During its 25 years on the air, Judith “Judge Judy” Sheindlin attracted higher Nielsen ratings than any TV judge.
Her longtime program Judge Judy ended in July. Now Sheindlin is back, and she’s adapting to the streaming era.
Her new show Judy Justice debuted Monday on IMDb TV, a streaming service owned by Amazon.
Sheindlin rebranded with a new look. She ditched the black robe with the white, lace collar. Instead, she’s wearing a purple robe, and she’s putting her hair in a ponytail.
The new look isn’t the only change. Sheindlin also hired a court reporter. Plus, the show’s executive producer told Variety that the Judy Justice will hear cases up to $10,000, compared to the old show’s upper limit of $5,000. The producer wanted to allow for “a wider pool of cases for us to search for the program.”
On the show, Sheindlin gives legally binding arbitration. In other words, each party on the show agrees not to appeal Sheindlin’s ruling and not to challenge it in court. Of course, sometimes Sheindlin chooses not to rule and dismisses the case.
In normal arbitration, the losing party pays monetary damages to the winning party. In the show, the winning party still wins money. But, according to a 2004 report by the American Bar Association, the money comes form the show’s producers, not from the losing party.
Some fans expressed dismay upon finding that Sheindlin longtime bailiff, Petri Hawkins-Byrd, has not returned for Judy Justice. Other viewers found the new show too similar to Judge Judy.
“If you have ever seen Judge Judy, you have essentially seen Judy Justice,” one critic said in NPR’s review on Tuesday.
However, even the critics have acknowledged modest changes.
“The cases are a bit longer,” the critic said. “They arise from things like dog bites, property damage, landlord-tenant stuff, people who fail to learn the most important lesson, which is: Never, ever co-sign, and never put anybody else on your car insurance or your cell phone plan.”
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The Horn editorial team