History Series / NightCourt

* WifeHusbandry: Averted, Mac and Quon Le first met when she was a child in Vietnam and he was in his twenties, but he didn't fall in love with her until she was an adult.

* WeWantOurJerkBack: The cast's reaction to Season 8's Do-Gooder Dan.

* TenMinuteRetirement: In season 3's "Wheels of Justice" 2-parter, Harry briefly quits his job after being unable to stop a family from being evicted from their apartment, and said family's son chastising him, and the law in general, for failing them.

* NoirEpisode: "Hey, Harry, F'Crying Out Loud -- It's a Wonderful Life ...Sorta", where most of the episode is shot in the style of a 1940s Creator/WarnerBros gangster flick.

* IrrationalHatred: Harry towards Barry Manilow, to the point that he nearly had a stroke when Christine told him that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8G__N8jZpY Mel Tormé recorded some music with Manilow]].

* ISurrenderSuckers: Harry gets into a pranking duel with a new judge, with his judge's robe on the line, and is thoroughly beaten when the other judge rigs his bench to collapse at the end of the day. He forfeits his robe, and leaves in a sulk; then reveals to Christine that he had to lose, to lure the little twerp right into his trap. Cue a remote control, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd_3Qjt6nH8 a scream in the next room]].

* InPrisonWithTheRogues: Lampshaded in "Her Honor":
-->'''Dan''': Great, that settles it, I am going to prison!\\
'''Bull''': ''(earnestly)'' Well, look on the bright side, Dan: you'll know lots of people, 'cause you convicted most of 'em.\\
'''Dan''': '''''AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!'''''
* IOweYouMyLife:
** Dan saves Christine from choking and exacts a night of passion in a hotel as a way of repayment. A MomentKiller came (much to Christine's relief) in the form of a jumper on a ledge outside their window.
** Mac's old Vietnam war buddy who saved his life shows up in court and wants him to lose a file so that he won't go back to prison for breaking parole. He later releases Mac from the debt, not wanting to taint the most noble thing he ever did.

* ISurrenderSuckers: Harry gets into a pranking duel with a new judge, with his judge's robe on the line, and is thoroughly beaten when the other judge rigs his bench to collapse at the end of the day. He forfeits his robe, and leaves in a sulk; then reveals to Christine that he had to lose, to lure the little twerp right into his trap. Cue a remote control, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd_3Qjt6nH8 a scream in the next room]].
-->'''Harry:''' You may be younger, you may be faster, you may even be smarter. But you will never, ''ever'', be crazier - than ''me.''
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne:
** In "Dan's Escort" a wealthy older woman wants to pay Dan for sex to try and forget her late husband. She wants "one sleazy, meaningless encounter with a nondescript, morally bankrupt gigolo."
--->'''Dan:''' HEY! Who are you calling '''nondescript'''?
** Also from "A Modest Proposal"
--->'''Christine:''' You are pre-judging him just because he's not a skinny, ridiculous, adolescent clown.\\
'''Harry:''' I am '''not''' skinny!

* InsultBackfire: Anytime anyone convinces harry of being crazy, they're met with him affirming their assertation.

* IBrokeANail: In an episode featuring Christine's meddling father, he buys her a big 1949 Buick on the grounds that it's safer than modern cars. She blows up at him for taking over her life and they reconcile. The next day news comes that she was in a horrific car crash and her car went end over end.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Used in "Dan the Walking Time Bomb" to convince Dan's psychotic ex-classmate not to kill him.

* GypsyCurse: The entire court was hit with one in Season Two. Bull fell into a deep trance and Dan lost all his savings after his accountant, who was in the middle of an IRS Audit at the time, dropped dead.

* FullyAbsorbedFinale: The ''Series/ThirtyRock'' episode "The One with the Cast of ''Night Court''".

** Dan is an arrogant, smug, womanizing jerk, but he has ''very'' strong morals and ethics when it comes to the law, and is proud of it. At least three separate storylines centered upon someone attempting to bribe Dan and being reported to the authorities. When a private law firm offered him a more glamorous and higher paying job, Dan found out that the woman doing the hiring didn't consider him the most qualified, she just wanted to sleep with him -- Dan boasted to her that he has the highest conviction rate and fewest overturns on appeals of ''any'' prosecutor in the city, and while he did sleep with her, it was only because she was attractive; he refused the job.

%%* EvilTwin: Con-man Will Sanders, to bum Phil Sanders.

* DisappointedInYou: When Harry's past as a juvenile delinquent surfaces, he decides to tell about what had happened. He took a car for a joyride only to crash into a liquor store. He notes the two nights in jail and a couple of weeks in reformatory were nothing compared to his trial, where his father just sat there staring at him, and after it was all over, all he could say was, "You disappointed me, Harold." [[MyGreatestFailure It haunted Harry ever since]], especially since his father died before he could see him turn his life around.

* DisappearedDad: Harry found out this was the case when Buddy Ryan confessed to being his real father.
** In fairness to Buddy, he was totally prepared to do the honorable thing. But Harry's mother was released first and married another man when it looked like Buddy might not be released. When Buddy did get out and he tracked her down again, it was agreed by all three of them that it would be best to wait until Harry Jr. was older before they told him the truth. But then Buddy and Harry's mother both relapsed and were recommitted, leaving Harry Stone Sr. to raise his son alone, dying before he could tell Harry the truth of his birth or why his mom had disappeared.

* DepravedKidsShowHost: Emil Dutton, aka Mr. Froufrou, a clown and defendant in Season 1, who even Dan called a "fallen idol of children everywhere".

* DidYouJustHaveSex: In "Jail Bait", Christine winds up having a one-night-stand with a young street artist she defended. The next day, she is smiling a little more than usual, leading Dan to announce loudly "You bopped the kid!"

--->'''"Marry":''' ....Nobody cares about us except us, which is why we are getting married.\\

* CurseCutShort: During ''Santa Goes Downtown'' while dealing with a couple of shoplifting juveniles (who also refuses to give their names)

'''The attorney:''' Your honour!

** Harry is left with no choice by existing law but to evict a mother and son from their apartment. The son is subsequently shot trying to rob a liquor store. Harry [[DespairEventHorizon is nearly driven to quit]]. It's ultimately Dan who convinces Harry not to quit with a rather moving speech about Harry is a good, impartial, and fair judge.

** Harry is left with no choice by existing law but to evict a mother and son from their apartment. The son is subsequently shot trying to rob a liquor store. Harry [[DespairEventHorizon is nearly driven to quit]]. It's ultimately Dan who convinces Harry not to quit with a rather moving speech about Harry was a good, impartial, and fair judge.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: The whole cast (of the most consistent line-up from seasons 4-9) except for Mac, who was just snarky. Everyone else? Well....

** Dan was a Lothario with the morals of a rutting pig.

* BackToSchool: Harry is forced to retake a high-school history class in "A Family Affair". This is a more justified example than most as it was revealed that he received an incomplete in the class, which would have invalidated his high school diploma and law degree and gotten him kicked off the bench unless he passed the exam.

* AshesToCrashes: A man named Herb dies, and his two daughters get into a fight over his ashes, ending up in Harry's court. They eventually resolve their differences and agree to stand by whatever arrangement Harry decides upon. Herb's remains are left at court, in Harry's office, leading to the following dialog:

* AtTheOperaTonight: "A Night Court at the Opera".

* AsHimself:
** Mel Tormé, a couple of times.
** Then NBC Entertainment president [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Tartikoff Brandon Tartikoff]] once showed up to post bail for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neilsen_ratings a Neilsen Family]] so they could get home to watch ''Series/MisfitsOfScience''.
---> '''Roz:''' It's been cancelled.\\
'''Brandon Tartikoff:''' ...I knew that!
** Creator/JohnnyCarson, long-time host of ''Series/TheTonightShow'', did a quick cameo playing off his numerous marriages to younger, blonde women as he tried to ask Christine out through a romantic note she thought was a prank.
---> '''Bull:''' Excuse me, but aren't you married now?\\
'''Johnny Carson:''' ''[confused]'' I - I don't know.[[note]] He was; he had just married for the fourth and final time.[[/note]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Dan has been unjustly accused of corruption and suspended and thus making ends meet working as a waiter. At the same time, Roz has been put on a new diet due to her diabetes and hates being unable to enjoy sweets so declares she's just going to go for it. She tells Dan that he has to fight back as she picks up a piece of cake and snaps on how giving up is "what cowards and wimps do." Just as she's about to bite into the cake, Dan dryly asks, "You mean like you're giving up on your diet?" Roz freezes as she realizes he has a point.

* AnAesop: Early episodes emphasized a particular moral dilemma that the case du jour revolved around; as time wore on the show became more focused on the ensemble cast's character quirks. Although this still crept up in several later episodes. Musings on the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (which at the time the show aired [[FailedFutureForecast looked like it would never end]]) were common.

* DanBrowned: In "A Closer Look" Mac is demonstrating his computer prowess when an errant key bringing up a game he was playing. For one, the gameplay is from ''Super Mario Brothers'', a game which didn't have a PC port, and the music is from the game released in the USA as ''Super Mario Brothers 2''.