Best movies & TV Shows like Night Court

A young woman marries against her father's will, but the happy life she expected turns into a series of tragedies.

A corrupt night court judge tears an innocent young family apart in his efforts to elude a special prosecutor.

A man is put on trial for the murder of his best friend. A young attorney wants to become successful and decides to defend him. However, he is very inexperienced.

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

When a hard-working single mother, Sara Diaz, has her children taken from her after she is suspected of injuring her son, Ally Fisher, a recent law school graduate, is assigned to represent her case before Judge Martha Schulman, a veteran of the Family Court System.

After he calls 911 to report his wife's accident, successful novelist and aspiring politician Michael Peterson (Williams) becomes the prime suspect in her alleged murder.

After his young son dies from the negligence at a hospital, Harry Fertig takes matters into his own hands and kills the doctors responsible. Slick lawyer Roy Bleakie, looking only to win a case and not caring of the matters involved, is assigned Fertig's case. Shocked to hear that his client wants to plead guilty, the case causes Bleakie to question his own morals by defending an honorable man.

For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.

A newly-appointed Supreme Court Justice must settle a controversial moral and legal dilemma with his tie-breaking decision which may also have serious implications on his own family's harmony.

After the horrific death of his wife and two sons, suicide seems to be the only escape for small town attorney Kent "Mac" McClain... until he's assigned a capital punishment case that begins to transform his life and those around him forever.

Bitter over their divorce, a wealthy businessman prevents his ex-wife from seeing their child. She then takes him to custody court and a judge tries to determine what will be best for the child.

An actor plots "the perfect crime" by confessing to murders he didn't commit.

Drama (and prospective pilot) about the lives of three women who work in the New York City DA's office: one a brilliant prosecutor of high-profile cases whose husband is shot and killed in an armed robbery; a second, her tough, bitter, chain-smoking, boozing, wheelchair-bound former mentor; a third, a Latina who is an ambitious legal intern.

Apprentice lawyer Robin Weathers turns a civil suit into a headline grabbing charade. He must reexamine his scruples after his shenanigans win him a promotion in his firm, and he must now defend a college professor who is appearantly guilty of murder.

There is no question that the Arab terrorist portrayed by Robert Davi is guilty of killing five US citizens in Barcelona. Even his lawyers have zero respect for the rabidly sociopathic Davi. But Jewish defence attorney Ron Leibman is obsessed with the concept of Due Process, and has vowed that Davi will receive a scrupulously fair trial when the terrorist is extradited to America. The defence mounted by Leibman confounds and aggravates government prosecutor Sam Waterston--but he, like Leibman, remains a man of judiciary integrity.

When Jack, an assistant District Attorney, takes Lee, a shoplifter caught in the act, home with him for Christmas, the unexpected happens and love blossoms.

Nora Mason becomes entangled in a family mix-up of murder and scandal that threatens to ruin her career and entire future; Unless the mother she does not know can find a way to save her.

When the owner of the fictional NASCAR Bobby Spencer Racing team steps down and passes the team off to his daughter Catherine, the crew chief has to protect himself and his crew from her attempts to modernize.

Ten years after signing off of one of TV's most iconic shows, Carly, Spencer, and Freddie are back, navigating the next chapter of their lives, facing the uncertainties of life in their twenties.

Young parents Dave and Rebecca are ready to reclaim their lives after years of diapers and sleepless nights. However, things take an unexpected turn when Dave's parents show up unannounced and broke.

Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by retired Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show features Sheindlin adjudicating real-life small claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set. All parties involved must sign contracts, agreeing to arbitration under Sheindlin. The series is in first-run syndication and distributed by CBS Television Distribution. Judge Judy, which premiered on September 16, 1996, reportedly revitalized the court show genre. Only two other arbitration-based reality court shows preceded it, The People's Court and Jones and Jury. Sheindlin has been credited with introducing the "tough" adjudicating approach into the judicial genre, which has led to several imitators. The two court shows that outnumber Judge Judy's seasons, The People's Court and Divorce Court, have both lasted via multiple lives of production and shifting arbiters, making Sheindlin's span as a television arbiter the longest.

L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.

Mr. Belvedere takes a job as a housekeeper with an American family headed by George Owens.

Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone. It was created by comedy writer Reinhold Weege, who had previously worked on Barney Miller in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Felix and Oscar are two divorced men. Felix is neat and tidy while Oscar is sloppy and casual. They share a Manhattan apartment, and their different lifestyles inevitably lead to conflicts.

A sportscaster becomes a full-time dad when his ex-wife decides to accept a job out of the country and his teenage daughter, Breanna, moves in with him.

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.

A provocative legal drama focused on young associates at a bare-bones Boston firm and their scrappy boss, Bobby Donnell. The show's forte is its storylines about “people who walk a moral tightrope.”

In the high-tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success. Partially inspired by Mike Judge’s own experiences as a Silicon Valley engineer in the late ‘80s, Silicon Valley is an American sitcom that centers around six programmers who are living together and trying to make it big in the Silicon Valley.

Workaholic Mike Flaherty is the Deputy Mayor of New York City, serving as Mayor Randall Winston's key strategist and much-needed handler. Mike runs the city with the help of his oddball staff: an anxious and insecure press secretary; a sexist, boorish chief of staff; an impeccably groomed gay activist running minority affairs; a sharp and efficient, man-crazy accountant; and an idealistic young speechwriter. Like Mike, they are all professionally capable but personally challenged.

The People's Court is an American arbitration-based reality court show currently presided over by retired Florida State Circuit Court Judge Marilyn Milian. Milian, the show's longest-reigning arbiter, handles small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. The People's Court is the first court show to use binding arbitration, introducing the format into the genre in 1981. The system has been duplicated by most of the show's successors in the judicial genre. Moreover, The People's Court is the first popular, long-running reality in the judicial genre. It was preceded only by a few short-lived realities in the genre; these short-lived predecessors were only loosely related to judicial proceedings, except for one: Parole took footage from real-life courtrooms holding legal proceedings. Prior to The People's Court, the vast majority of TV courtroom shows used actors, and recreated or fictional cases. Among examples of these types of court shows include Famous Jury Trials and Your Witness. The People's Court has had two contrasting lives. The show's first life was presided over solely by former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Wapner. His tenure lasted from the show's debut on September 14, 1981, until May 21, 1993, when the show was cancelled due to low ratings. This left the show with a total of 2,484 ½-hour episodes and 12 seasons. The show was taped in Los Angeles during its first life. After being cancelled, reruns aired until September 9, 1994.

Head of the Class is an American sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network. The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program at the fictional Monroe High School in Manhattan, and their history teacher Charlie Moore. The program was ostensibly a vehicle for Hesseman, best known for his role as radio DJ Dr. Johnny Fever in the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Hesseman left Head of the Class in 1990 and was replaced by Billy Connolly as teacher Billy MacGregor for the final season. After the series ended, Connolly appeared in a short-lived spin-off titled Billy. The series was created and executive produced by Rich Eustis and Michael Elias. Rich Eustis had previously worked as a New York City substitute teacher while hoping to become an actor.

Marc, Louis and Gaétan work as doormen in a fictional nightclub called The Manhattan. The new owner wants to give the bar an upscale makeover and the three friends are stuck having to deal with this hip new work environment, with riveting consequences.

Payne is an American television series, patterned after the British program Fawlty Towers. It starred American actor John Larroquette, who portrayed assistant district attorney Dan Fielding on the American television program Night Court. Larroquette was also an executive producer for the series. Payne was a mid-season replacement on CBS and aired in March and April 1999. The show also starred JoBeth Williams, Julie Benz and Rick Batalla. Despite fairly positive reception, and receiving the blessing of John Cleese, who agreed to take a recurring role if the show was renewed, Payne was quickly cancelled. Nine episodes were filmed; eight were aired. The show is not available on DVD.

A.U.S.A. is an American sitcom television series that aired in 2003 on NBC, starring Scott Foley.

As District Attorney Kathryn Peale and defense attorney Jimmy Nolan rally their teams around their arguments and prepare to go head-to-head in the the courtroom, they make frantic moves and countermoves of complex legal wrangling to tilt justice in their favor.

James "Jimmy" Chance is a clueless 24-year-old who impregnates a serial killer during a one-night-stand. Earning custody of his daughter after the mother is sentenced to death, Jimmy relies on his oddball but well-intentioned family for support in raising the child.

How certain people end up being accused of a crime.

A panel of three judges hear court cases, argue the merits of the case amongst themselves, and render a verdict.

Judge Mills Lane is an American television series and arbitration-based reality court show that ran in first-run syndication from August 17, 1998 to September 7, 2001. Reruns later aired on The National Network. The show was produced by John Tomlin and Bob Young for Hurricane Entertainment Corporation, and distributed by Rysher Entertainment. The show's judge was Mills Lane. Mills Lane was previously a well-known professional boxing referee, as shown in the show's intro; "he's been a boxer, a lawyer, a prosecutor, and a referee." The intro also declared Lane to be "America's Judge." Lane uses his catchphrase "Let's get it on!" at the beginning of each case, and occasionally when someone states something that is either quite obvious or tried to deceive him, he usually states "I may have been born at night, but I wasn't born last night!"

Join Doug Benson as he presides over actual courtroom arguments. The catch? Judge Doug makes all his rulings while extremely high. After hearing both sides, Doug smokes up with a guest bailiff and deliberates. (And yes, this is legal. Somehow.)

Chrissy Teigen reigns supreme as the “judge” over small claims cases. The plaintiffs, defendants, and disputes are real, as Chrissy’s mom turned “bailiff,” Pepper Thai, maintains order in the courtroom.

Murder, mystery, and a search for justice. A compelling insight into the work of the police and prosecutors bringing suspects to trial at Glasgow’s High Court.

Teacher Alicia Adams wants her group of overachieving high school students to focus less on grades and more on experiencing life.

CHAOS IN COURT examines clips of dramatic, unexpected, and cathartic courtroom moments. Each episode brings the backstories of the crimes and legal proceedings to the forefront with insightful analysis from a diverse panel of experts including judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and criminal psychologists. Featured within each episode are interviews with defendants, family members, and others who witnessed the action to help bring dramatic courtroom moments to life, and the emotional realities of what happens when the ultimate stakes are on trial.

Judge Mablean Ephriam, who presided over "Divorce Court" from 1999-2006 as the first star of the revived version of the show, returns to the courtroom genre with his half-hour series that deals with life and the law. The former Los Angeles-based prosecutor takes on the typical cases that are found on TV court shows. The arbitrator says that her show "will be life because everything we do, it involves the law."

The Honorable Judy Sheindlin, retired Judge of the Manhattan family Court, brings her signature blend of sharp wit and wisdom, hilarious candor and unwavering honesty that has made her America’s favorite judge for over 25 years, as she presides over real cases, arbitrates binding decisions and delivers what only she can: “Judy Justice.”

When Hulu reboots an early 2000s family sitcom, its dysfunctional cast is forced back together and now must deal with their unresolved issues in today’s fast-changing world.

Court Night Live brings live trials to the people as civil court cases from across the country are litigated from courtrooms in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Tampa.

Follow Frasier Crane in the next chapter of his life as he returns to Boston, Mass., with new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and an old dream or two to finally fulfill.