Movies - TV
Night Court Borrowed A Beloved Star Trek Actor For Seven Entire Episodes
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Actor Brent Spiner's most visible acting role was probably Data, the android lieutenant commander on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
Spiner has always expressed a little ambivalence toward Data as he feared casting agents would look at him and be unable to look past his "Star Trek" android.
Fans of '80s sitcoms may remember Spiner on the 1984 comedy series "Night Court" as the recurring character Bob Wheeler, the perpetually impoverished hillbilly.
Bob appeared in front of Judge Harry Stone with his wife June (Annie O'Donnell) and daughter Carol Anne (Kari Houlihan) with pathetic sagas of misery and bad luck.
Spiner's hillbilly voice and deadpan delivery is completely opposite to playing the clipped, formal Data. He appeared on seven episodes during the third, fourth, and fifth seasons.
In 2023, "Night Court" was revived. In its second season, "The Wheelers of Fortune" episode features the return of Spiner and O'Donnell as Bob and June Wheeler.