‘Judge Judy’ Is Coming to an End After 25 Seasons
After a quarter of a century spent delighting viewers on the small screen, the Judy of Judge Judy has announced that her syndicated courtroom reality show will be coming to an end. During an appearance on Ellen, host Judy Sheindlin revealed that production will close after the upcoming 2020 to 2021 season of Judge Judy, calling it “our best year.”
“I’ve had a 25-year-long marriage with CBS and it’s been successful,” Judy said. “Next year will be our 25th season, silver anniversary, and CBS, I think, sort of felt they wanted to optimally utilize the repeats of my program because now they have 25 years of reruns. So what they decided to do was to sell a couple of years’ worth of reruns. But I’m not tired, so Judy Justice will be coming out a year later.”
So if you’re a big Judge Judy fan, fear not—Judy isn’t retiring, and a new show, Judy Justice, is in the works. “Judge Judy, you’ll be able to see next year—full year, all new shows,” the 77-year-old TV host said on Ellen. “The following couple of years, you should be able to catch all the reruns that CBS has sold to the stations that are currently carrying [Judge] Judy, and Judy Justice will be going elsewhere. Isn’t that fun?”
Fans looking forward to seeing Judy Justice will have to wait a bit longer for details, according to Judy: “I can’t tell you yet.”
On air since 1996, Judge Judy grew to become not just the top TV court show but also one of the highest-rated programs in daytime television as well as among syndicated programs. The arbitration-based court show has three Emmy Awards, and in 2019, Judy received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 46th annual Daytime Emmys.
In her acceptance speech, Judy made clear her love for her job. “I have a profession that’s always been my passion, and tonight, I have this lovely honor, which says I’ve done my job well,” she said. “Life has a beginning, a middle, and an end. As most of us, I don’t remember the very beginning, I’m having an absolute blast in the middle, and if my luck holds, I won’t be around for the end.”
In 2015, the lawyer turned iconic television host signed a $47 million per year contract with CBS, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which takes her through 2020. And in 2017, Judy signed a $100 million deal selling the rights to all episodes of her show back to CBS, which made Judy, at the time, one of the top paid TV personalities, according to a 2018 Forbes article.
Watch Ellen’s full interview with Judy below:
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