About
Judge Judy is a reality television program which takes place in small claims courtroom. The show’s court cases are decided by retired judge Judith Sheindlin. The show has amassed a large following online, particularly on Tumblr.
History
Judge Judy[1] premiered on September 16th, 1996, on CBS. As of June 2014, the show has run for 18 seasons and aired a total of 1,222 episodes.
Reception
The show has been nominated for 15 Daytime Emmy Awards, winning one in 2013 for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program. It was also nominated for a TV Guide Award for Favorite Daytime Talk Show in 2000. Its most recent season premiered with a 7.1 household rating.[2]
Online Presence
As of June 2014, the show’s Facebook page[3] has gained over 960,000 views and its Twitter account[4] has gained over 35,000 followers.
Fandom
In addition to its branded social media presence, there are several fan run sites for the show including JudgeJudyFan[11] and the Judge Judy FanPop page.[12]There are also several fan run Tumblr dedicated to the show including fuckyeahjudgejudy[8], judgejudyfaces[9] and myherojudgejudy.[10]
Hot Guys on Judge Judy
On October 7th, 2010, the Tumblr[5] blog HotGuysOnJudgeJudy, which compiles stills of male plaintives, defendants and spectators who appeared on the show and are deemed attractive, was created by Rich Juzwiak. The blog was covered by several websites the month it was created including Gawker[6] and Vulture[7]. As of June 2014, the Tumblr has added over over 70 images.
Related Memes
Cat Killing Scam
On March 30th, 2010, The Village Voice[13] published an article titled “Judge Judy’s Cat-Killing-Hipster Plaintiff Speaks: An Interview With Teeth Mountain’s Kate Levitt and Andrew Burt,” which featured an interview with two indie musicians who had appeared on an bizare episode of Judge Judy which had aired on February 10th, 2010. The episode featured Levitt claiming Jonathan Coward, a former friend and fellow musician, had smashed her TV and killed her cat. When a clip of the show went viral many people wondered if the allegations were made up, which prompted the interview. The two danced around the question of whether or not it was real, with Andrew Burt saying:
“Well. [Pause] So what we’re trying to do is just take the conversation away from “Was it real? Was it fake?” and talk about it in a different way. The lesson I’ve been telling people to take away is that it’s easy to get on TV.
The earliest uploaded clip which is still available online was uploaded by YouTuber willnotbeignored1’s channel[14] on July 20th, 2010. As of June 2014, the video has gained over 60,000 views.
On April 23rd, 2014, VICE[15] published an interview with Jonathan Coward, who confirmed they had made up the story. When asked, “How much of the story that you guys told is true?” he explained:
“Absolutely none of it. Once they agreed to put us on the show, we realized that we needed to take roles and not have this be something that was completely see-through. There were tensions at our house, so a slight amount of it was real.”
External References
[1]IMBD– Judge Judy
[2]TV Media Insights – “Judge Judy” Tops Syndication Rankings
[3]Facebook – Judge Judy
[4]Twitter – Judge Judy
[5]Tumblr – hotguysonjudgejudy
[6]Gawker – New Blog Proves That There Actually Are Hot Guys on Judge Judy
[7]Vulture – At Last: A Database of Hot Guys on Judge Judy
[8]Tumblr – fuckyeahjudgejudy
[9]Tumblr – judgejudyfaces
[10]Tumblr – myherojudgejudy
[11]Judge Judy Fan – judgejudyfan
[12]Fan Pop – Judge Judy
[13]Village Voice – Judge Judy’s Cat-Killing-Hipster Plaintiff Speaks: An Interview With Teeth Mountain’s Kate Levitt and Andrew Burt
[14]YouTube – willnotbeignored1’s channel
[15]VICE– THESEGUYSMADE UP A FAKECASE TO GET ON ‘JUDGEJUDY’
