In the mid-eighties, a different kind of sitcom took audiences by surprise. Night Court offered viewers a kooky, fun, and feel good approach to comedy television. The series is about a late night New York court room, whose presiding judge takes a very active, friendly, and personal approach to the legal system. And for some odd reason, everyone in the court room is a little too neurotic for their own good. The end result is a great comedy.

While it has been over twenty years since the first season aired on television for the first time, Night Court still is quite funny. What really makes this a good series is the cast. We have a fairly large cast of characters, who all add a likable quality to the series. The main character is Judge Harold T. Stone (Harry Anderson). He is a very unlikely judge, considering he is very young and has an odd way of dealing with things. He gets very personal with each case and goes out of his way to fix the problems of those who enter his court room. In the end, it leaves him a very likable do-gooder.

Assisting Judge Harry is a neurotic set of characters. There is the court room assistant Lana Wagner (Karen Austin). Lana is not the most impressive character and she was replaced after season one. Dan Fielding (John Larroquette) holds a special place in my heart. He is the assistant district attorney, who is snobby, brash, and under it all, a sex crazed maniac. I love what his character adds to the series, which is a personality that conflicts with everyone else that makes for a lot of great laughs. Next is Liz Williams (Paula Kelly), a public defense attorney. Her role is another one that didn't have a huge impact on the overall series. She had a few great scenes, where her conflicting views on life, the courtroom, and so on with Dan were a riot. However, her character didn't make it into the next season.

Finally, we have a pair of bailiffs, Bull Shannon (Richard Moll) and Selma Hacker (Selma Diamond). Bull is tall, 6 foot 8 inch. He has is a teddy bear in the sense that his towering appearance that scares children, but he has a heart of gold. Selma is the opposite, she's short and crude. Her rough personality adds a nice edge. Bull and Selma work together quite nicely as opposites. Overall, the first season has a fairly strong cast, but it isn't quite as exciting as season three when Markie Post joins the cast as Christine Sullivane.

In the first season, we see a lot of episodes that focus on each individual character going through some kind of trail, and at the same time watching Stone solve some kind of problem: like repairing a marriage, helping a teenager find his parent's love, or any number of noble deeds. I thought that these were good stories that revaled the character's personalities. There are other elements of this series that make this season very enjoyable. Harry's odd behavior as a judge is repeatedly used as a joke. Whether it is his affinity for Mel Torme or his passion with magic, he's always got something up his sleeve to make you laugh. Bull's towering appearance is constantly a joke. He also fits into the oblivious to the obvious role well. Then there is Dan's snobby stuck up demeanor, which really covers a sex crazed maniac. These kind of small things really add to the series and make it fun.

The first season does a very nice job unfolding the series' episodic format and the characters. While the stories sometimes feel a little corny in the way they attempt to prompt that feel good feeling, they are always quite funny. Night Court is a great show.

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture quality is good considering its age. The image is a bit soft at times. For the most part, it looks good with a slight grain and no noticeable issues attributed with video compression.

Audio:
The audio in this release is in English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo. The quality is quite good. The audio is fairly flat, which is due the show being dialogue driven, and music comes off fairly rich. This release also supports closed captioning.

Extras:
The extras for this release are good for the fans. There is an audio commentary for the pilot episode with creator Reinhold Weege. While he has some very interesting thoughts about the series, there are a few very dry spots. The next and final extra is an eighteen minute featurette "Night Court: Comedy's Swing Shift". It is a reflection about the series with creator Reinhold Weege and actor Harry Anderson. Overall, I enjoyed the extras included with this release.

Final Thoughts:
With a pretty great cast, the first season of Night Court offers plenty of comedy with the right dash of feel good moments. This first season, even after twenty years is still very fun to watch. If you have never had a chance to watch this show, now is the time. It's simply a fun show.