Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch, Mayim Bialik Discuss ‘Night Court’ Reunion (Exclusive)

Amy and Bernadette have found their way back to each other.

Mayim Bialik is reunited with her The Big Bang Theory costar Melissa Rauch for an upcoming episode of NBC’s The night court Tuesday, January 14.

While Bialik guest stars as a heightened version of herself appearing as a defendant in the legal sitcom, Rauch’s character, Judge Abby Stone, is a super fan of Bialick’s until she realizes she’s being stalked. Fans will enjoy the jokes and innuendos about The Big Bang theory and FlowerBialik’s hit 90s sitcom.

Since NBC rebooted The night court in January 2023, Rauch tells PEOPLE “it’s been my dream for Mayim to be on the show.”

“I had sort of mentioned to her in conversation, ‘It would be so lovely if you came over and guest-starred at some point’. And she said, ‘Yeah, let me know’. Very supportive of course, but it was very relaxed ,’ she remembers.

Bialik insists it was more of a game of patience. “I never want to be presumptuous and assume that Melissa wants me on her show,” she explains. “But I was also a giant The night court hell, and so much of the crew that Melissa works with, I either know from Big Bang theory or from Call me Cat.”

“So I was just so excited about the idea that she would wear me,” Bialik continues. “I thought maybe I would do a scene or a little cameo. I didn’t know it would be like a full episode and I get to interact with all the cast, which was really fun.”

The story for the episode actually stemmed from Rauch’s real-life experience with Bialik. “When I first met Mayim, I struggled with the idea of ​​telling her I was a big one Flower hell growing up,” Rauch recalls.

Once the two joined Big Bang theory as regulars, Rauch admits “I was in this dilemma of, ‘Should I let her know now that I’m a super fan?’ I have pictures of me as Flower for Halloween as a kid I knew the whole dance.”

It was especially smart for Rauch to reveal his fan-girling because the two women shared a bathroom on set. “It was a very intimate situation, and I just thought, ‘If I don’t tell her now, and she finds out later that I’ve been hiding this secret this whole time, it might make it weirder,'” Rauch says. .” So we walked off the stage together and I told her. And she was so kind and gracious.”

Once Rauch shared his story with The night court writers, the team got to work on the reunion episode and “kicked it up a notch,” adds Rauch. “And Mayim was so wild and just absolutely brilliant every time.”

The guest role also allowed Bialk to have a mini-reunion with John Larroquette, after playing his daughter in it The John Larroquette Show years ago when she was on Flower.

“So it was like all of these things kind of a combination.” Bialik adds. “I don’t even know why, but I suggested to Melissa, “You can do whatever you want with me. Make me drunk.” But they did something much better and much more clever with this kind of complicated twist.”

Although the two are close friends, they reunite for The night court episode marked the first time they had worked together since the wrap The Big Bang theory in 2019, with Bialik playing Amy, a brilliant neuroscientist who marries Jim Parsons’ Sheldon, and Rauch playing microbiologist Bernadette.

When Bialik first came along The night court set, Rauch admits, “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m just going to giggle or sob.’ So I chose the former, so it wasn’t weird, but I was just so happy. And all week I pinched myself that we were going to work together. It’s like home.

There was also a shared history between the women, as both were series regulars together on The Big Bang Theory.

“It changed both of our lives forever, and we had to be a part of it together,” says Bialik. “But there was also so much behind the scenes among the whole cast, like things that were going on in our lives that we got to share together. So I love that I not only got to be a part of this incredible experience of The Big Bang Theory with Melissa, but I really made a friend through all those experiences. We were there almost a decade together. I mean, I definitely saw her more than my own kids.”

When Rauch first started working on The Big Bang Theory“I think I was engaged and then I got married and then I also became a mother. So it was really just life cycles for all of us and just a special moment in time,” she says. “I’m very, very grateful for the friendships I was able to take with me.”

Bialick is Rauch’s second most important Big Bang theory costs to perform at The night court. In an episode titled “A Crime of Fashion” that aired in February, Kunal Nayyar took on the role of an A-list fashion designer and Rauch’s love interest.

As for more earlier Big Bang theory costars guest star on her show, Rauch could never choose just one. “If we’re lucky enough to get more, I’d be very excited,” she says. “For the seven of us, it’s Sophie’s choice because I love them all.”

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The night court sent on Tuesdays at 8:30 PM ET on NBC and can be streamed the following day on Peacock.