Customer Reviews

Night Court: The Complete Third Season

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Seasons one and two of Night Court were good, but season three begins some of the best years of the show with Markie Post joining the cast as Christine, the public defender and Florence Halop replacing Selma Diamond as one of the two bailiffs - Selma died during the summer of 1985. Christine filled what was really missing from the bill that former public defender Billy just never could deliver. Christine is who we always knew was Harry's soulmate, a fact the two of them dance around for the entire duration of the series. Beautiful, compassionate, and somewhat naive, she also makes the perfect target for Dan Fielding's leachery. Harry's soulmate was something Billy just never convinced me she could be, and she simply wasn't the type to attract Dan Fielding.

This season also marks a full turn away from the "Barney Miller" style of the first two seasons as the show turns into full scale mayhem with a courtroom as just an incidental backdrop for the parade of human oddities that come before Judge Harry Stone. This is also the first year John Astin begins to make regular appearances as someone who was married to Harry's mom after she deserted him as a child. It turns out the two met in a mental institution, but - as Astin never fails to mention - "He's feeling much better now". Astin's character at first provides a link to Harry's missing years with his mother, but in a later season he is revealed to be much more than that.

Another change that has taken place is that Dan Fielding is now portrayed as someone who has no money, when in the first season he was always going on about his substantial portfolio. Dan's desperation for both s ex and money turns him into the ultimate greed machine, yet he still retains a likability that is comparable only to the likes of Jack Carson and Daffy Duck. No wonder John Larroquette won four Emmys for his portrayal before finally retiring his name from consideration.

Quan Le returns periodically as Mac's wife. Mac is the likable and efficient clerk of the court, and Quan Le is the girl that has loved Mac since she was a girl in Vietnam and he was a soldier there. Unfortunately, she is always having troubles confusing advertising with laws - trouble that usually costs Mac money. For example she believes that "American Express - Don't Leave Home Without It" is some kind of statute.

Most humor and movies from the 80's just haven't aged very well, but this show is different. It's timeless in the way that The Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges are, and I highly recommend it.

Love this show! They need to release all the seasons. Even if they don't include a bunch of extras!

Well after seeing how long it took the wise people to get season 2 out after Amazon had a listing for it but no date, let us all hope they are MUCH faster this time. This is a great show, simple jokes that can make anyone laugh.

Night Court is a treasure of a show. I have great memories of watching it the same night as Cheers. It's funny with a lot of heart and social commentary. Judge Harry reaches out to the characters and helps them with a lot of wisdom. The later seasons will probably sell a lot better than early seasons because Markie Post, Charles Robinson and Marsha Warfield joined show later and became permanent. The banter between Christine and Dan was priceless which we don't get to see until later.
So for what it's worth to the company that puts out the night court dvds please for the love of excellent programming release the rest of the seasons!

This awesome sitcom that, in my opinion, ranks right up there with Seinfeld and Cheers. It deserves to be honored by releasing EVERY season. I eagerly anticipate the release of Season 3, and every season thereafter.

I own season one and season two. Very funny show. Even nicer without all the commercials.

I signed up to be notified upon season three's release. I hope all the others make it too.

Roger

Night Court is a zany comedy: heavy in sight-gags, sexual innuendos, hilarious situations, and one-liners.

If you are hauled in to appear before this court, you will find yourself in the company of hookers, petty thieves, squabblers, nudists, and other peculiar strangers.

When its your turn to appear, a bailiff will escort you to the courtroom. It will be either a tall, head-shaved bailiff named Bull or a short, raspy-voiced bailiff named Flo. As you are led into the courtroom, a motley collection of spectators turn to watch you enter.

As you approach the bench, Dan Fielding will join you on your right: he is the district attorney. He is not on your side. If you are a woman, stand as far from him as you can: while his job is prosecutor, his hobby is collecting sexual encounters.

On your right is a very sexy, dolled-up public defender named Miss Christine Sullivan. She is on your side. If you are a man with an overactive libido and an urge to pursue Miss Sullivan; forget-about-it: she is a goody-two-shoes.

The man standing next to the judge is sweater-clad Mac. He will introduce you and read your charges. His easy going manner and professionalism will put you at ease, unless his wife''s vietnamese family is in town; they drive him to distraction; you better hope he doesn't read the wrong charges!

Behind the bench sits the black-robed Judge Harry T. Stone. You wonder, "How could this quick-witted youngster possibly be a judge?" If you tell his honor that you are an avid fan of Mel Torme, you may get off with only a $50 fine and time served. Good luck!

Extras: none.

Picture (DVD): fair (2) to good (3).

I love Night Court show, one of my first sit-coms I actually engaged in as a youth. This isn't the strongest of seasons, as I think the 4th and 5 are when they hit their stride, but I like it better than season 1.

But as far as production values...

I dunno what they sourced to master these discs, but the video quality appears to be that of a poorly noise-controlled standard VHS. The image shutters and has a distortion bar at the top on many episodes, but not all. There has been no video processing or cleanup of any kind, which leaves me to think the originals they pulled this from were garbage anyways, or not the studio-broadcast versions.

In short, buy for the content, not the presentation of it...

As a fan of Night Court, this 3rd season set was OK but not great. There are definitely good episodes but nothing worth the asking price here.

My set had several episodes that were not viewable since the audio and video tracks didn't match. In particular, the one with Mel Torme suffered from this defect, so if you plan on buying be sure to keep the packaging and check out every episode before becoming attached to your purchase.

Very funny show, well produced disks, outstanding.

One of the few shows from when I was young that I've gone back to on DVD years later and found to be just as funny as I remembered.