NBC Gives Pilot Production Order to “Night Court” Starring Melissa Rauch & John Larroquette

Unapologetic optimist judge Abby Stone (series star Melissa Rauch), the daughter of the late Harry Stone, follows in her father’s footsteps as she presides over the night shift of a Manhattan arraignment court and tries to bring order to its crew of oddballs and cynics, most notably former night court prosecutor Dan Fielding (series star John Larroquette).

Melissa Rauch is coming off the hit CBS/Warner Bros. TV comedy series The Big Bang Theory, which celebrated its final season in 2019. After The Big Bang Theory, Melissa appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat, alongside Meryl Streep, as well as Ode to Joy, opposite Martin Freeman. Rauch starred, produced, and co-wrote, along with Winston Rauch, The Bronze, which was the Official Opening Night Film Selection of the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. She recently produced, co-wrote (with Winston Rauch), and starred in a stage production of a political satire titled The Secret Lunches of Chelsea & Ivanka at Joe’s Pub in NYC. After January has several projects currently in development through Warner Bros. TV.

Melissa Rauch is quoted as saying, “My intention was purely to be behind the camera on this project, but my plans quickly changed after falling in love with the incredible script from the brilliant mind of Dan Rubin. I couldn’t be more thrilled to join forces with Dan, the immense talent that is John Larroquette, and the two powerhouse institutions of comedy that are NBC and Warner Bros. to bring Night Court back to television.”

John Larroquette most recently joined the cast of The Good Fight on Paramount Plus, and starred on the CBS comedy series Me, Myself & I. He has recurred on ABC on both The Practice and Boston Legal. His work on The Practice garnered Larroquette two of his seven total Emmy nominations and one of his five wins. The others were for his previous work on NBC’s Night Court, which enjoyed a nine-season run for a whopping 193 episodes from 1984-1992. Larroquette won four consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Dan Fielding from 1985 to 1988, before withdrawing his name from the ballot in 1989. Night Court itself was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series three times (1985, 1987, and 1988).

Night Court scribe Dan Rubin’s credits include his tenure for the full-run of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (where he was nominated for four Emmys and three WGA awards). He continued his work with Tina Fey and the Kimmy Schmidt producers, working on their latest project Mulligan over at Netflix. He also recently served as a Co-Executive Producer on Fox’s series Outmatched. Other credits include Happy Endings, Scrubs, Worst Week and The Michael J. Fox Show.