Joe's TV List Walks Out $50 Poorer

#22: Night Court
(NBC, 1984-1992)

Broad comedy (and not ‘broad’ the way Dan Fielding might use the term) is tough to pull off, but as the longtime back-end anchor of NBC’s Thursday-night comedy block, Night Court managed to be both humane and slapsticky, often at the same time, and make the effort seem graceful. Networks were more patient then; the show didn’t really soar until a few seasons into its run, when Markie Post came on board and most of the seismic cast shuffling (God bless Marsha Warfield, who surely knew she was staring down certain death by taking that role) was in the rear-view mirror. Dan Larroquette won all the individual awards (and his chemistry with Post was remarkable), but Harry Anderson, previously best-known for his can-you-top-this appearances on Cheers, brought an underrated humanity to the nonsense – and what glorious nonsense it could be, what with recurring roles for the likes of Yakov Smirnoff, Mel Torme, and a pre-Data Brent Spiner. In the end, Night Court worked because it was funny – but it remains inspiring, too. After all, wrapping up my monthly newsletter-design project kept me up well into the wee hours last night, but Harry once got through 207 cases before midnight – and won an arm-wrestling match to boot. Well, he had help, but still.