Daily Archives: March 5, 2010

Mar 5 2010

Judge Judy vs. Oprah

I just read a very interesting article about Judge Judy.  Judge Judy has more right to be called the Queen of Daytime Television than Oprah.  67-year-old Judge Judy has beaten Oprah’s ratings the last 11 of 14 weeks.  Both shows draw approximately 6.6 million viewers per episode.  The Ellen Show only pulls in half as many people!

Judge Judy has been the top rated court show for the last 700 weeks!  Judge Judy is reported to have made $45 million dollars last year and is committed to remaining on the air through 2013.  Judge Judy is a real lawyer and was a family court judge in New York before becoming America’s favorite tv judge.  She graduated from New York Law School and was one of only 6 women in the class.  Judge Judy credits the hard time she was given by her professors as making her tough.

Judge Judy stated out way back in 1996 and started occasionally beating Oprah in the ratings during the fourth season.  Although Judge Judy has many fans, Judge Wapner of The People’s Court stated that her style from the bench made her “a disgrace to the profession.”  Her retort was two-fold.  “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all” (my mother’s frequent advice) and “Bottom line is, I’m here and he’s not.”

Judge Judy has 5 children and 11 grandchildren.  She spends 45 minutes a day on the treadmill, goes to the movies and only reads books that excite her.  Whether off-screen being citizen Judith Sheindlin or on-screen being Judge Judy, her personality is the same.  There is no “character” for the show. Judy is always Judy.

In closing I leave you with this quote:  “Life isn’t fair,” she says. “But at least for an hour a day, as long as I’m around, I like to think the right thing happens.”