Hacker Cinema
Night Court
1984 · TV series · 24 min episodes · 9 seasons
Created by Reinhold Weege
An eccentric fun-loving judge presides over an urban night court and all the silliness going on there.
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7 comments on Hacker News
> I don't really worry. I watched TV basically my entire childhood growing up in the '80s, in the height of stranger danger where I largely was not allowed to go outside. It was a lot worse than this. I watched game shows, Hogans Heroes, Night Court. She's watching Ms. Rachel, Meekah, and Sesame Street.
For a long time our kid was only allowed to watch Mr. Rogers. That show is very gentle and slow paced (also: people, not brightly colored flashing cartoons), which I read somewhere is great for young kids.
Also, since I watched it as a kid, I kinda know what I'm getting. I don't really have the time to search for and vet TV shows. And I do not trust anything made for streaming economies, after reading about Cocomelon (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/arts/television/cocomelon-moonbug-entertainment.html) and seeing the stupid unimaginative wasteland that is Blippi (https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2020/08/the-dead-world-of-blippi):
> In fact, the more I watch Blippi (and boy, have I watched Blippi), the more horrified I am by how thin and dull the Blippiverse is. Blippi does not seem to read books. He does not play make-believe, except to pretend he is doing the thing that the toy or playground object has been built for him to do with it. “Science” means dropping a piece of fruit in the pool and seeing if it floats. The interesting thing about an elephant is that it’s heavy. What about music? Art? History? Theater? The natural world? The wonders of outer space? Mr. Rogers had episodes about grandparents, about not wasting things, about being brave at the emergency room. On any given week he might introduce you to Yo-Yo Ma or Eric Carle of Very Hungry Caterpillar fame. Sesame Street met all the people in your neighborhood and talked about what they do and why it matters, rather than focusing on the trucks they drive.
I really wish someone had put in the effort to digitize the whole run of 321 Contact (all I've been able to find is a smattering of nth-generation re-encodes on YouTube).
Growing up in the 70s and 80s in Germany, I've been brainwashed by US movies and sitcoms, 90% of the things I've watched was from the US - Magnum P.I, Simon & Simon, The Fall Guy, Kojak, A-Team, Golden Girls, Mary Taylor Moore, Lou Grant, MacGyver, Knight Rider, Night Court, Family Ties, Miami Vice, The Wonder Years, Facts of Life, Love Boat, and on and on and on.
I know the US better than many parts of Germany.
> every book, movie, TV show, video game and song fails to give me an interesting or meaningful experience
I'm curious, have you tried watching shows like Russian Doll? Andor? The Last of Us? The Leftovers?
These are shows that deal with the very deepest of human themes -- growth overcoming trauma, political radicalization, contradictory aspects of love, and finding meaning in life (respectively, for those four shows).
They're some of the most exciting and well-written pieces of art to come around in a long time. I can't imagine applying the term "grey slop" to those. And then after each episode, you can easily spend a couple of hours reading story analysis and criticism, listening to podcast analysis and so forth.
I can't help but wonder if you're not finding things like these that are actually pushing the envelope. Modern entertainment isn't stale at all, if you know where to look. (Obviously I'm not talking about the NBC reboot of the sitcom Night Court.)
I kind of long for the sitcoms of my youth. Something like Night Court, where it's a half an hour of jokes and then you're done. It's nice and relaxing and doesn't try and hook you into watching hours on end.
There was an episode of Night Court in which a group of attendees from a Star Trek convention end up in court due to fighting over Kirk vs Picard. While Night Court had its share of zany characters, including one whose actor would go on to play the part of Commander Data, it rarely, if ever, broke the supernatural barrier. That is until that episode when a few of the Trekkies appearing before the court beamed out before they could be held in contempt. While good for a chuckle, it seemed out of character for the show. Guess when writers are dealing with Star Trek, the transporter is simply too irresistible to use.
As I recall from the 1980s sitcom Night Court, there are night judges (though I have no idea if that is a real thing, I doubt my town has night judges).
In a defensive capability, it gets even better:
Patent Troll: Hi, I am a Patent Troll, and I want to sue your ... company. Halliburton: Look, Dame or Dude, you have three choices: 1. We have a patent on that. You cannot sue us without a license. Good bye! 2. We have a patent on that. You cannot sue us without a license. Licenses are $ 42 trillion. *Per Lawyer*. See you in court. Or not. 3. We buy your company, because we rule! Patent Troll: *Head explodes* -- The End --
A decent writer could make a sitcom out of this in no time. I already have a picture in my head -- it is like Night Court meets Psych! I wanna watch this on Netflix!!!