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Judge Judy
File:JudgeJudyshow sign.JPG
Starring	Judith Sheindlin Petri Hawkins-Byrd
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	22 minutes approx. (excluding commercials)
Original release
Network	Syndicated
Release	September 16,1996 – present

Judge Judy is an American reality-based court show, featuring former family court judge, Judith Sheindlin, arbitrating over small claims cases. The series is in first-run syndication and distributed by CBS Television Distribution, but originally by Worldvision Enterprises, Paramount Domestic Television, and CBS Paramount Domestic Television.

The show premièred on September 16, 1996, and brought back the television courtroom genre after a few years of being off the air. Despite its long string of judicial challengers over the years, Judge Judy has brought in the highest ratings out of all the courtroom dramas. In addition, it has remained the most watched court show since its series premiere. As of 2007, Judith Sheindlin's top-rated courtroom series has been nominated ten times for Daytime Emmy Awards.

On October 7, 2005, during its tenth season, Judge Judy was renewed through the 2009-10 season (the show's fourteenth). In January of 2008, the renewal of Judge Judy was extended through the 2011-12 season (the show's sixteenth). Judge Judy's twelfth season premiered on Monday, September 10, 2007. The following day, the show's first DVD entitled Justice Served was released. The program earned Judy a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which she was awarded in February of 2006.

Court show background

Overview

The show's creation stemmed from Judith Sheindlin's reputation as one of the most outspoken family court judges in the country, becoming the topic of a Los Angeles Times article in February of 1993. The piece caught the attention of 60 Minutes, leading to a segment about Sheindlin on the show, which brought her national recognition. This led to her being approached by television producers, who asked her to preside over her own courtroom drama. The title of her show was originally going to be "Hot Bench." Unhappy with that title, however, Sheindlin convinced her television producers to change it. Though the title of the show is Judge Judy, it's also become a nickname for Judith Sheindlin. Judy Sheindlin became the first television judge to have her name as part of the title of her court show. Randy Douthit and Timothy Regler are the show's executive producers.

At the beginning of each court proceeding, Sheindlin gives a summary of the case and questions the parties regarding dates, times, locations, and other matters involved in the lawsuit. After summarizing the claim, the response of the defendant, and the counter-claim, if there is one, Sheindlin generally holds a discussion with the plaintiff first. Throughout the whole case, she goes back and forth between interacting with the plaintiff and interacting with the defendant. Instead of having the parties present all of the facts they want Sheindlin to consider, Judy interrogates both litigants throughout the whole case and only allows direct answers to her questions. Not always moving immediately ahead to her next question, Sheindlin sometimes expresses her feelings and opinions about the speaker’s answers. This, at times, leads to arguments between her and the litigants. No one is allowed to speak out of turn, including the witnesses of the litigants and the audience members. Sheindlin often seeks evidence, such as police reports, to determine the veracity of the allegations. After feeling she has received all the necessary answers, Sheindlin expresses her views on the case and renders the judgment by awarding damages to the plaintiff or dismissing the case altogether. The same applies to the defendant if they've filed a counterclaim. Sheindlin occasionally deviates from this format. For instance, instead of holding a discussion with the plaintiff first, she holds a discussion with the defendant first.

In the first two commercial breaks, a preview of the upcoming case is shown. When the show returns from the first two commercial breaks, it airs Jerry Bishop's voice-over, "Real cases! Real people! Judge Judy!", followed by a recap of the current case. After the third commercial break, the voice-over is heard again, providing the show's number and the website to submit cases. There are usually two cases on each show, but less frequently there will be a single long case, three shorter ones, or even four shorter ones. At the end of a case, the plaintiff and the defendant express their feelings about the case.

Structure

Because the Judge Judy show wants to make sure they have a full audience, their audience members are all paid extras and tickets are not offered for the show. Agents working for the show book members of their union to be audience members for the court show (the point of joining these unions is being booked as audience members for any television shows that will provide payment for it). However, arrangements can sometimes be made with Sheindlin's production staff to allow fans of the show into the audience. Once all the cases are through, all of the audience members receive payment. The extras must be dressed formally. Extras are also instructed to appear as if they're having discussions with each other, before and after each case, so the bailiff may make such announcements as "Order! All rise." As far as the court cases are concerned however, what is seen on Judge Judy is neither staged or scripted. The plaintiffs have actually sued the defendants and that very case is heard and decided upon by Judith Sheindlin. The court show acquires cases by people submitting claims into them via their website or phone number. Producers of Judge Judy also research court files from all over the country to find cases that they think are appropriate and entertaining for the show.

The producers' employees call both parties and ask them questions about their case to make sure it's suitable for Judge Judy. If the parties agree to be on the show and sign a waiver, agreeing that arbitration in Sheindlin's court is final and cannot be pursued elsewhere (unless she dismisses the lawsuit without prejudice), their case will air on Judge Judy. The award limit on Judge Judy, as on most 'syndi-court' shows (and most small claims courts in U.S.), is $5,000. The award for each judgment is paid by the producers of the show, from a fund reserved for each case. About forty percent of the cases are money judgments, while sixty percent are dismissed.

Both the plaintiff and the defendant receive $100 for their appearance as well as $35 a day, paid to them by the show. The litigant's stay lasts for the number of days that the show does taping for that week, which is two or three days. In addition, the travel and hotel expenses of the litigants and their witnesses are covered by the show. If there is an exchange of property, Ms. Sheindlin signs an order and a sheriff or marshal oversees the exchange. There are no lawyers present and participants defend themselves on Judge Judy, as is standard in a small claims court. Sheindlin sees only a half-page complaint and a defense response prior to the taping of the cases, sometimes only moments before. Most of the cases, without any footage deleted to meet the time constraints of the show, usually last anywhere from twelve to forty-five minutes.

The success of the Judge Judy courtroom series is attributed to teamwork of its crew. The staff realized that it may not be exciting enough for a TV drama to deal with small claims cases of ordinary persons. A show like Oprah Winfrey can feature a guest appearance of celebrities. Courtroom dramas do not have such an option available, but Judge Judy nonetheless took ideas from its competitors and often addresses disputes involving human relationships, for example, a usual topic in popular talk shows.

Recordings and airings

Three days every other week (two weeks a month), Sheindlin and her producers tape the court show. They usually produce ten to twelve cases for each day they tape the show. A week's worth of episodes consists of approximately ten cases. Anywhere from thirty to thirty-six cases are filmed over the three days they tape per week. However, Sheindlin and her producers sometimes only tape five cases per day and two days per week. The show has fifty-two taping days a year. For each season, some 650 claims are brought to the set to be presided over by Judge Judy. This means approximately 7,150 claims have been brought to Judy Sheindlin's Hollywood set, as of the end of its eleventh season (2006-07).

For the most part, cases are taped all throughout the year except for two breaks Sheindlin and all of the members of her show have for the year. One of the two breaks includes an extra week off in December, as the show is only taped one week out of that month because of the Christmas holiday. The other break is from mid-July (only taping one week in July) and all through August. According to members of the show, the reason for this break is because people are more interested in taking vacations than in filing lawsuits around that time.

Altogether, there are 260 new episodes per season of Judge Judy. There's at least one new episode for every weekday, with the exception of a few hiatuses during most of the summer and a couple of holidays. The cases are all pre-recorded for editing purposes and will usually air one to three months after being taped. The cases are mixed up and not shown in order of when they were filmed. While the cases taped in March end the seasons, the cases taped throughout April, May, June, and July start out each season in September and last through the beginning of November.

Throughout the very beginning of each season, two new Judge Judy episodes air per day. After two weeks, it shortens down to one new airing a day, followed by a repeat afterwards. There are also various other moments throughout the year where two new episodes are shown for a few weeks. This usually includes January, when the show returns from its short winter hiatus. Unlike most television shows, Judge Judy does not air its season finale in April or May. Rather, it will air its last few new episodes sporadically over the summer months, with many repeats in between, and its season finale taking place some time in August.

Location

The Judge Judy set is directly beside the Judge Joe Brown set, in the same studios. Both of the judges work with Big Ticket Entertainment. Sheindlin and Judge Joe also alternate between the weeks that they work on their court shows, as Judge Joe Brown is filmed during the two weeks out of the month that Sheindlin is off.

The show displays various images of New York City upon returning from commercial breaks. The words "State of New York", continually move across the falu red letterboxes, during the previews just before commercial breaks and upon returning from commercial breaks (since the ninth season). Judith Sheindlin was also a judge for fifteen years in New York City, before retiring to do the court show. Despite all this, cases are actually taped inside of The Tribune production studios, on Sunset Boulevard, in Los Angeles, California. Every other week, Sheindlin is flown out on her private jet to spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in Los Angeles, California, to tape her show. Owning three homes, Sheindlin is flown out to Hollywood from either her home in New York City, Greenwich, Connecticut, or Naples, Florida.

As of late August of 2007, it has been reported that the historic, former Warner Brothers studio, on Sunset Boulevard has been put up for sale. It is the site currently owned by KTLA-TV, Tribune Entertainment, and Tribune Studios. However, the station is likely to go elsewhere to update its facilities in the future.

Setting

The Judge Judy show takes place in one of the smallest televised courtrooms. Litigants enter downstage of the courtroom by way of the swinging doors in the aisle. Currently, most of the colors in Judge Judy's courtroom are dark brown colors. The carpeting in her courtroom is red. Although there are microphones on each of the podiums, these microphones aren't used for anything. Two flags are positioned approximately ten feet behind Judge Judy's courtroom chair. There is an American Flag on Sheindlin's right side and a New York State Flag on her left side.

Alterations

In the past, the Judge Judy court show has changed very little from season to season. The show's music and graphics are the only thing that have changed repeatedly over its past twelve years. The ninth season (2004-05) is one of the few seasons in which the show made a major alteration; the Judge Judy intro had been changed drastically. A jazzed version of a theme from Beethoven's 5th Symphony was adopted as the new theme music. For its scenes, Judge Judy is shown in a different courtroom from her own, approaching the camera, followed by folding her arms and smiling at the camera. This is followed by showing various scenes of her seemingly presiding over different cases.

In addition, there was another alteration made to the show's intro that season; each show begins with a short, often exaggerated preview of the case. This is followed by its theme music, with voice-over artist, Jerry Bishop, making the statements: You are about to enter the courtroom of Judge Judith Sheindlin. The people are real... the cases are real... the rulings are final. This is Judge Judy. However, the sentence, this is her courtroom, originally stated after the sentence, the rulings are final, was eliminated from the show's intro by the show's ninth season.

Before the ninth season, the show used an original tune for their theme music. Various different versions of this original tune were used, as the song was altered every few seasons. Used as the scenes for the theme song before the ninth season, was a computer animated approaching scene towards a courthouse, up until that scene entered into the courthouse. From there, several shots of Sheindlin presiding over different cases were displayed, moving from one side to the other. Those shots developed into the courthouse symbol that represents her program (this symbol is always displayed inside of the letter D, in Judy), by the end of the theme music. Before these scenes, there was a scene of the courthouse symbol that represents her program, over a green background. Shots of Sheindlin, presiding over different cases, flew into the scene and moved into each of the square-shaped designs of the courthouse, correspondingly.

The colors that represent the show have altered several times over the years. The first couple of seasons of Judge Judy were represented by the colors sea green and saffron. Blue and saffron represented the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons. An array of many bright colors, along with blue and saffron represented the eighth season. Since the ninth season, the various graphics on the show have been falu red and saffron. As of the twelfth season, prussian blue has been added to the show's color scheme for the opening previews of each episode.

The only changes made to the Judge Judy set were all mostly made in the early seasons of the show, which includes: the wooding that takes up most of the courtroom was a much lighter shade of brown in the beginning of the series; the wall behind Judge Judy did not always have the shiny surface it has now, with the black and dark brown color mixture (it used to be plain brown); the fake window display along the sides of the courtroom has gone from displaying designs, to going plain and only showing whiteness, to displaying the current scene of fake buildings; the carpeting was light pink in the beginning of the series; there were two different podiums that were replaced by the two currently used podiums; altogether, Sheindlin has had four different chairs throughout the show's existence. She had three smaller chairs before she got her current chair. Her very first chair was persian indigo and her second chair was hunter green with diagonal square designs. Sheindlin's third chair was similar to her current chair, only with a lower back behind her shoulders. Though these chairs had low backs, they were all still executive chairs. They were replaced early on by the traditional, executive chair she has been sitting in for the majority of the show's existence. The chair is button-tufted, with a high back and thick padding. It is a burgundy leather chair.

Judge Judith Sheindlin

Because of her straightforwardness of expression and impatience in making litigants get to the point, to keep them from wasting time on irrelevant and unimportant details, Judith Sheindlin is well-known as a no-nonsense jurist. Combining those qualities with her swift handling of many of the matters brought up throughout the course of each proceeding, Judge Judy is touted as, "A show where justice is dispensed at the speed of light."

Disbelieving many of the questionable affirmations of the parties that appear before her, lying is the main problem that the incredulous Judith Sheindlin has with both litigants and their witnesses. In fact, one of her most popular catchphrases is "Baloney!", and she is also convinced that "If something doesn't make sense, it's not true."

Of all her characteristics, Judge Judy is noted most for her courtroom toughness and wit. One example of this is her invectiveness, as she puts the parties in their places, often accompanied with insults. Many times, Sheindlin spends a good portion of the case giving certain litigants a hard time, by treating them with much loudness and very aggressive sternness. Judge Judy also tends to be highly irascible in her behavior towards the parties that appear before her, mostly displayed in her startling explosions at them. Known to behave in browbeating ways as well, Sheindlin makes such remarks as "Sir, you want to say something to me? You sure you want to say something to me?", and "You mess around with me young lady, I'll wipe the floor with you. We follow each other?" In fact, the show's tagline is Justice with an Attitude. Though Sheindlin has a sense of humor as well, it’s normally presented in combination with her gruff disposition.

Sheindlin has many catchphrases which are referred to as “Judyisms”. Many of these Judyisms are intended to provide a lesson, such as “Beauty fades, dumb is forever.” Judge Judy has stated that the main message she wants viewers to take from her show, is that people must take responsibility for their own actions.

Petri Hawkins-Byrd

Like all court shows, Judge Judy has two stars. By Sheindlin's side is Petri Hawkins-Byrd (born November, 1957), the show's bailiff. On the show, Sheindlin usually refers to him as "Byrd", and sometimes "Officer Byrd".

Like Sheindlin, Byrd is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He attended John Jay College of Criminal Justice and received his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice in 1989. While attending college, Byrd worked as a court officer in the Brooklyn Family Court system. In 1986, he was transferred to the Manhattan Family Court system, where he worked on a rotating basis with all the judges, including Judge Judy. "I was never bored in her courtroom," muses Byrd. "Her get-to-the-point style didn't always sit well with the litigants, and there were times she was definitely glad to have me around."

In 1990, Byrd relocated to San Mateo, California, and became a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal. In 1993, Byrd accepted an offer to work as a student counsellor at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, CA. When he found out she would be getting her own court show, Byrd sent Judge Judy a congratulatory letter that read, “If you ever need a bailiff, I still look good in uniform.” To his surprise, Sheindlin accepted.

His main role on Judge Judy is introducing the cases (swearing the litigants and revealing the case number to Judge Judy just before each session), sending things to Sheindlin that need to be given to her by the litigants, sending things to the litigants that need to be given to them by Sheindlin, and giving the parties permission to leave, followed by escorting them all out once the case is over. However, Hawkins is also helpful in many other ways. For example, whenever Judge Judy needs the Kelley Blue Book, Byrd always gets it for her and looks up the needed automobile value. Mr. Hawkins also provides Judge Judy information on subjects she does not know much about, such as math, the Internet, and sports.

He is the self-professed "world's richest baliff", but refuses to reveal his salary. Byrd and his family now reside in Elk Grove, California.

While Judge Judy hears cases, Byrd is often looking down at a clipboard. Though it might appear as if he's going over case files or court-related information, Byrd is actually occupying his time with crossword puzzles. When asked if he would want to come before Judge Judy in court, Byrd answered, "Hell, no." He added, laughing, "And I don't advise any of my friends to do so. Not if they want to maintain their love of the judicial system."

When a news program went behind the scenes of Judge Judy, it was revealed that the show originally wanted an actor to take on the role of Judge Judy's bailiff. However, Judge Judy rejected that suggestion, letting producers know that was not going to work. Almost certain the court show would not last more than six months, her producers just decided to give Sheindlin what she wanted and allowed Byrd to be her bailiff.

Reception

Ratings

Judge Judy went on the air in September of 1996. By the end of October of that year, the show was averaging only a 1.5 rating, putting it in the midrank of the 159 syndicated shows on the air. At that time, it was never expected that the show's ratings would ever compete with highly successful daytime TV shows, such as Wheel of Fortune, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. According to Sheindlin's biography, producers of her show were disappointed that the show was barely making it on the radar screen. However, it didn't take long for Judge Judy to pick up momentum, as the show rose to a 2.1 rating by the end of that first season. By the end of the second season (1997-98), the court show had already risen into the 4 ranges, as stated in Judy Sheindlin's biography video.

Judge Judy's ratings more than doubled to 5.6 for her third season (1998-99), making her show an early success. This led to the creation of Judge Mills Lane (lasting four seasons) and Judge Joe Brown (into its tenth season as of 2007). In fact, it was because of her impressive ratings that year that The People's Court producers decided to replace Ed Koch with Judge Judy's husband, Jerry Sheindlin. However, he lasted only two years on The People's Court, from 1999 to 2001, before being replaced by Marilyn Milian.

During her fourth season (1999-00), Judy's ratings exploded, peaking at a 9.3, just as Judge Mathis was created, and Divorce Court was revived; both court shows, having made it to their ninth seasons as of the 2007-08 season. Because of Judge Judy's success, the court show aired at better time periods. At that point, Sheindlin's show was even surpassing the Oprah Winfrey Show (King World Productions which launched Oprah was a corporate sibling of CBS Paramount Television, which distributed Judge Judy). Not only was Judge Judy reported as the top-rated court show, but the top-rated daytime TV show at this point.

Over the next three years, however, the ratings for Judge Judy declined. This decline started in the court show's fifth season (2000-01) and lasted through its seventh season (2002-03). Sheindlin finally reversed this downward turn when her ratings average increased to a 7.1 for her eighth season (2003-04). Of the seven running court shows during the 2004-05 season, most of them earned a 3.63 rating. All of them, that is, except for Judge Judy, which pulled in a 7.8 rating for that season (the show's ninth). For her tenth season (2005-06), Judge Judy averaged a 4.8 rating. Court show ratings for the 2006-07 season: Judge Judy averaged 4.6 rating for her eleventh season; Judge Joe Brown averaged a 2.9 rating; The People’s Court averaged a 2.7; Judge Mathis averaged a 2.4; Divorce Court averaged a 2.0; Judge Alex averaged 1.9; Judge Hatchett averaged a 1.5; rookies--Cristina's Court averaged a 1.4, and Judge Maria Lopez came in last, averaging a 1.0 rating. Judge Judy producer Randy Douthit says that "they are guilty of cannibalizing each other. Most of these court shows are lucky to get above a 1 rating today."

As of the early to mid stages of the show's twelfth season, the ratings for Judge Judy have been located in the four and five ranges. The court show averaged a 4.4 for its premiere week of September 10, 2007. It scored the same numbers for the following week of September 16. For both weeks of September 24 and September 30, Judge Judy averaged a 4.6 rating. The court show finished out the week of October 7 with a two percent increase in its ratings, averaging a 4.7. For the week of October 14, nearly every court show remained the same or fell in ratings except for Judge Judy, which rose two percent once again, averaging a 4.8. The following week of October 21 ended with yet another two percent gain for the court show, as Judge Judy averaged a 4.9 rating. The week of October 28 saw Judy's ratings up two percent more, at a 5.0. For the week of November 4, however, Sheindlin's ratings decreased six percent, averaging a 4.7. In conjunction with the following week of November 11th, Judge Judy elevated 8%, averaging a 5.1 rating. For the week of November 18th, Judge Judy's ratings lowered 2% to a 5.0. For the week of November 25, Judge Judy sunk 2% again, averaging a 4.9 rating. For the week of January 13, Judge Judy averaged a 5.3 rating. For the week of January 27, Judge Judy averaged a 5.6 season-high rating.

The ratings for Judge Judy have made it one of the top ten syndicated daytime television shows. As of the early to mid stages of its twelfth season, the show's rankings has fallen mostly in fourth place among daytime television shows. In relation to the 2007-08 television season, Judge Judy is the only syndicated show to increase in ratings over the previous season.

Judge Judy is reportedly watched by ten million people daily. Judge Judy's daytime audience is composed of approximately seventy-five percent women and twenty-five percent men.

Criticisms

One of Sheindlin's critics is Joseph Wapner, who was the first star of reality courtroom shows. He presided over The People's Court from 1981 to 1993. On November 26, 2002, Joseph Wapner criticized Judge Judy's courtroom behavior, stating, "She is not portraying a judge as I view a judge should act. Judge Judy is discourteous, and she's abrasive. She's not slightly insulting. She's insulting in capital letters." Judge Judy replied through her publicist, stating, "I refuse to engage in similar mud slinging. I don't know where or by whom Judge Wapner was raised. But my parents taught me when you don't have something nice to say about someone, say nothing. Clearly, Judge Wapner was absent on the day that lesson was taught." Since then, Wapner has stated, "She is a disgrace to the profession. She does things I don't think a judge should do. She tells people to shut up. She's rude. She's arrogant. She demeans people. If she does this on purpose, then that's even worse. Judges need to observe certain standards of conduct. She just doesn't do it and I resent that. The public is apt to gain the impression that this is how actual judges conduct themselves. It says "judge" on the nameplate on the bench and she's wearing a robe."

While the cases on Judge Judy are actual small claims court cases, the show is not a court of law, but rather an arbitration, and all parties must sign contracts agreeing to arbitration under Sheindlin. Even this status has been disputed: in Doo Wop Shoppe Ltd. v. Ralph Edwards, syndi-court justice was determined not to be an actual form of arbitration because a third party pays the cost of the judgment. This decision was subsequently overturned.

Rulings on the show can be overturned and at least one has with the American Bar Association noting that:

"B.M. v. D.L.", the Family Court of Kings County, New York, overturned part of a Judge Judy decision. The parties had appeared in front of Judge Judy over a dispute involving personal property. However, Judge Judy made a decision involving child custody and visitation. The court overturned the custody and visitation part of her decision on two grounds. First, it was a matter that was not covered by the agreement to arbitrate. Second, as a matter of public policy, an arbitrator could not decide child custody and visitation rights. Considering that Judy had been a judge in New York’s family court, it is particularly ironic that she decided to overstep her arbitral authority on this particular issue.

References

External links

JudgeJudy.com – the show's official homepage
Syndi-Court Justice: Judge Judy and Exploitation of Arbitration – a critical essay on small-claims arbitration shows, at the website of the American Bar Association
Kramer Vs. Judging Judy, criticism by Irwin Kramer, The Daily Record, November 10, 2003
Template:Tv.com show
Judge Judy at IMDb
Petri Hawkins-Byrd at IMDb

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