Judy Sheindlin, after ending her 25-year run as daytime TV’s favorite judge, is taking her gavel — and other elements of “Judge Judy” — into the streaming wars.
Sheindlin’s new IMDb TV original series, officially called “Judy Justice,” is set to premiere Nov. 1 exclusively on the Amazon-owned free streaming service. New episodes of “Judy Justice,” which follows the same arbitration-based format as her previous gig, will be available each weekday.
The show sets up an interesting test for IMDb TV to see whether it can attract and retain a loyal daily audience, and it’s banking on Sheindlin’s famous no-BS personality to draw a crowd. The first season is set to run for 120 episodes.
For “Judy Justice,” Sheindlin is teaming with her longtime executive producer and director Randy Douthit and co-executive producer Amy Freisleben, both of whom worked on her popular syndicated program.
“I am probably the luckiest on-air personality in the history of television to have had Randy Douthit and Amy Freisleben shepherd my program for over two decades,” Sheindlin said in a statement. “They continuously make me look good. With ‘Judy Justice’ on IMDb TV, the magic continues.”
“Judy Justice” will feature three new members of Sheindlin’s courtroom staff: bailiff Kevin Rasco, a retired L.A. probation officer and entrepreneur; court stenographer Whitney Kumar, a board-certified court reporter in the state of California; and Sarah Rose, a law clerk who is also Judge Sheindlin’s granddaughter. Rose “will be a third-generation female lawyer in our family,” per Sheindlin. “She’s smart, sassy and opinionated. Who knows where she gets those traits?”
IMDb TV execs say their vision is to build the free, ad-supported VOD service into “a modern broadcast network,” and Sheindlin represents a major plank in that strategy. IMDB TV’s deal for the show was announced last fall.
“Judge Judy Sheindlin has been instrumental in shaping the world of television for over 25 years, and she has been a weekday staple for advice, entertainment, and the best one-liners in the business,” said Lauren Anderson and Ryan Pirozzi, IMDb TV’s co-heads of content and programming.
Sheindlin, a former Manhattan family court judge, ranked as among the highest-paid stars in TV with a salary for “Judge Judy” said to be nearly $50 million per year. Sheindlin sold the “Judge Judy” library of episodes to CBS in 2017 for a reported $99 million.
IMDb TV launched in January 2019 (originally called Freedive) with a lineup of licensed TV shows and movies. It still offers thousands of licensed titles, but has been steadily ramping up a slate of original programming in collaboration with Amazon Studios.
The service’s originals including dramedy “Pretty Hard Cases,” premiering Sept. 10; heist drama “Leverage: Redemption,” which will air eight new episodes on Oct. 8, a spinoff of Amazon Studios’ “Bosch” starring Titus Welliver; comedy series “Sprung”; a new home design series with Jeff Lewis; “On Call,” a half-hour drama from executive producer Dick Wolf; and second seasons of “Alex Rider” and “Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers.”
