Judge Judy is an American streaming Court Show. The series premiered on September 16, 1996, and concluded on July 23, 2021.
The court show ended with its 25th season. This courtroom program stars former family court judge Judy Sheindlin. Each episode finds Judge Judy presiding over real small-claims cases inside a televised courtroom. Her no-nonsense approach has been unsuccessfully copied by other TV court judges
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the court show. For the eponymous judge of the show, see Judy Sheindlin.
Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court showpresided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set. Prior to the proceedings, all involved parties signed arbitration contracts agreeing to Sheindlin's ruling. The show aired in first-run syndication. As it was during its active years in production, it continues to be distributed by CBS Media Ventures in syndication, now in reruns that still draw notably high ratings.
The series premiered on September 16, 1996, and concluded on July 23, 2021. The court show ended with its 25th season after Sheindlin and CBS renewed their contract for the final time in 2017. During its run in new episodes, the show did not release airings in the order they were taped. Thus the final filmed case of the series aired on June 8, 2021. While latter seasons of the show currently rerun in syndication, the first and second seasons stream on Paramount Global's Pluto TV"Courtroom" channel as well as the "Judge Judy" channel.
Judge Judy had an impact on courtroom programming .
Nielsen ratings by seasons for series original run (1996-2021)[edit]
1996–1998
When Judge Judy launched in September 1996, it went on the air with little media attention and publicity. By the end of October of that year, the show was averaging only a 1.5 rating, putting it in the mid-rank 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 of that era, such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show and The Jerry Springer Show. According to Biography's documentary film on Sheindlin, "Judge Judy: Sitting in Judgment" (aired February 21, 2000), producers of Judge Judy were disappointed that the show was barely making it on the radar. However, it did not take long for the court show to pick up momentum as Judge Judy rose to a 2.1 rating by the end of that first season. By the starting point of her 2nd season, it was observed that Sheindlin's guest presence at public venues had already generated avid recognition and fanfare, her reaction characterized as "overwhelmed by her success, as if it was something she didn't expect." Season 2 (1997–98) of the program saw the court show already rise into the 4 ratings ranges, averaging a 4.3.
The 3rd season (1998–99) of Judge Judy was the show's first season as the highest-rated program in daytime television, having surpassed the highly rated Jerry Springer Show and even then daytime powerhouse The Oprah Winfrey Show for the first time (King World Productions which launched Oprah was folded into CBS Television Distribution in 2007, which distributed Judge Judy): the program's ratings more than doubled to a 5.6 for that season, marking Judge Judy as an early success.