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If Judge Judith Sheindlin had never been profiled in a “60 Minutes” segment that caught the eye of a TV producer, and if she’d never made the segue into TV jurisprudence with “Judge Judy,” Sheindlin has no doubt what
she would have done in the second half of her professional life.
“I was comfortable. I loved the family court. I really did,” Sheindlin tells Variety. “It was a tough place to work, and I loved the work that I did there. It was important. Some you really did get an opportunity — if you broke sweat — and you were able to change a life. And that doesn’t happen to people often.”
Sheindlin spoke to Variety in a wide-ranging interview about her 30-plus years in television in advance of the “Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable,” a two-hour special celebrating her career that premieres Sept. 22 on CBS and Paramount+.
Sheindlin’s signature style of dispensing no-nonsense rulings and life advice from the New York bench drew the attention of “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer, who profiled her in a 1993 segment. That segment caught the attention of TV producer Larry Lyttle, who persuaded Sheindlin to try TV through his Big Ticket Television imprint, which was owned by Spelling Entertainment. (Paramount Pictures acquired Spelling in 1999.)
“I would have stayed in the family court and that meant retirement at the age of 72,” Sheindlin reflects. “Maybe I would have worked as a judicial hearing office a couple of days a week. We would have moved down south where it was warm in the winter time – a beach condo. I think I would have been very happy, and fulfilled.”
But that was not the destiny of the woman known to tens of millions of fans as Judge Judy. Her syndicated daytime court show single-handedly revived the court show genre after its premiere in 1996. She went on to become one of the most beloved and most-watched personalities in TV. At her peak, Sheindlin was among the highest-paid stars in all of television, commanding more than $45 million a year thanks to the boffo ratings for “Judge Judy.”
After more than 30 years in television, Sheindlin has handed the on-air gavel to her son, Adam Levy, who launched his own daytime court show, “Adam’s Law,” with CBS on Sept. 14. Behind the scenes, however, Sheindlin is busier than ever as a producer with a half-dozen shows airing including “Adam’s Law,” the long-running “Hot Bench,” vintage episodes of “Judge Judy” and the “Judy Justice,” “Tribunal Justice” and “Justice on Trial” series that are available via Amazon Prime Video.
Sheindlin’s latest endeavor is to develop content based on the enduring memes that feature a baby’s head superimposed on Sheindlin’s distinctive black robe with lace collar delivering plain-spoken advice. Those memes have zipped around the internet world since memes have existed. Sheindlin is hoping to tap into all of that existing energy for an animated series dubbed “Baby Judy.” She’s actively developing the property through her Queen Bee Productions banner.
Sheindlin promises that the “Baby Judy” show she envisions will offer edgy takes that will get noticed.
“The sizzle reel has to do with a young man looking for his first job, and he can’t get a job, even though he’s a college graduate,” she says. “He tells his prospective boss that he needs his own bathroom because he can’t share a bathroom because he has a smallish penis. The boss finally says to forget it, this is not the place for you. And so the job seeker sues him under the American for Disabilities Act, and then the case comes to me. That’s the setup.”
The launch of “Adam’s Law” is a proud moment for Sheindlin, as a legal eagle and as a mother. Levy, a former district attorney for Putnam County in New York and a former defense attorney, had been a regular on “Tribunal Justice” for numerous seasons. That gave him the TV chops to take on his own Monday-Friday show. Sheindlin notes that mother and son take a very different approach to handling cases.
“He likes to know everything about a case before he goes in. He likes to exhaust all the evidence and do whatever background information he can do on the litigants, so that he is fully informed, which means he spends hours and hours in preparation. That’s the way he has always walked as a litigator,” Sheindlin says. “I was a seat of the pants girl. I wasn’t an actress. If I were given a piece of evidence that I had was supposed to be seen for the first time, and would have to feign, ‘Oh my goodness, look at this.’ I couldn’t do it.”
Beyond being a proud mom, Sheindlin has faith that Levy’s variation on the family business will be a success. She believes that the audience is still yearning for straightforward information about the law, and on a bigger plane, life guidance.
“He believes in the law and he believes in the justice system, the concepts of law and order, right and wrong. And he’s smart as a whip,” she says. “Maybe 20 years from now, people are going to say, ‘Do you watch “Adam’s Law”?’ His mother had a show once.”
Sheindlin believes wholeheartedly that authority figures can make a huge difference in an individual’s life. She still remembers the kindness she was shown by her sixth grade teacher as a kid growing up in New York.
“Irving Bernstein made a difference in my life because one day after I was out of school for a day or two, he called the house to make sure I was OK,” Sheindlin recalls. “And that made me feel that he must think I’m special. I grew up with that sense that my sixth-grade teacher cared about me.”
Undoubtedly, Sheindlin’s many bon mots and harsh-but-true zingers delivered from the bench have landed in a similar way for viewers.
“I’m a responsibility girl. If you want to eat, you have to work. We like to think we come from a type of humanity that if you can’t walk and you need help, we help you and we keep you going. But if you can walk but choose not to walk, then I don’t want to have to support you.”
The platform that Sheindlin has enjoyed on TV for a generation has been a powerful gift. These are among the themes explored in “Judge Judy: Unfiltered and Unforgettable,” which looks back at her long run on the TV bench but also looks ahead to what’s next for the indefatigable star.
“I certainly have been handed the gift of having a second and third career that has not only been satisfying and gratifying, but it allowed me to deliver a message of the importance of good citizenry and taking care of yourself and personal responsibility,” she says. “You do that to make sure the next generation will be ever better off than you are. Those are the messages that I’ve been more than happy to deliver. And I’m still standing.”
