NIGHT COURT: Dan Rubin Previews the Return of the Wheelers and Melissa Fumero’s Guest Spot

NIGHT COURT is continuing to tap into its history in its second season, bringing back the original series’ forever doomed couple Bob and June Wheeler (portrayed by Brent Spiner and Annie O’Donnell) in an upcoming episode.

“First of all, we’re just thrilled to have them,” NIGHT COURT executive producer Dan Rubin tells Give Me My Remote. “We’ve been fans and we’ve been wanting to get them in at some point. We kept waiting for the right moment to do it. It seemed right for this particular episode because there is a strong tie to Harry Stone.”

The series has intentionally been more sporadic about referencing Abby’s (Melissa Rauch) father in its sophomore year, the EP explains. “The first season…it made sense, we were talking about him a lot,” he says. “Abby’s coming to the courthouse and it’s where her father worked, and he looms large here. And [there’s] the Dan Fielding of it all. Season 2 so far, we’ve been kind of more judicious about it, and it’s less present. But, knowing that we’re reaching the end of our run here [in season 2], we really wanted to do a nice episode where we talked about Harry a little more. And it felt like there was no better way than [with the] Wheelers to introduce this idea back.”

“It felt like a very organic way to start talking about Harry,” he continues. “And then it’s gonna build to a beautiful ending…[The Wheelers’] luck is just as bad as ever. And Dan Fielding, of course, is going to warn Abby to stay away from, but she’s not going to be able to resist—much like Harry.”

When the Wheelers return, “they are brought in as defendants,” Rubin confirms. “And then they will have something that Abby needs. And then, of course, we’re really also extra excited that Kate Micucci, who we love and is hilarious, is going to play Carol Anne Wheeler, all grown up. Her luck is, maybe, arguably, worse than her parents.”

NBC comedy fans will also spot a familiar face in an upcoming episode: Former BROOKLYN NINE-NINE star Melissa Fumero will also guest star in a season 2 installment.

“Melissa is going to play the head of the PTA at Wyatt’s kid’s school,” Rubin previews. “And she is arrested for setting up an illegal bake sale at the concourse in Madison Square Garden. And Wyatt is obviously concerned because he doesn’t want to get on her bad side. So from there, hilarity ensues because obviously…things snowball. But Melissa was hilarious. So, so funny.”

With a number of big-name guest stars appearing in the show—including Rauch’s former BIG BANG THEORY co-star Kunal Nayyar and the original NIGHT COURT’s Marsha Warfield—Rubin acknowledges they also want to make sure their use of known faces feels “special.”

“I think that what we did last year ending the season with Marsha, that big reveal, we held off on doing that until then, and it was so powerful,” he says. “And so you just want to make sure that the story is dictating; it’s the story you want to tell and that the casting makes sense in addition to the excitement of seeing people reunited…Those nods to the audience, which I love personally, just as a fan of TV. We’ll keep doing it.”

And TV fans will get another fun guest star on the Tuesday, February 20 episode: VERONICA MARS’ Ryan Hansen, who plays Jake, an HR rep, who immediately catches Abby’s eye. Watch their meet-cute in “Taught and Bothered” now!

NIGHT COURT, Tuesdays, 8/7c, NBC

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