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NBC shows used to have the best theme songs. There was Family Ties, Cheers, Frasier and Punky Brewster with lyrics. The Night Court theme song was all instrumental, but it was equally memorable. In a modern TV landscape where shows don’t have theme songs anymore, the Night Court revival wasn’t going to do away with its iconic theme. 

'Night Court': John Larroquette approaches Melissa Rauch on the bench
L-R: Melissa Rauch, John Larroquette, and India de Beaufort | Jordin Althaus/NBC/Warner Bros. Television

Night Court star and Executive Producer Melissa Rauch spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Jan. 15. She explained how the new rendition of the Night Court theme came to be and just how much of it you’ll hear. Night Court airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.

Melissa Rauch has the ‘Night Court’ theme song stuck in her head 

The Night Court theme song begins with that bass line. After the intro, the saxophone kicks in with the melody. Now that we’ve reminded you, you’ll probably hear the Night Court theme in your head for the rest of the day. Certainly watching the screeners got it stuck in ours, but at least we’re in good company. Rauch said she can’t shake the Night Court theme song either. 

“At all times,” Rauch said. “I might as well wake up to it in the morning and have it just start my day and have it be playing all throughout the day. It’s been in my head for a few years now, really ever since we started talking about the idea.”

John Larroquette’s son revamped the ‘Night Court’ theme song 

The original Night Court ran from 1984 – 1992. 30 years later, fans will still recognize the same baseline and melody, but it has a 2023 twist. That is all thanks to the son of John Larroquette, who returns as Dan Fielding in the new show. 

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“But then we were lucky enough to have Ben Larroquette, John’s incredible brilliant musician son, do the revamped theme song for us,” Rauch said. “It sort of launched us into this process because it was something that John shared with us early on. It just pumped us all up and made us so excited about the potential of this one day being on the air.”

10 seconds is still enough to implant the earworm

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, the Night Court theme song could play out while it introduced every cast member. Today’s Night Court doesn’t have that kind of time. Larroquette managed to capture the intro and chorus within 10 seconds, and each of the cast members gets an on screen introduction during it. 

In the ‘80s, sitcoms could count on at least 24 minutes of their half hour. These days, networks sell 8-10 minutes of ads, reducing the actual show time. Despite TV’s preference to forego theme songs because they can’t spare it in the plot, Rauch said NBC supported including some form of the Night Court theme song.

“I think everyone was really on board knowing how iconic that song is, that everyone was just stoked to make sure it was a part of this revival,” Rauch said.

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