News

On Jan. 4, 1984, NBC unveiled Night Court, which went on to air for nine seasons and get a recent revival. The Hollywood Reporter weighed in with a full review, headlined “Night Court convicted of being consistently amusing TV sitcom,” as it entered its sophomore run:

Night Court is a consistently funny sitcom created by Reinhold Weege, a writer-producer for the old Barney Miller series. Its venue, weekly parade of various weirdos, and quirky regulars are reminiscent of Miller. And, like Miller, Night Court has more laughs per episode than most sitcoms.

Anchoring the series is Harry Anderson, as unorthodox Manhattan arraignment court judge, Harry Stone. Judge Stone is sharp and fair, but he seizes every available opportunity to turn due process of law into an excuse for levity. Anderson manages to wring just the right amount of irony out of lines like, “Being a judge means never having to say you’re sorry.

In the ’90s, NBC was the home of “Must See TV.” But before the heyday of Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier, the network had a hit comedy in Night Court. The 1984 sitcom featured an ensemble cast of characters working the night shift at Manhattan Criminal Court. With the 2023 reboot now on NBC and Peacock, it’s the perfect time to look back at which original Night Court cast members are still alive.

The show starred Harry Anderson as Judge Harry Stone Harry Anderson as Judge Harry Stone in the original ‘Night Court’ | Frank Carroll/NBC via Getty Images

Night Court followed various characters throughout its nine-season run. But throughout, Harry Anderson’s Judge Harold “Harry” T. Stone remained the anchor keeping the comedy on course. As the youngest serving judge, Harry is an idealist, amateur magician, and Mel Tormé enthusiast determined to make the most of his less-than-popular post in night court.

Many gangland parodies fall flat, but not Jonathan Demme’s marvelous combo of high spirits and murder. Mafia spouse Angela de Marco’s story is goofy comedy with an edge of economic reality: how does one newly-impoverished New Yawk dame make a living for her orphaned son, while avoiding the adulterous attentions of the Big Boss who had her husband iced? Michelle Pfeiffer came into her own, Dean Stockwell has his best adult role and Matthew Modine is uniquely charming as an amorous FBI agent. The tonal balance is abetted by a supporting performances that go every which way: Mercedes Ruehl, Alec Baldwin, Oliver Platt and a slew of Demme regulars. Plus a music score by David Byrne. The disc features three new video interviews.

Married to the Mob

Blu-ray

Fun City Editions

1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / Available from Vinegar Syndrome / 39.98

Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell,...

When powerhouse vocalist-actor Meat Loaf eulogized composer-producer Jim Steinman last April in Rolling Stone, the singer – who died Thursday at age 74 – said of his “Bat Out of Hell” partner, “We belonged heart and soul to each other. We didn’t know each other. We were each other.”

Meat Loaf (born Marvin Lee Aday) could not have stated the obvious better, as each man’s operatic, oversized talents were only matched by their level of grand theatricality, with thundering melodicism and melodramatic lyricism at the top of the list of their skill sets.

The best Meat Loaf songs – even those without Steinman’s tower-toppling compositions – come on in an epic, adrenalized rush. Even when singing a power ballad, Meat Loaf was loud and brazenly and heartbrokenly emotive. Here are some of the most dramatic and impactful of Meal Loaf’s musical moments:

Stoney & Meatloaf, “What You See is What You Get...

Meat Loaf, the hardworking singer and actor whose theatrical Bat Out of Hell is one of the best-selling albums ever and who played Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has died. He was 74.

The Grammy winner born Marvin Lee Aday died Thursday night surrounded by his wife Deborah, daughters Pearl and Amanda and close friends, Meat Loaf’s longtime agent Michael Greene told Deadline on behalf of the family. A cause of death is not being released. According to TMZ, the singer died of Covid-related complications.

“We know how much he meant to so many of you and we truly appreciate all of the love and support as we move through this time of grief in losing such an inspiring artist and beautiful man,” Meat Loaf’s family said in a statement. “From his heart to your souls…don’t ever stop rocking!”

Written by Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf...

“Big Bang Theory” alum stars as the daughter of Harry Anderson’s character from the original series

NBC has given a pilot order to the “Night Court” sequel series starring Melissa Rauch and John Larroquette, the network said Monday.

Put into development last year, the project from Rauch’s After January production company centers on Judge Abby Stone, an “unapologetic optimist” who follows in her father’s footsteps as she presides over the night shift of a Manhattan arraignment court.

Larroquette will reprise his role as former night court prosecutor Dan Fielding, with “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” writer Dan Rubin serving as writer and executive producer.

“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,” Rauch said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to join forces with Dan,...

Jim Steinman was such a titanic figure in Meat Loaf’s life, that sharing their saga in a single phone call to Rolling Stone after Steinman’s death simply was not possible. It took two long calls across two days to get it across, and at the end of the first one, Meat Loaf broke down and sobbed uncontrollably over the loss of his friend. “Oh my God!” he moaned. “I haven’t cried until now. It just hit me. Oh my God! It’s horrible!”

But he stayed remarkably...

Update, with Bonnie Tyler tribute Jim Steinman, the composer and lyricist whose roster of hit records included the huge Bonnie Tyler hit “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” was remembered by the singer as the “true genius” behind “some of the most iconic rock songs of all time.”

“I am absolutely devastated to learn of the passing of my long term friend and musical mentor Jim Steinman,” tweeted Tyler, whose other hits composed by Steinman included “Holding Out For A Hero.”

“Jim wrote and produced some of the most iconic rock songs of all time and I was massively privileged to have been given some of them by him. I made two albums with Jim, despite my record company initially thinking he wouldn’t want to work with me. Thankfully they were wrong…”

Read Tyler’s full statement below.

Deadline confirmed Steinman’s death with the Connecticut state medical examiner earlier today.

Jim Steinman is best known, with good reason, for the songs he wrote for Meat Loaf’s epic Bat Out of Hell. But his aural footprint on pop wasn’t limited to that singer and that 1977 album. As it turned out, Steinman’s songs were equally at home in the two decades that followed, when an astounding array of pop acts — from Air Supply to the Sisters of Mercy — performed his songs. The resulting discography amounts to an alternate-universe Wall of Sound, with Steinman as the Phil Spector of the Eighties and Nineties.

A sequel to “Night Court” is in development at NBC from “Big Bang Theory” alum Melissa Rauch.

John Larroquette is set to return as Don Fielding. The project currently has a script development deal.

Here is the logline, per NBC: Unapologetic optimist judge Abby Stone (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 (Larroquette).

Rauch will produce with her husband, Winston Rauch, for After January Productions. Warner Bros. TV is the studio. Dan Rubin will write the series.

The original series, created by Reinhold Weege, aired for nine seasons on NBC from 1984-1992. It took place during the night shift at a Manhattan municipal court. Harry Anderson played the young, unorthodox judge Harry Stone.

Looking back at some of the strangest cameos in film and TV history, we were struck by how many of them were by musicians. It makes sense. After all, musicians are already out of place among actors on a TV or film set. What they bring to the table is different from what actors bring, in terms of star quality, charisma, self-expression and established personae. If you’re familiar with both the musician’s work and the characters in a movie or TV show (and the actors who play them...

Tony Sokol Jun 25, 2019

New Investigation Discovery series 'Til Death Do Us Part finds deadly exits to wedding vows.

"Now I'm waiting til the end of time to hurry up and arrive," Meat Loaf sang on the seventies radio staple "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." His character had just promised eternal devotion to co-singer Ellen Foley. Investigation Discovery's upcoming all-new original series Til Death Do Us Part explores couples who didn't have the patience to wait out their wedding vows. From a suspicious carbon monoxide incident, to a parrot who became an eyewitness to murder, each hour-long episode tells a tragic tale of love turned lethal." The series unveils the breaking point in each of these relationships when love and murder collide.

'Til Death Do Us Part features all-new stories of love gone wrong, including "a loving wife turned wiccan, a spouse with a spiraling gambling addiction, and a...

“I feel like a virgin at a eunuch convention.”

Married To The Mob screens Friday, June 24th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). This is the sixth film in their ‘Tribute to Jonathan Demme’ The movie starts at 8:00pm.

In director Jonathan Demme’s 1988 comedy Married To The Mob, Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Angela Demarco, the widow of a recently “iced” Mob hit-man who moves from her garishly tacky Long Island home to start a new life for herself and her son, while being pursued by Mob boss Dean Stockwell and FBI man Matthew Modine. Married To The Mob has lots going for it including a very amusing script; offbeat characters; sudden sharp turns to unexpected violence, and a hilarious yet menacing, Oscar-nominated performance by Stockwell and and also by Mercedes Ruehl, as his jealous wife from hell, But Ms Pfeiffer steals the show easily. She perfectly nails Angela’s under-educated,...

Meat Loaf has a cold. That voice - superhuman, louder than a locomotive, able to leap tall octaves in a single bound - sounds hoarse and congested over the telephone today. He's convinced it's allergies. I offer my apologies, which he quickly dismisses. "You don't control the pollen. Or Do You!?" He's joking, but I'm momentarily terrified. To be on the receiving end of Meat Loaf's roar, even at half blast, can be intimidating. It'll take a hell of a lot more than a case of sniffles to enfeeble that larynx, an instrument that's unleashed rock arias for more than four decades.

Meat Loaf has a cold. That voice - superhuman, louder than a locomotive, able to leap tall octaves in a single bound - sounds hoarse and congested over the telephone today. He's convinced it's allergies. I offer my apologies, which he quickly dismisses. "You don't control the pollen. Or Do You!?" He's joking, but I'm momentarily terrified. To be on the receiving end of Meat Loaf's roar, even at half blast, can be intimidating. It'll take a hell of a lot more than a case of sniffles to enfeeble that larynx, an instrument that's unleashed rock arias for more than four decades.

A Broadway musical based on the hit HBO vampire series True Blood is in development, The New York Post reports.

The theatrical adaptation is being workshopped under director Pam MacKinnon, who won a Tony Award in 2013 for directing the revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Author Elizabeth Scott — best known for her 2008 young adult novel, Living Dead Girl — is writing the book and lyrics, while Nathan Barr, who scored True Blood the TV show, is handling the music. The Post also reported that True Blood creator Alan Ball is overseeing the project,...

Earlier this month, BroadwayWorld uncovered a vintage video featuring Broadway legend Patti LuPone in 'Love Cycle A Soap Operetta', a 'mini-musical' made for PBS in 1984 which was never broadcast. The mini-musical also featured a full cast of up-and-coming stars of the 1980's, including Walter Bobbie, Lonny Price, Martin Vidnovic, Priscilla Lopez and Ellen Foley. If you missed it the first time, catch the full operetta below...

Martin Scorsese turns 70 on Friday, and the man has never been busier. In the midst of a multitude of projects, he's currently shooting his next feature, "The Wolf Of Wall Street," but of course, he took some time out recently to talk about David Lean's masterpiece, "Lawrence Of Arabia," as it arrives in a brand new 4-disc set today (get that Christmas shopping done early, folks). But before we jump into that, let's rewind the clock slightly. It's hard to believe, but it's been thirty years since Scorsese dropped "The King Of Comedy," a movie that still remains a bit underrated in his canon. And we have to admit, either we missed it or just didn't know, but The Clash cameoed ever so briefly in the film. Look closely and you'll see Mick Jones, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon (plus associates like manager Kosmo Vinyl, singers Ellen Foley and Pearl Harbour,...

(c) Samuel Goldwyn/ Courtesy: Everett Collection. “Mystic Pizza,” starring Julia Roberts and Annabeth Gish, 1988.

If you hit adolescence when I did—or if you listen to classic-rock stations—you’ll know a catchy 1977 song called “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” performed as a duet by Meat Loaf and Ellen Foley. It’s a clever take on the teenage make-out session.

The boy’s refrain in the song is “We’re gonna go all the way tonight.” The girl resists and...

On Monday (Nov. 28), the Season 3 winners of "The Sing-Off" were announced.

It wasn't much of a surprise -- Pentatonix have been the front-runner for several weeks now. Though both were "on the edge of glory" tonight, as Nick Lachey said, Pentatonix won! Members of the group dropped out of school in the hopes of winning the $200,000 Sony recording contract, so they were probably beyond relieved when Lachey called their names.

Though they took the stage first, it was a big night for all three finalists.

Pentatonix was featured first. They had chosen to dedicate some time this week to the Los Angeles based charity The Trevor Project, which combats teen bullying and gives bullied teens a place to turn when they're troubled. After their package, they took the stage, singing David Guetta's "Without You." Ben Folds commended them on their "butt-shaking bass" singers.

Later, Pentatonix had the distinguished honor...

If you saw those big liquid eyes and heard that perfect rock and roll voice in 1979 singing "Stillsane," you never forgot it. "Stillsane" was a rollicking, sax-driven, joyful tune about holding onto one's sanity in the face of adversity. Without the benefit of MTV (which started a few years later in 1981), Carolyne Mas came to the forefront during an era when a number of female rock artists seemed to be gaining purchase in the marketplace for the first time (Pat Benatar, Ellen Foley, and Ellen Shipley were some of the others). Though these artists' sounds were quite different, they were all lumped together by virtue of their sex and Mas' undeniable talent was given short shrift. No overnight success herself, by 1979 Mas had spent several years honing her chops on the Greenwich Village scene. Lauded as "the female...

This season, the cast and crew of 30 Rock really hit the ground running. Oprah Winfrey made a rare TV appearance (outside of her own show) last week. Last night, Steve Martin and Jennifer Aniston (Friends) were the big guests -- or were they? How about the mini-Night Court reunion?

Night Court follows the surreal courtroom of Judge Harry Stone who presides over a crazy NYC night court. Self-obsessed Assistant D.A. Dan Fielding (John Larroquette) represents the state while public defenders like Liz Williams (Paula Kelly), Billie Young (Ellen Foley), and, for most of the series, Christine Sullivan (Markie Post) take the side of the accused. "Mac" Robinson (Charles Robinson) is the long-suffering court clerk while bailiffs like "Bull" Shannon (Richard Moll), Selma Hacker (Selma Diamond), Florence Kleiner (Florence Halop), and Roz Russell (Marsha Warfield) try to keep courtroom visitors under control.

The TV show debuted as an NBC...