Yahoo Lifestyle 'Night Court' Star Melissa Rauch Teases 'Big Bang' Reunion With Mayim Bialik (Exclusive)
The new Night Court will feature a Big Bang Theory reunion for Season 3—as well as other fun surprises.
Melissa Rauch, the sitcom’s star and executive producer, gave Parade some delightful teasers in an exclusive interview ahead of tonight's third season premiere.
Most notably, she offered insight into her former Big Bang Theory co-star Mayim Bialik's future guest appearance on the show. "She plays this sort of bizarro version of herself, coming in as Mayim Bialik but a very broad, and I would venture to say a psychotic, version of herself," Rauch told Parade.
Rauch is not sure when the Blossom alum's episode will air, but she promises a memorable turn from the actress when it does. “She’s so wonderful on it, she did such a great job," Rauch said.
"When I called to see if she’d be up for doing [the part] she was like, ‘Absolutely. Put me in however you want, whatever direction you want to take it in, make me as crazy as you want,'" Rauch continued. "I can’t wait for people to see it. It was also really cool because it was a nice reunion for her and John [Larroquette, who reprises his role as Dan Fielding in the Night Court reboot], because she played John’s daughter years ago on The John Larroquette Show, so he was very excited to have her back as well. It was really special to get to be reunited with my old buddy.”
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After years spent portraying Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the iconic Big Bang, Rauch launched a reboot of Night Court, which originally aired from 1984 to 1992, in 2023. She plays Judge Abby Stone, the daughter of the flagship sitcom’s Judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson, who died in 2018). Like her father, Abby presides over New York’s Criminal Court’s night shift, where all kinds of weird, touching and hilarious cases unfold.
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So what else can fans expect from the upcoming season? “We start Season 3 coming back on a cliffhanger that ended Season 2," Rauch told Parade. "So we’ll find out in the first two episodes the reveal of that cliffhanger, which is, 'Is Dan the father to Jake, who’s Abby’s boyfriend?'"
Fans can also look forward to the return of several guest stars, including Young Sheldon actress Wendie Malick, who will join as a series regular, playing the show's new prosecutor. "She was in the first two seasons as a guest star and every time she was [on set], there was such an electricity in the air with her performance and her chemistry with everyone," Rauch shared. "We’re just over the moon to get to have her now as a permanent fixture of the Night Court family."
Another guest actor whose spot-on performance won him more screen time on the series? Ryan Hansen, who plays Jake.
"He was only supposed to come in as a one-time guest star on an episode in Season 2, where Abby is crushing on the HR rep, and he was so fantastic that everyone was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, we have to continue this relationship,’ Rauch said. "We all just wanted more and more of him. He’s so funny and talented."
Speaking of funny and talented: Sitcom stalwart Julia Duffy (Newhart, Designing Women), who joined the show at the end of Season 2, will also return for Season 3. "I was such a huge fan of hers growing up," Rauch said. "I loved her so much on Newhart and when were talking about who to cast as Jake’s mom, it was just such a no-brainer to bring her in."
“I constantly feel like I’m living my childhood fantasies of getting to work with all these people," Rauch continued. "If you would have told me in the ‘90s that I’d get to work with John and Wendie and Julia Duffy, I would have wanted to fast forward my life. It is nothing short of a dream come true to get to work with these comedy legends."
Related: The Cast of the Original Night Court Then and Now
Rauch has also developed genuine friendships with her legendary cast-mates, saying of her rapport with Larroquette in particular, "There is this Abby and Dan surrogate father/daughter relationship that has been built into the structure of this incarnation of the show, and there’s sort of a meta element to it because as Dan and Abby’s relationship has grown on the series, John and I, off-camera, have become so close. He is totally family to me at this point. Whenever we have scenes together, it makes my heart so happy.”
Night Court Season 3 premieres Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
