# Tallest and shortest TV casts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [January 30, 2025, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618 "2025-01-30T14:53:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/21 "2025-01-30T19:10:54Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > Whoa. Were they from Lilliput? Oops… 5 feet. Is that better? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/22 "2025-01-30T21:35:54Z")
_Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp_. I’m pretty sure they were all adults. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/23 "2025-01-30T22:14:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Coach does pretty well: > > Craig T. Nelson - 6’4" > Jerry Van Dyke - 5’10" > Bill Fagerbakke - 6’6" > Shelley Fabares - 5’4" > Clare Carey - 5’7" > > Average 5’11" If you count 6’1" Pam Stone in a recurring role the average increases to 6’ even. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/24 "2025-01-30T22:18:56Z")
Land of the Giants could win either category. I’m not sure if they used regular sized actors with real giants, or regular sized actors and real 6" tall people. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/25 "2025-01-30T22:50:31Z")
Paraphrasing what’s easily my favorite Chandler comment. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/26 "2025-01-31T03:49:47Z")
Note that this is the 1984 to 1992 version of _Night Court_. Note that in the 2023 to 2025 version, the judge is played by Melissa Rauch, who is 4’11". So was she cast to make up for the height of everyone in the first version? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/27 "2025-01-31T18:36:34Z")
There’ve been live-action Harlem Globetrotters shows, I’m sure those have to win for tallest. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/28 "2025-01-31T19:06:23Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > - Harry Anderson, 6’4" Man, this totally blows my perception of him out of the water. I saw him on Cheers and Dave’s World and never noticed he was actually quite tall. Strangely, I totally can tell that John Larroquettte and Richard Moll were pretty tall. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/29 "2025-01-31T20:11:50Z")
I have the same perceptual oversight. But if you go back and watch the shows, or even just search for photos of the cast, you can see that Larroquette and Anderson are about the same height. Maybe the problem is that on the show, they interact most often in the courtroom, where Anderson is sitting and Larroquette is standing (and the judge’s bench isn’t raised all that high, so Anderson’s head is only at the level of Larroquette’s shoulders). ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/30 "2025-01-31T20:20:44Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Note that this is the 1984 to 1992 version of _Night Court_. Note that in the 2023 to 2025 version, the judge is played by Melissa Rauch, who is 4’11". So was she cast to make up for the height of everyone in the first version? I want to know how tall Mrs. Stone was supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/31 "2025-01-31T20:27:42Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Maybe the problem is that on the show, they interact most often in the courtroom, where Anderson is sitting and Larroquette is standing (and the judge’s bench isn’t raised all that high, so Anderson’s head is only at the level of Larroquette’s shoulders). They also shoot the shows with heights adjusted by the camera angle, the shoes the actors wear, and in cases of extreme height difference one actor will stand in a hole or the other on a platform. This is done much less on TV than in the movies (especially with a hole), but you can find shows with actors known to be noticeably shorter or taller than average that appear to be the same approximate height. Sitting and standing can make a huge difference for tall people based on their build. I’m only 6’ tall but I have short legs and a long torso and I had a long legged 6’4" friend and sitting next to each other we could see eye to eye. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618/32 "2025-01-31T21:21:00Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I want to know how tall Mrs. Stone was supposed to be. in the reboot version Mrs. Stone (the new judge’s mother) was played by Faith Ford, who is listed as being 5’7". Perhaps the character smoked while she was pregnant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-and-shortest-tv-casts/1013618.md?page=1)