't as enjoyable when they wrote him off the show. Even the original episodes of this series had their share of recurring villains, ranging from sleezy journalist Al Craven ( Terry Kiser ) to Dan Fielding's ( John Larroquette ) boss, Vincent Daniels ( Daniel Frishman ) that added an element of suspense to a comedy series. This is why I feel the decision to make podcaster Remecca ( Stephnie Weir ) just a one-and-done character in last night's episode was a mistake. Remecca reminded me a lot of Al Craven, who was a thorn in Harry Stone's ( Harry Anderson ) side because he was always working to portray things in a negative light. This included everything from finding out about Harry's criminal record to finding out confidenti...