Helberg and Rauch, who played married couple Howard Wolowitz and Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on The Big Bang Theory, had a romantic on-screen reunion during the Season 3 finale of Night Court, as reported by People magazine. In the episode, Rauch’s character, Abby Stone, is eagerly waiting for her boyfriend, Jake (Ryan Hansen), to propose. Just before Jake can do so, Abby gets a surprise visit from Helberg’s character, Spencer. After a shocked Abby asks why Spencer is in her office, he replies, “I just came by to give you this.” Spencer then gives Abby a passionate kiss, only pulling away when Jake enters the room.
“Who’s this guy?” an alarmed Jake inquires.
“I’m her husband,” replies Spencer, pointing out his wedding ring.
Rauch, who is the co-creator of Night Court, spoke about her on-screen reunion with Helberg during a May 2025 interview with TV Insider. She shared that she has been wanting to include Helberg, whom she described as “family,” on the show for quite some time.
“I wanted to make sure that it was the perfect role for him. And then once we cracked what we wanted to do for the season finale, it was just the dream to have Simon in this,” said Rauch during the TV Insider interview. “I called him and he was so wonderful and was like, ‘I’m totally there.’ And he was just wonderful as he always is. It was very much like, OK, once we knew what the storyline was, the melding of [Spencer] with Simon was just the perfect synchronization.”
Rauch also expressed her gratitude to work with Helberg again.
“I was very excited that he was there, but there was also just this sense of like, ‘Oh, wow, we’re getting to do this again and getting to be together.’ And he’s such an intuitive, right-there-in-the-moment-with-you actor, and it just felt like going home, getting to work with him again,” said Rauch.
Helberg is among a few Big Bang Theory stars to appear in Night Court. During the third season of the NBC show, Mayim Bialik appeared as an intense version of herself who becomes obsessed with Abby. In a March 2025 episode of the Jennifer Hudson Show, Rauch explained she had an obsession with Bialik because of her role in the ’90s sitcom, Blossom, when she was a child. Rauch said the show’s writers took some inspiration from her life for the episode.
“In the episode, my character Abby is obsessed with Blossom. And then our writers put a hilarious twist on it, and then she became an Abby Stone stalker,” said Rauch during the interview.
Kunal Nayyar, known for his role as Rajesh Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory, also made an appearance during the second season of Night Court. During a January 2024 interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Rauch said it was “a dream” to reunite with Nayyar.
“I was just so filled with delight that he was there. And we had the best time all week. It was just like old times,” said Rauch.
