[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Night Court Season 1 Episode 7, “Blood Moon Binga.”
Faith Ford returned to sitcoms in Season 1 Episode 7 of Night Court as Abby Stone’s (Melissa Rauch) mom, Gina. And seeing the Murphy Brown alum back on a multi-cam with another legend of the style, John Larroquette, was a treat for sitcom lovers.
Gina came to New York City to visit her daughter at work. But when she arrived at the courthouse, a mysterious history between Gina and Dan Fielding. It wasn’t a sexual history like Lacretta‘s Gurgs predicted, but instead Gina had a criminal past that she and her late husband, Harry Stone (Harry Anderson), kept secret from their daughter.
For years, Gina ran an illegal poker game and was represented by Dan in Harry’s night court. The two eventually connected and fell in love, but Abby (real name Abracadabra Stone) was told a much different story.
Here, Ford breaks down her guest spot on the NBC reboot to TV Insider, plus stories about the original Murphy Brown and the shows she’s currently watching.
I am delighted by this Night Court reboot.
Faith Ford: Isn’t it adorable? First off, I did not know Melissa before. I watched some of her work [ahead of filming], and I thought she was adorable, but she far exceeded all my expectations. She’s so smart and just compact in her meaty, mighty body. [laughs]. There’s something about these Jersey girls, you know? Kelly [Ripa’s] is a Jersey girl that I worked with [on Hope & Faith]. I really am simpatico with them. Yeah. I loved Kelly, working with her, and now I love Melissa. Melissa is the sweetest heart. She’s so smart, so conscientious, so in charge, but yet. Remembering all that she has to remember, I’m just impressed by her as a producer, and the way she works with John has been incredible. And, you know, John’s a maestro at what he does.
We had worked together before. He was part of the reboot of Murphy Brown, and then I did a movie with him — Beethoven 5, I believe, years ago. And so I’ve just sort of known his work. He’s a fellow Louisianan, and so that’s been just fun. I come down here to Louisiana, they’re like, “Night Court! You and Larroquette! Excellent.” So it’s a good thing.
Jordin Althaus/NBC
That’s so fun to hear. I wanted to ask you about sharing the screen with John Larroquette again. So how was that for this episode? It looked like you guys were having a blast.
He’s a total pro, and yet he’s great with young people. He’s not like a curmudgeon or anything. He’s totally game. He’s got a young spirit, John does, and he loves to play. And I’ve seen him on stage. He’s worked with Candace [Bergen, of Murphy Brown] on stage. I know he likes to work, and I know he has a great command of his voice and comedy. But he just has a great heart in this. I hadn’t seen that in him before in his work. And the part that is most refreshing to me is that he’s letting that be there with her. I think he just likes her like I do. So it feels like if he’s like the father figure, it makes my mother figure have her real strong purpose as well, even though I’m slightly flawed, which I love.
Were you a fan of the original Night Court?
To be honest with you, at that time of my life, I was at the height of auditioning for everything that was my age range. I’d gone from New York to Los Angeles, and I tried to watch as much as I could. I knew Night Court, and I think April Webster called me in a few times for different things because they had a lot of guest stars, but I had to watch the things that I was most likely to be cast in. That was your job as a young actor, and it was not really watching for your favorite shows anymore. It became all about being ready if you had an audition.
I think back on that, and I know that they were still shooting there when we started Murphy Brown because all the stuff that ended up being our dressing rooms were their dressing rooms and stuff like that, so it was kind of interesting. It was all at Warner Brothers. I just remember Night Court was definitely an institution there, and we had so much respect for it. I always knew that it was a great acting company. That would be like when they were shooting Hurly Burly and Real Thing at the same time — we were so close to each other, but we all had to stay on our game, you know? [Night Court and Murphy Brown were on] a different network, so there was never competition necessarily going on. It was more like, “Yeah, they’re doing this this week. But they had been around for a while when Murphy Brown started, I remember.
That’s funny you say that because I have a similar experience in my line of work. During the week, I watch shows I’m covering for work. On the weekends, I watch for myself.
So you get what I’m saying. It’s like if you are focusing on comedy, the last thing you’re gonna do is watch comedy. You’re gonna watch a dark drama or a feature or something that’s gonna take you away from the world you’re normally doing. I love it all. I love watching actors do what they do. It’s been interesting because, through Covid, we all had a break, right? So I was watching with a totally different perspective. I was going, “Wow, they’re so brave” [to be back at work during the pandemic].
For me, I watched a lot more then, because I was watching through a different lens. I was like, “Wow, they’re really out there. They’re doing it.” It’s great. It’s wonderful.
What were you watching?
We have a tendency to watch a lot of documentary style, but I was trying to watch my friends on little things that they were doing here and there.
My sister was saying, “You have to watch…” you know, what’s the one Kevin Costner is on?
Yellowstone?
Yeah! I was like, “You watch it for me, and then I’m gonna crash it, and I’ll eventually watch everything.” I did watch The Morning Show. The Morning Show was one of my things because it kind of made me feel like I was watching the film version of Murphy Brown. It was behind the scenes, it was a fresh take on everything that we would’ve done, more in-depth, like the dark side of everything. I still am watching it. I got hooked on that.
Jordin Althaus/NBC
So did it feel good coming onto Night Court for this guest spot?
Oh my gosh, so, so great. I love all work, but to be honest with you, the fact that you’re doing the beginning and the middle and the end every week, and it’s a new show the next week, for me, it’s hard to describe how much it clicks in. It’s like riding a bike, but yet it’s really fun because it goes really fast, all of a sudden it’s over, you’re still juiced up, and you have to go somewhere and have something to eat after [laughs].
Pamela Fryman directed us … so that was great because she’d done Murphy Brown, the reboot. She was fantastic to have. That also helped with it feeling like home, you know? It was actually refreshing, fun, and wonderful and a really great way to come back into it after such a hard time that everyone’s been through. It helped me think about hope for the future. There was some really great touching moments in it, too, which is important, letting there not be laughs sometimes … I like coming right out of a really tender moment with a card trick. Fantastic.
Since you’re playing Abby’s mom in this, is there a possibility you’ll come back for more episodes?
Well, you know what, I’ll tell you one thing, I absolutely hope so. Everything is based on how it’s received. If I had to judge it by what people here in Louisiana think, yes! [Laughs]. But who knows about the world out there? So let’s hope everybody likes it, and they like what we felt, and it comes across to them, and then maybe they’ll wanna see more. That’s how I see it.
I do! I loved you and Melissa as a mother-daughter pair, and you and Larroquette together are especially fun.
Oh, John, there’s already conflict there, which I love. Conflict is my favorite. Gimme more of that. Let me just tell you something [about] John: we can go there. And the fact that his character’s from Louisiana, even though my character isn’t, I can spar with him any day.
Night Court, Tuesdays, 8/7c, NBC
