We're currently in the spring portion of the 2025 TV schedule, which means that the fates of many network TV shows have been or will soon be decided. NBC's Night Court reboot has yet to be renewed or cancelled, despite the network renewing two other comedies earlier this year. The stakes are high ahead of a Big Bang Theory-filled finale, so when I spoke with TV icon John Larroquette, I had to get his take on the wait for renewal news.
After all, Larroquette knows a thing or two about waiting on news for the future of TV shows, and not just because of his nine seasons and nearly 200 episodes of the original Night Court from 1984-1992. (The original Night Court is streaming with an Amazon Prime Video subscription while the latest installments of the Melissa Rauch-led reboot are available with a Peacock subscription.)
The multi-Emmy winner additionally starred in – of course – The John Larroquette Show, as well as Happy Family, Boston Legal, The Librarians, and the sadly short-lived Me, Myself and I that also featured SNL's Bobby Moynihan and IT's Jack Dylan Grazer. All of this is to say that Larroquette has been in the position of waiting on renewal/cancellation news well before this point in Night Court's Season 3.
So, when I spoke with the star, I had to know: does that wait for a renewal ever get easier? He responded by first citing a classic film:
No, no, not at all. My wife Elizabeth and I have that conversation at least once a week. There was a very good movie back in the early '70s, starring Jack Lemmon. It was called Save the Tiger, and Jack's character was a dressmaker... and every year it was like, 'Get the new line out.' And he's very desperate. He just goes to his cohort and says, 'Just tell me if I've got another season, I just want one more season.' And that's how you feel.
Similarities between Night Court and the 1973 film that won Jack Lemmon one of his Academy Awards are otherwise likely pretty slim, but it's no wonder that Larroquette has frequent conversations about the future of his current NBC show. He went on to elaborate on why:
Listen, I'd rather know than not know quicker, obviously, but it is what it is. It's sort of hard to plan your summer, plan your fall. 'Are we gonna be in LA or are we gonna be here at home? Are we gonna go to Europe? Can we go? We shouldn't yet until we hear.' There's a lot of stuff that just has to stay juggling until one hears the word, and I'm happy either way. Believe me on that. I am happy either way. But I'd just like to know.
I'm sure Night Court fans en masse can relate to just wanting to know if NBC orders another season! While the network did renew St. Denis Medical ahead of its upcoming finale as well as Reba McEntire's Happy's Place, Night Court and Lopez vs. Lopez are the two sitcoms with undecided fates at the time of writing.
Unlike Lopez vs. Lopez, however, Night Court has not yet aired its season finale this spring to set up what could come next in a fourth season. I asked John Larroquette what he'd like to see happen in Season 4, assuming that the comedy gets that order for another batch of episodes. He replied:
I don't have those dreams for Dan Fielding. Hopefully I'll be able to come in and bunt one down the first base line and get on base, but I don't need to hit home runs, and I don't need to do that sort of stuff anymore. But I want scripts written about [Nyambi] Nyambi's life outside of the court, [Wyatt's] life, and also Wendie [Malick] and Gary [Anthony Williams] and Lacretta. I want to get into their lives. Keep it within the court, but have stuff of their lives come to us.
Night Court usually keeps the action set within the courthouse, with the courtroom and cafeteria as the spots that are pretty much guaranteed to be in every episode. Larroquette would like to see more of the personal lives of his colleagues' characters incorporated into the action. He then cited the vision from original Night Court creator Reinhold Weege, who of course found a winning recipe back in the '80s. The star said:
I've said this a thousand times – Reinhold Weege, who created the original, said he thought that the secret to a great workplace comedy was lots of doors, because that way you can bring any story you want in to you. When you think of Cheers, everybody that came to the bar, there was a story. Certainly a courtroom is that way, and so I want to know more about their lives. You know, funny. Find ways to make it humorous, but I'd like to dig into them more so the audience has more to hang on to those characters that they love.
Night Court has certainly found ways to incorporate personal lives into the courtroom before, particularly for storylines centered on Abby and on Dan. Memorably, Roz's wedding being relocated to the courthouse allowed for a lovely tribute to the late Markie Post's Christine Sullivan with Dan reflecting on their time together. There were some laughs in there as well with Christine's sister; could we see anything similar for other characters in the future?
Well, that all depends on whether or not Night Court is renewed for Season 4. Larroquette also confirmed that the cast finished filming Season 3 back in December, so the final episodes of the season are already set. The third season is ending in a big way, with two back-to-back episodes for a full hour of Night Court on Tuesday, May 6 starting at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. First, though, check out the penultimate episode on April 29 and/or stream next day via Peacock.
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