I just found myself watching the show around a week ago. And ever since I've wondered what had happened to Karen Austin. I felt with the very few hours I had watching the show that she was a great piece to the starring cast. Thank you for the info
I remember her playing "Jennifer" on Three's Company in 1980 as a potential 3rd roommate to replace Chrissy, then later in 1982 as Jack Tripper's fiance, "Denise". Gorgeous Lady !!! ❤❤❤❤❤
One of the crew people on Night Court also said that Karen Austin and Harry Anderson didn't get along very well and both apparently got into a heated argument once, which may have been another factor in her leaving.
I just watched an interview from 6 years ago with Karen Austin and she said she asked to leave but producers wouldn’t let her out of her contract until she came down with Bell’s Palsy and the producers said she could leave so that’s probably why she didn’t come back for season 2
I remember Karen Austin from working with her as a Universal City Studios Tour Guide back in the summer of 1977... we also had Kirk Douglas' son Eric and other celebrities kids being guides. I went on to a 40 year career in HOLLYWOOD both as a writer and studio historian. But I do remember Karen was a good guide and passionate about acting even then!
What I remember about Karen is that sexy, seductive smile and those hauntingly beautiful blue eyes. If I was in Harry’s shoes, no court business would have ever gotten done...and the fact that Karen is from West Virginia is a definite bonus. I’m glad to hear She is doing well.
I loved her long wavy / curly hair, it was so pretty. The episode where she had a bad reaction to medication was a strange episode, with her hanging off of the bookcase.
@@stephensundstrom6379 Yeah from what I remember John Larroquette played a divorced father who helped Karen Austin’s character family by paying for them to go into the movies their oldest kids developed a crush on each other.
I wondered if the show was cursed for a while there. Karen Austin left, then I believe another actress came on before Markie post took the job and stayed. And then the first two older women bailiffs died.😮
I just know that among the movie industry such comedies rate "among the low brain entertainment". So I guess many actors playing there had feared to be put in one corner. Not to me some of the finest actors had started that way on the road to greatnes. And to CHEERS, after watching a coupe of episodes I liked that one too. Basically at first not, going into a bar is not my way of life. Who for example knows that the German actor GERT FRÖBE ( known to the English speakers best by his role in GOLDFINGER ) had started out his acting carrier past World War II as a stage comedian. Before the War the young Fröbe had a full stipendium for a Performing Arts Major he could not afford financiaqlly so he did a full training as a stage craftsman and manager instead. But still to his life´s he privatly kept on privatly doing paintings and social cartoons If you know German you might like to read his autobiography he had published
This is lifted square from TV Tropes (in the trivia section for the page on "Night Court") so take this with a grain of salt: Bob Perlow, the show’s warm-up guy, has offered a very different explanation for Karen Austin’s departure than the “official” Bell’s Palsy story. Perlow claims Austin was very difficult to work with during her brief stint on the show, allegedly jealous over Harry Anderson having a larger and funnier role. Ultimately, Austin’s anger caused her to physically attack Anderson, stabbing him with a pencil and throwing hot coffee in his face. Though Perlow did not witness this event, those who did told him security had to drag her out kicking and screaming. Needless to say, she never came back.
I agree with you re: show biz and health issues. One of the nastiest ones was when Cosby took Lisa Bonet’s show away from her because she got pregnant-by her husband! Talk about a control freak!
with lisa bonet she didn't want to be a rule follower or even "fame" by other peoples terms.if you google lisa bonet thoughts about bill cosby she claims she had bad vibes even though he never attempted anything inappropriate towards her . if you notice vanessa, malcolm jamal warner and phylicia rashad have never said anything against cosby because they kept with their education and their families helped keep them grounded .
@@stephensundstrom6379 Lisa Bonet was on "A Different World" when she got fired for getting pregnant by her then-husband, Lenny Kravitz, even though the show could have covered up her pregnancy if they really wanted to (like Phylicia Rashad's pregnancy was hidden on "The Cosby Show," even though people could still kind of tell that she was pregnant).
According to info I've seen, the producers didn't think she had ri,antic chemistry with Harry. The felt they were more like brother and sister and that didn't work for the romantic tension they were looking for. Plus, Markie had been the first choice even before Karen but couldn't commit due to previous commitments.
Karen Austin was the absolute best. For her to be let go for something she couldn't help. I have Bell's Palsy and it's actually not a lifetime condition. I loved everything about her, her different expressions and just her presence made me want to watch the show. The other actors should have stood with her and demanded that she stay. I still look for the episodes with her and I'll watch them over and over.
@@stephensundstrom6379 It was the episode where she was a wealthy woman/had a rich father, and she wanted to change Jack (didn't want him to be a chef) so he would be "suitable" enough to marry. Janet and Terri didn't approve of the woman.
2:37 - She can also be heard singing on the Clash's 1980 hit "hitsville UK". Foley was dating Mick Jones at the time. (The Clash backed her- and wrote most of - her 1981 solo LP "Spirit of St. Louis".)
I have seen mostly the episodes with Markie Post. I could not stop laughing listening to her verbal fencing with Mr. Larroquette. Mr. Larrocette was also great on THE LIBRARIANS.
1:44 - The studio bigbrass caring more about profits & rating more than an actors health is NOTHING new! In 1945 Curly Howard of the Stooges needed time off for health issues but the bigshots at Colombia refused. (If you watch a Three Stooges short from 1946 you can see how unhealthy Curly is- in one of those films Larry Fine became the "star" Stooge!) It can to a head on the set of "Half-Wits Holiday" (1947) where Curly had a crippling stroke on the set! He never returned to work.
Wow...I had never heard about that story regarding the 3 Stooges. I did know that a similar thing happendd with James Garner when filming Rockford Files.
NIGHT COURT I have loved this show. In German it was called ANDYS WUNDERSAMES STRAFGERICHT, ( ANDY´s WILD Municipal Court if you translate it backwards by meaning ) And if you watched careffully you could see there many people nowdays known as top stars.
@@stephensundstrom6379 Fun Fact; decades ago there was a TV series on that had been called KÖNIGLICH BAYRISCHES AMTSGERICHT, almost like this one just to the Bavarian taste For example on YouTubv: KÖNIGLICH BAYRISCHES AMTSGERICHT, complete episodes in German, put on the Net by HerrBezirksrat. ( maybe not for long since by EU law presenting complete episcdes is a grey zone as long as no Rights Owner protests the public viewing. on RU-vid. My generation in the late Sixties was growing up with it. Maybe fun for someone with some German knowledge. Thought I mention it because your audience is clearly experienced and skilled in commen knowledge and foreign languages.
This was actually the second attempt at this concept for a show. In the mid-70s, a show called Sirota’s Court aired for half a season. It starred Michael Constantine and also of note was the late Fred Willard playing the prosecutor character that later became Dan Fielding. Sirota even had the mild romance thing going with his clerk, just like the first season of Night Court. Though Night Court had a completely different production team, they both aired on NBC. I remember seeing it originally, but not much about it because it disappeared so quickly. Its pilot ep was rerun not long ago on Antenna or MEtv, or someplace like that and I saw it again. I also remember Constantine promoting the show on Johnny Carson as I was a regular Tonight Show viewer back then. Thanks for these nostalgic retrospectives. You and Dave are great at this!
Ahoy S.S.! I almost feel like Karen Austin got the last laugh, she got to work with John Candy 🍬! Good thorough research work S.S.! Boy, that Thursday night 🌙 line-up was a POWERHOUSE!! Night Court was my favorite, with Cheers 🍻 coming in a close second. I always thought of Night Court being Barney Miller in the courtroom! I think Barney Miller would be right up your alley 🎳 S.S.! See 👀 it soon?!📺🇺🇸
Out of all the shows to reboot, Night Court was the absolute worst choice!! The original show was gut busting funny! Knowing you can't tell those jokes anymore because of woke culture, the reboot is is beyond boring. Not to mention, 98% of the cast has passed. They should have made a reunion show 20 years ago while they were all still here but Richard Mull told TMZ that would NEVER happen. How sad that it didn't. 😢
I had never heard that before, but there is some info out there that validates that might have been true. Thanks for sharing your comments and for watching my video!
I actually was struggling with a bit of insomnia last night, so I did listen to the first 20 minutes or so. Thoroughly enjoyed hearing your take on WandaVision, as I plan on watching that and had heard mixed reviews. Thanks again for the shout-out to my channel. I'm still trying to grow subscriber base, so every shout-out helps. By the way, I subscribed to your channel as well. Keep up the good work!
In that episode, she had took some medication for a headache or something and it had some adverse side effects on her. Lana was singing out loud, making out with Harry and then crying hysterically.
@@derekclancy6916 She had taken medication for a virus (the show never said what the virus was) and she had a bad reaction. That was a case of over-acting, in my opinion. Very over-done....
Markie died, in case you didn't know. I didn't like her, she was too whiney in that role. She should have kicked Dan in the knee for all his filthy comments regarding her role as Christine.
No disrespect to Karen Austin but if she hadn't left it 's unlikely Charles Robinson and Markie Post would've joined. And they were WAY funnier than Austin.
