Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Judy Justice’ On IMDb TV, Where Judge Judy Sheindlin Dispenses Her Signature Brand Of Tough Justice For A Streaming Audience

After 25 years of telling people to shut up on her syndicated series Judge Judy, Judy Sheindlin singed a deal with Amazon to do mostly the same thing, but for a streaming audience. Sheindlin promises that Judy Justice is a whole new show, but besides a new courtroom and a few new supporting players, it still boils down to Judge Judy dealing with the people who have decided to have their cases played out on TV.

JUDY JUSTICE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The plaintiff and defendant come into Judge Judy Sheindlin’s new courtroom. Judge Judy enters wearing a purple robe, instead of the traditional black robe.

The Gist: Joining Sheindlin on her new series, Judy Justice, is her granddaughter Sarah Rose, who will be Judy’s law clerk. This is the first time that she has a law clerk with her, and the first time that Judy’s court will have a stenographer (Whitney Kumar), who can read back testimony to the judge. The new bailiff is Kevin Rasco; the bailiff on Judge Judy, Petri Hawkins-Byrd, was not asked to participate in this new series.

The first case, though, plays like a classic episode of Judge Judy; plaintiff Christina Parra is suing her ex-boyfriend, Lorenzo Jordan, for the $10,000 he owes her. What did she pay for? Pretty much a whole new mouth of teeth for Lorenzo, whom she met when she was a waitress at a restaurant where he was doing a Micro Wrestling event (yes, that’s a thing). He is countersuing her for an assault that happened in the summer of 2020 but he somehow still displays stitches and other scrapes from during the taping in what we’d imagine is the first half of 2021.

Sheindlin does her usual admonishment of both sides, not much of which actually has much to do with the case at hand — like when she told Parra that she lost custody of her three kids because she’s “a nut.” The “lesson” of the case is: Don’t lend your freelance micro-wrestler boyfriend money to get new teeth… we guess?

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Sheindlin says in the trailer for Judy Justice that it’s a “whole new show.” But, in reality, it’s just Judge Judy on a new set with Judy wearing a different-colored robe.

Our Take: As much as Sheindlin may say that Judy Justice is something new for her, the changes are really more cosmetic than anything else. Sure, it’s fun to see Judy’s granddaughter helping Judy out and having a 30-second discussion with her grandmother about the case right before the end credits. And having the stenographer there is likely a help to the judge, who is now 78 and, while still sharp as a tack, may not be 100% as sharp as she was a few years ago.

If the first episode is any indication, the cases are still the same brand of Jerry Springer-esque crazy that they’ve always been. Neither the plaintiff or defendant do a good job of presenting their cases, as Judy tells both of them — she says she’s not a fan of either of them. Lorenzo provides the judge discharge papers as proof that he was hospitalized from Parra’s assault, which the judge dismisses out of hand for lack of proof.

What all of this boils down to is this: People watched Judge Judy because they loved hearing Sheindlin deliver her “tough love” to people that consistently tried her patience inside her courtroom. They loved hearing her tell people to “shut up” when they spoke out of turn or “I don’t care” when they gave her info that she thought was irrelevant. When Parra tried to school Sheindlin on a particular family court procedure, Judy almost burst a blood vessel telling the plaintiff that she was a family court judge in New York for a quarter century.

It’s those moments that have made Sheindlin one of the highest-paid stars on TV, and there’s nothing to indicate that she’ll be any different now that her court has moved to streaming TV.

Sex and Skin: We certainly hope there isn’t. There wasn’t any evidence of that nature entered in the first episode.

Parting Shot: In her “chambers,” Sheindlin discusses the case with Sarah Rose. “I especially wouldn’t lend a boyfriend money who didn’t have a job,” Judy tells her. Lesson learned, Sarah Rose.

Sleeper Star: As much as fans of the old show my miss Byrd the bailiff, Rasco seems to be perfectly capable of ferrying papers between the witness stands and the bench.

Most Pilot-y Line: The external shots of the “courthouse” are a little much.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Listen, we were never big into watching Judge Judy, but millions of people were over the past 25 years. For them, Judy Justice should be more of what they love, even if it doesn’t really break new ground for Sheindlin or the judge-show genre.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Judy Justice On Prime Video