Spoilers ahead for the January 23 episode of Night Court, called “Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change.”
Night Court continued its trend of bringing in standout guest stars with “Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change,” with Black Monday’s Paul Scheer and Goosebumps’ Rob Huebel playing ambulance-chasing lawyers who get wrapped up in a love triangle with Olivia, with Abby along for the ride. Scheer spoke with CinemaBlend about playing a Better Call Saul-esque lawyer for a Casablanca ending in the 2024 TV schedule, and his idea for a spinoff is one I’m on board with after this episode.
Scheer’s arrival on Night Court reunited him with The Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch, after the two played spouses on Showtime’s Black Monday. He played Carnes in the sitcom, a.k.a. half of the Pellino & Carnes Personal Injury Firm. While Olivia originally had eyes for Pellino (Rob Huebel), sparks started to fly between her and Carnes. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, as not even Olivia could come in between Pellino and Carnes.
When I spoke with Paul Scheer about his role on Night Court, I had to admit I enjoyed that the real love story in this episode was between Pellino and Carnes, rather than involving Olivia or Abby. Scheer responded:
It's such a funny [twist]. I think one of the fun things about the show is the fact that we get to come on as these Better Call Saul kind of ambulance-chasing lawyers. You look at us and you make an assumption about what we are and what we do, and the way that they figured out this love triangle was so funny to me. I love the way the episode ends because it really is – not to make it sound too bold or grand – it has a Casablanca kind of ending. It's like, we want to be together but we know we can't.
How many shows can combine elements of AMC’s Better Call Saul (streaming via Netflix subscription) and the classic film Casablanca (available streaming with a Max subscription) for a love story in under half an hour? Of course, the end of the episode wasn’t the beginning of a beautiful friendship for Pellino and Carnes, but the continuation. Scheer went on to share what surprised him about playing Carnes:
What I was really surprised at in this episode was that yes, we are slimy ambulance chasing lawyers, the ones that you're familiar with the radio ads and TV ads, wherever you live. And beneath it all, we are partners through and through. I didn't realize that there was gonna be such a love story between our own characters as well as some of the characters on Night Court.
Abby may not be fully ready to move on from Rand and Olivia may not have found the perfect combination of law and love just yet, but Pellino and Carnes got to walk off into the figurative sunset together. As Carnes said, he and his partner are already bonded by a jingle, four shell corporations, and an ampersand.
Their story didn’t necessarily seem finished by the time the final credits rolled, and the two ambulance-chasing lawyers felt like they could have stepped off the Night Court set and onto their own show. Scheer commented on the idea of a separate show, saying:
Look, I literally said, 'Guys, we need to take Pellino and Carnes and we need that as the next multi-cam. Let's have some spinoffs. We gotta go back.' We're going back to multi-cams, let's go back to spinoffs. I'm down for it... Let's do it. I don't think Night Court's ever actually launched a spinoff. So let's start.
Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel already have plenty of experience working together, so why not a spinoff? Sign me up! The two started out in the industry at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York and went on to co-create the MTV sketch comedy show Human Giant together. They still collaborate to this day, and I for one had fun with Pellino and Carnes, jingle and all. When asked if he and Huebel came up with the cadence for the jingle themselves, Scheer shared:
I think so. We did that in the table read, but I think that we both based it on this popular Los Angeles injury attorney. That's how I heard it and that's how Rob heard it, and I've talked to people who live in LA and they're like, 'Oh, yeah, that's who we based it on.' I think it was just in our hearts and brains.
Whether or not the two actors ever get a spinoff remains to be seen, but it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that Carnes and Pellino could have reason to show up in Abby’s court again. They certainly fit right in! Scheer confirmed that he “would love to come back,” so perhaps it can happen.
Night Court has a knack for bringing in fun guest stars, ranging from figure skating legends Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir playing themselves to none other than original series actress Marsha Warfield reprising her role as Roz. You can revisit those episodes and every other of the reboot that has aired so far with a Peacock Premium subscription, and find new episodes of Night Court on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
