There are shows that take a while to get going but eventually become excellent, like "Bojack Horseman", "Star Trek The Next Generation", or "Parks & Rec". There are shows that are incredibly intriguing and fun to talk about when they start but eventually decay into almost parody, like "Lost", "Dexter", "Roseanne", or "Doctor Who". "Night Court" falls into both categories. Its first season is okay, it's last season is unrecognizably bad (a lot of '80s sitcome just fell apart when the 90s hit), but the middle seasons are a goldmine. So here's the middle season of "Night Court".  As far as '80s sitcoms go, it's a masterpiece.

This season begins with an eleven episode run from the beginning of Actual Season Five, which are then followed by what are largely considered the best two episodes of the series. 

Serial 1: Her Honor Pt 2
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Bob Wheeler)

While unemployed Harry plans the perfect prank to catch NYC's attention, Christine realizes that the judge's robe might not be for her. Also, Dan has to pretend to be Harry in order to get him reinstated.


Episode 3: Death Of A Baliff
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Art)

We've seen Selma die, we've heard that Florence has died, now it's Bull's turn. And when he comes back from the dead, he decides that God has decided he must give away all his worldly possessions.


Episode 4: Ladies' Night
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz)

After Roz has a bad breakup, Christine decides to take her to a male strip club. Everything gets real, though, when the guys show up.


Episode 5: Safe
(Harry Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Art)

While Harry get stuck in the midst of an illusion, Dan sells his soul.


Episode 6: Mac's Dillema
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz,)

An old army buddy shows up and tries to manipulate Mac into altering his record. Plus, Bull puts the corpse of a man who died in court in its own motorized cart to wreac havoc on the whole courthouse.


Episode 7: Who Was That Mashed Man?
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Art, Vincent)

Dan has to resist the advance of his boss's niece (Teri Hatcher) while Harry and the rest of the crew try to prevent a golden age TV star from killing himself.


Episode 8: No Hard Feelings
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz)

Elayne Boozler plays a wisecracking, blind assistant to Harry, and Dan deals with a visit from The Melty Man.


Serial 2: The Constitution
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz)

Roz accidentally takes too much insulin after being diagnosed as diabetic, and a criminal threatens to destroy the original version of The United States Constitution.


Episode 11: Let It Snow 
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Art)

Another blizzard. Thea heat goes out, and everyone risks freezing to death when they're trapped in the courthouse.


Episode 12: I'm Ok, You're Catatonic/Schizophrenic
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Buddy, Mel Torme)

While Harry is busy trying to keep his stepfather from being permanently committed to a mental hospital, Dan chains Mel Torme is in his office. This is considered one of the best three episodes of the show's run.


Episode 13: Another Day In The Life
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz)

Widely considered the best episode of Night Court, the staff has one shift to solve 207 cases, in order to get a millionanaire to donate money to an orphanage.


Episode 14: Heart Of Stone
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz)

Judge Heartbreaker ends up in an a relationship with an ex, who is married to someone else. 


Episode 15: The Jung And The Restless
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz)

Roz has been the unsung hero of the show since joining the cast. We end this, the best season of the reimagined show with Roz entering anger management to try and get her temper under control.

After I posted a proposed Season 1 of a condensed Night Court, anticipating the arrival of the rebooted series, a couple of people noted that the show wouldn't work now, specifically because of the character Dan Fielding, a lecherous lawyer with an assortment of outdated ideals and prejudices (note: not racism ... other than I'm sure institutional racism ... but classism, ableism, and a disrespect to anyone who doesn't fit his norms). I think the show slowly morphs Dan into a three-dimensional person who grows past his prejudices. But in this season, he is The Worst.

Meanwhile, we meet the new baliff Florence, who is then replaced by Roz, who becomes the final member of the permanent cast. We also learn quite a bit more about each character's life outside of the court, ending on a four episode serial that significantly shifts the power balance of the show.

Serial 1: Wheels Of Justice
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Florence, Phil, The Wheelers)

Everything goes wrong at the beginning of this season. A financial crisis causes the city to freeze payroll, the letter of the fails Harry when he wants to do something good, and a judge brought in to replace Harry when he decides to quit Dies On The Stand. Also, Data from TNG shows up as the patriarch of a constantly down on their luck family.


Episode 3: The Apartment
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Florence, Quon Le, Leon)

We're skipping most of a season long storyline where Harry takes care of the shoeshine boy from the courthouse. It's a treacly storyline that's kind of a downer. But he does show up in this episode where Harry hosts a birthday party for Dan where Everything Goes Wrong again. A woman from juvenile service, a stripper, the threat of mass suicide, and a magician all figure in to the shenanigans.


Serial 2: The Hurricane
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Florence, Art, The Wheelers)

It seems like there were always natural disasters hitting the New York City Municipal Court, and always when it could cause the most chaos. A hurricane, named after Harry's favorite singer,  traps Four Pregnant Women in the court.


Episode 6: Dan's Boss
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Florence, Vincent)

This is the first of two episodes that I don't consider great but hit a Night Court trope. Each of them hitting it in a remarkably different way. Look, Dan is a creep. He would justifiably be #metooed out of the judicial system if he were a real person in modern times. He was also a huge bigot (not a racist that I remember, but his class bias and appearance bias were raging). In this episode his boss turns out to be a little person, causing Dan to make tons of short jokes that the audience laughs at, but in the end Dan is shown the error of his ways, and maybe you shouldn't laugh at all those short jokes. Very 80s.


Episode 7: Best Of Friends
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Florence, Phil)

In this episode, Dan's best friend from his law school days returns, having had gender reassignment surgery. The jokes are just as distasteful here as they were in the previous episode. The audience laughs along with it. But in this episode, the rest of the characters are Just As Bad. Oh, sure, they try and get Dan to look past his bigotry but each of them exposes their own bigotry in the process. In the end, none of them seem to have really learned anything or changed, other than Dan seems to be less transphobic. Harry and Christine, on the other hand, hide behind false progressiveness, being kind to Chip but viewing Chip as abnormal. 


Episode 8: The Next Voice You Hear
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Buddy)

Harry gets a long lost letter from his mother, and decides to track her down, only to discover that she passed away, after a long stay in a mental hospital. This reunites him with his stepdad, Buddy, who was one of my favorite characters growing up. We also get a new baliff, as Florence has retired, so welcome Roz, the last permanent cast member to join the show.


Episode 9: Giving Thanks
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Phil)

Another cringey Dan-centered story. He saves Christine's life and wants to be repaid with sex.


Serial 3: Dan's Operation
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Phil, Sheila)

There's a sort of arc here about redeeming Dan. When he's hospitalized for an ulcer, he tries to return to work, only to end up in even worse shape. The rest of the crew confronts him about his selfishness and poor behavior.


Episode 12: Earthquake
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Art)

Another natural distaster, another Dan is trapped in an elevator. This time, instead of a queer man who finds him attractive, it's a pair of sumo wrestlers and Roz.         


Episode 13: A Day In The Life
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, Sheila)                                                                                                                   
Considered the second best episode of the series (the episode considered the best is a direct sequel to it), the court has just one night to get through 200 cases or all the defendants will be granted amnesty. There's a lot of story packed into this one, including the return of Sheila, the woman who only wants to have sex with Dan when he is unable to have sex.


Serial 4: Her Honor Part 1
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Roz, The Wheelers)

It's the time of year when new judges are appointed and Dan is disappointed to learn that he's been passed over but Christine has earned the right to wear the robe. And then it's announced that Harry won't be reassigned.  Shenanigans ensue. This serial is four episodes long, so I've divided it between the end of this season, and the beginning of the next season, just as they did on the original run.

At some point in 2022 or 2023, John Laroquette is set to return to Night Court for a reboot that has the potential to either be an amazing update of a classic show a la The Conners (nee Roseanne), One Day At A Time, Duck Tales, Cobra Kai, or just another tepid nostalgia trip like Murphy Brown, MacGyver, or 90210. There's at least an entire generation that missed out on the often funny, sometimes poignant, occasionally terrible sitcom about an offbeat judge and a somewhat revolving gang of misfit lawyers, clerks, baliffs, and stenographers who work with him.

Like many late twentieth century sitcoms, there are way too many episodes of the show to be consistently good. And this show, in particular, suffers from an incredibly disappointing final season where the creators decided to mix things up a bit and lost much of the show's heart in the process.

So here's a very condensed set of episodes (75 instead of 193) that include all of the Must Sees and a bunch of a Here's What Was Considered Progressive TV In The 1980s and very early 1990s.

My Season One reaches from the pilot all the way into the third season as main characters come and go (some come back again, some die) and we get to see the surface of some characters that we'll eventually come to understand better. Also, hopefully, we'll laugh a bunch.

1. All You Need Is Love  
(Harry, Dan,  Bull, Selma, Lana, Sheila, Carla B)

Nobody likes the brash new judge, Harry Stone, or his desperate magic tricks and tomfoolery. And when he tries to settle a divorce/attempted murder dispute, things go awry for everyone involved. But, obviously, if he was this incompetent the show wouldn't last very long, right?

2. Santa Goes Downtown
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Lana, Liz, Carla B)

Michael J. Fox is the first famous guest star as he plays one half of a pair of runaway teens who end up involved with a man claiming to be The Actual Santa Clause. It's a certainly goofy premise but it ends up being a solid episode of a sitcom.

3. The Former Harry Stone
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Lana, Liz, Al Craven)

But, like, who IS Harry Stone? Besides a wannabe magician, and the greatest troll in the New York Judiciary Sytem? The crew and a sleazy reporter would like to know. This episode features an appearance from Seinfeld's dad.

4. Some Like It Hot 
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Lana, Liz, Art, Yakov)

A Russian immigrant threatens to set himself on fire if the only alternative is jail. What a country! This episode also features our introduction to Art The Maintainance Guy, and the final appearance of Lana.

5. Bull's Baby
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Liz, Charley)

Bull's neighbor abandons their baby to his care, making him more useless than usual. Less useful than usual?

6. The Nun
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac)

Harry is Such A Heartbreaker in this series. This time, instead of a coworker or prostitute falling for him, he accidentally causes a nun to forsake her vows. Wowsers. Also, Mac finally arrives as the new court clerk.

7. Nuts For Harry
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac, Sue)

Surprisingly not another episode of Harry being a heartbreaker. Instead, a group of escaped mental patients seeks asylum.

8. Daddy For The Defense
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac, Christine, Jack Sullivan)

Christine debuts as an optimistic public defender (don't get used to her, she disappears for a while after this episode) with daddy issues that end up putting her dad in jail.

9. Harry On Trial
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac, Billie)

Welcome Billie,  the new public defender, who will definitely be around forever. In this episode, Harry's nemesis tries to have Harry removed from the bench. Will he, too, be removed from the cast?

10. Inside Harry Stone
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac, Billie, Buddy)

Although referred to as Kenny in this episode, a very important future regular shows up while Harry needs treatment for an ulcer. Oh, and the new public defender is in love with him.

11. The Blizzard
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac, Billie, Art)

It's the trapped in an elevator trope! This is one of the first Dan Is Unprogressive And The Rest Of The Cast Tries To Educate Him episodes. He's trapped in an elevator with a gay man who finds him attractive. Give it up for 80s drama.

12. Dan's Parents
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac, Billie)

As you can probably guess by the title, Dan's parents pay him a visit. It turns out they're very rural. And Dan is a bag of shit. But we knew that already.

13. Married Alive
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac, Billie, Phil)

This is a very Dan-centric part of the season, as he falls in love with an heiress. The rest of the crew assumes he's an insincere gold digger, but he proclaims his love for her. Also, the first appearance of Dan's homeless sidekick, Phil.

14. Mac And Quon Le Together Again
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Selma, Mac, Billie, Quon Le)

We skipped a mediocre episode where Mac 's flame from the Vietnam war comes to visit and the two end up in a complicated green card marriage. But this episode, when she's arrested, is a much better love story. Also, Dan and Billie compete for the same job. I mean, only one of them is going to make it to next season, so ... have a guess who wins.

15. Hello Goodbye
(Harry, Dan, Bull, Mac, Christine, Florence, Phil)

We end this season on a bit of a heartbreaker. The actress who played Selma (also named Selma) died inbetween seasons of the show. Her death sends Bull into deep depression. As the other members of the court deal with their grief, Christine returns to the public defender position and Florence debuts as Selma's replacement.