Judge Judy hangs up her afternoon-TV gavel after 25 years
Judge Judy: by her own reasoning, a firm but fair judge, both of character and case.
A quick-talking, hard-nosed litigator that presided over small-claims cases in front of television cameras, including CBS in the States and Ireland's TV3/Virgin Media, Judge Judith Sheindlin went from litigating in family courts to laying down the law before cameras in inimitable style for over 25 years, becoming a staple of afternoon television.
Simple. The straight-talking New Yorker heard plaintiffs and defendants' cases out in court-procedural fashion, interjecting when she felt the need to react to the situation, be it with friendly advice, some home truths, or a cutting remark. Her style, honed from her time in family courts, drew criticism for being overly direct, a charge she dismissed with increasing frequency over the years as times changed.
Much like other reality-based, justice-adjacent shows, like COPS, her show increasingly came to be seen as anachronistic in the face of wider social change the world over. Though she downplays the charge as part of the cost of being in the telly business, Sheindlin has increasingly been characterised as a scolding, grandmotherly advocate for the conservative ideal of personal responsibility, regularly admonishing the people before her for their behaviour and its fallout, often while dealing with their own issues.
Yep, the old controversy-creates-cash rule, perfected. She quickly became a draw on America's CBS following her debut in September of 1996, though, having drawn attention from the creators of US court show The People's Court. And it shows in her pay packet - $47m, or €39.5m, last TV season, following a massive €200m buyout of the show's hitherto independently-owned library by CBS in 2017, for use across streaming, syndication and the conglomerate's own digital television channels.
She's also the face of many a lazy afternoon for Irish viewers, being something of a coup for a nascent TV3 early in its life, lasting past the station's changes of management and branding to Virgin Media One.
Maybe a bit premature, but she's making a fairly significant departure. At 78 years old, she's had her fill of broadcast television and the daytime-telly stigma, and is breaking with it all to move to streaming, launching new show Judy Justice on Amazon Prime.
It's more of the same, most likely, but she's going where the people are - another sign that linear broadcast telly is set to struggle against streaming.
