Do you know anyone that's been on one of those "Judge" shows?

[gadgetguy]

I do now. My niece is going to be on the "Judge Alex" show this Thursday. I haven't talked to her to find out the whole "behind the scenes" story, and I thought I'd wait until after I see the show before I do, but can anyone explain why these shows are so popular? (I assume they're popular since there are so many of them.)

[Supreme2k]

They're "rubberneck" fodder. In other words, they're popular for the same reason that traffic moves slowly by ANYTHING happening on the side of the road. But in the case of those "real" court shows, people are waiting for a "Oh no you di-int!" moment.

[gadgetguy]

Well, that would explain why I don't get it. That kind of stuff just annoys me. But, knowing my niece, it'll probably be pretty entertaining for those that enjoy that kind of thing. Although she's not one of the principles. She's a witness, (but I don't know for which party).

[adam]

One of my relatives was on Judge Alex. He lost and none of us can figure out why. If you watch any amount of these shows you can plainly see that the cases are never decided on legal principles, rather on who pisses off the judge first. As soon as one person says something stupid, the judge starts grilling them and then ends in a tirade finding them at fault... then they hit the gavel in disgust and walk out of the courtroom. Everytime.

[gadgetguy]

And how is that different from a regular non-jury trial? Seriously, I've only ever been in real non-jury court once and I was just in the gallery, but it appeared to me that that is exactly how that case was decided.

[adam]

Unless you are talking about a small claims court, I'd say you caught the judge on a bad day. Judges are subject to elections and appeals, so if they don't rule on the law than eventually they will have to answer for it.

Besides, these courtroom tv shows are about making every case entertaining at any cost. Spend any amount of time in a courtroom and you will see that real life cases are terribly boring. These shows are nothing like real court cases.

[Supreme2k]

I agree with gadgetguy. I was called a jerk by a judge because I said that a CHP officer was very unprofessional (he couldn't recall the slightest details of the case, "I dunno, I wasn't paying attention"), and upheld the ticket, though the law was on my side. It was thrown out after an appeal.

[adam]

I agree with gadgetguy. I was called a jerk by a judge because I said that a CHP officer was very unprofessional (he couldn't recall the slightest details of the case, "I dunno, I wasn't paying attention"), and upheld the ticket, though the law was on my side. It was thrown out after an appeal.

Like I said, "unless you are talking about a small claims court." Requirements vary by State but judges in JP or muni courts, that deal with small claims and tickets, usually are not even attorneys.

The "judges" on tv are not really judges they are arbitrators, and the "suits" are really just arbitrations. The judge is merely someone chosen by both parties to decide who is entitled to what, and the parties agree to settle based on that person's decision. Small claims courts across the country are very similar in that appeals are almost always trial de novo, meaning that if you lose you don't appeal the errors that the judge/jury made, you get an entirely new trial at the next level, which is either a county or a district court. THAT is when you get before a real judge who is required to be a licensed attorney. Small claims courts, and these silly court tv shows, are a means to dispose of an issue in a non-formal setting. At this level its not about the law it is about who the judge/arbitrator wants to win based on the reasonableness of the person.

You can't always count on a judge knowing the applicable law, or following it even when they do, but even still, real courtrooms and real judges are nothing like what you see on tv.

[Supreme2k]

Like I said, "unless you are talking about a small claims court."

Must have missed that

[gadgetguy]

Well, it was on today and my niece and her friend and her friend's ex roommate acted like idiots, which seems to be the point of the show, so they did good. The judge told all of them to grow up and stop acting like children, which, of course if they had, there wouldn't be any of these shows...

[Epicurus8a]

My wife met Judge Judy. She said J.J. was every bit as rude and crass as she appears on T.V.

[M Bruner]

I wasn't on a show, but I was sued by a man who said we owed him money and we didn't. We had an arbtrator, and we each told our side. The arbitrator took the case under advisement, and called our lawyer later to tell us we'd won.

[zzyzzx]

I record Judge Judy, and sometime Judge Mathis or Joe Brown.

I get a kick out of seeing what appears to mostly be losers on these shows.

[gadgetguy]

According to my niece, the production staff instructed them that "it's not a real courtroom" and encouraged them to act up and interrupt each other, etc.