| "All You Need Is Love" | |
|---|---|
| Season 1, Episode 1 #1 in series (193 episodes) | |
 New Manhanttan Court Judge Harry Stone in his first night on the job in "All You Need is Love" (ep.#1). | |
| Series: | Night Court |
| Network/Country: | NBC-TV / United States |
| Air date | January 4, 1984 |
| Production code | 206719 |
| Written by: | Reinhold Weege |
| Directed by: | James Burrows |
| Guest stars: | Joseph V. Perry Peggy McCay Rita Taggart Gail Strickland Andrew Bloch Matt Landers Cal Gibson |
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All You Need Is Love |
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All You Need Is Love was the pilot episode of Night Court. Written by series creator and executive producer Reinhold Weege, the episode was directed y James Burrows, known for his production work on the ABC-TV/NBC-TV sitcom Taxi. The episode, which aired on NBC-TV, premiered in midseason of the 1983-84 TV season, as a replacement series on January 4, 1984.
| "All You Need Is Love" | ||
|---|---|---|
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Synopsis[]
The staff of a Manhattan arraignment court is surprised by the arrival of a maverick young judge named Harry Stone; his first ruling, that a feuding couple should go to dinner with the attorneys, results in a fight breaking out that injures Dan.
Plot Summary[]
As the youngest judge appointed to the court, Judge Harold T. Stone's first case in night court becomes fiery while settling and argument with a woman, her husband and her gun. As Harry is able to persuade the bickering couple to have lunch with the attorneys Dan Fielding, the Assistant District Attorney, and the Public Defender, Sheila Gardiner (Gail Strickland), the two get in a big fight there in the cafeteria, where both lawyers get entangled, and then subsequently roughed up trying to stop the scuffle, and where Dan's shirt was ripped right off of his back, while in his suit!
As both the attorneys and the court clerk, Lana Wagner (Karen Austin) question the qualifications of the youthful looking Judge Stone, one who keeps his office filled with gag joke gifts (such as the can of fuzzy worms, which explodes open, frightening a startled Lana!), and one who appears in a pair of jeans, they are won over when he is able to do what they couldn't do -- get the warring couple to drop their charges against each other and reconcile.
Even after all this, Dan still has one question for Harry: How did him get appointed to the bench? Harry then laments the "funny" story of the previous mayor's last day in office. He needed to fill all judicial openings or the new mayor would instead. They called down the list of candidates, but it was Sunday so no one was home. At the bottom of the list was Harry's name and he was appointed, as he put it, because "I was home."
After the session, Karen comes into the courtroom and Harry tells her that he owns every album Mel Tormé ever made. Karen exclaims to Harry how amazing it was what he did for the couple. She also asks about keeping her job, to which Harry asks back for her to give him another chance.
Cast (in credits order)[]
Starring[]
- Harry Anderson as Harold T. Stone
- Karen Austin as Lana Wagner
- John Larroquette as Dan Fielding
- Gail Strickland as Sheila Gardiner (one time, in pilot only)
- Richard Moll as Bull Shannon
- Selma Diamond as Selma Hacker
Guest stars/Recurring characters/cast[]
- Joseph V. Perry as Phil Kerr (as Joseph Perry)
- Rita Taggart as Carla Bouvier
- Peggy McCay as Louise Kerr
- Luke Andreas as Painter
- Andrew Bloch as Leonard "Hacksaw" Hammond
- Matt Landers as Delivery Man
- Cal Gibson as Man in Courtroom #1
- Charlotte Portney as Court Stenographer (uncredited)
Trivia[]
- As Harry Stone walks near the "jury box/waiting area", you can see the boom mic a couple of times.
- The title of this episode alludes to The Beatles' song of the same name.
- The scene where Bull says “I don’t know what the Hell’s going on,” was used as Richard Moll’s opening screenshot for this season and the 2nd season.
- This episode along with other episodes this season had a 1983 copyright date.
- There’s certain things different from this episode. When Harold T. Stone says “Well frankly, I just don’t know,” in the opening screenshot, he’s just moving his hands as he’s talking and holding his gavel. In the actual episode he puts his feet up on the bench and says the line. Karen Austin poses for the camera as part of her opening screenshot, which is not in the actual episode. Also in this episode, John Laroquette can be seen sitting on the couch in the judges’ chambers smoking a pipe which is also not in the actual episode and is used from this season to season 5. In this episode only, Gail Strickland has an opening shot, which is also not seen in the actual episode. Selma Diamond’s opening screenshot was used from this season to the second season.