The People's Court

Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The People's Court

Judge Joseph Wapner, who presided over cases from 1981 to 1993.

The People's Court was the first widely popular American "judge show" in which actual small claims court cases are heard. It first ran in syndication from 1981 to 1993 for 2,484 episodes. It has currently run in its present format since 1997; the new version aired its 1,000th episode in 2003.

Contents

0.1 Background

1 Studios
2 Parody
3 British version
4 Show Trivia
5 See also
6 External Links

Background

The judge from the show's first twelve years was Joseph Wapner. Rusty Burrell was his bailiff and Doug Llewelyn was the court reporter, who would announce the matter of the dispute at the beginning of each "trial". He would also interview the plaintiff and the defendant after the court ruling, to gauge their responses to the verdict. Llewelyn would often end each episode with a jaunty "Don't take the law into your own hands: you take 'em to court," which became something of a 1980s catch phrase. The People's Court dealt in small-claims matters, and as such would not deal with losses which added up to more than $1,500.

Researchers for the show would examine small claims filings in Southern California and approach the plaintiff and defendant in interesting cases. The producers would offer to have Judge Wapner mediate the dispute if they would agree to dismiss their action and be bound by Judge Wapner's decision. Through this approach, the show could get real people with real cases. However, even though the show is decorated and run like a real courtroom, it is not a real court or part of any judicial system, but instead a form of binding arbitration.

Today, the small claims court will deal with matters up to $5,000. The new version of the show has been through three judges since its premiere: former New York City mayor Ed Koch presided over the court from 1997 to 1999, and judge Jerry Sheindlin (husband of Judge Judy judge Judy Sheindlin) made rulings from 1999 to 2001. Since then, the judge on the program has been Marilyn Milian, who had been the only Latino court judge on television until Judge Alex got his own show. Marilyn Milian's bailiff on the show is Douglas MacIntosh, a former player for the New England Patriots. Curt Chaplin is the court reporter, and attorney Harvey Levin takes comments about each case from onlookers in Times Square and explains the legal reasons behind Judge Milian's rulings.

Doug Llewelyn, the court reporter from 1981 to 1993.

Like Judy Sheindlin, Milian has become well-known for her plethora of rude but memorable sayings and quotes, including the following:

Pay the man/woman!
I wouldn't believe you if your tongue came notarized!
Who am I gonna believe, you or my lying eyes?
I am so done! Stick a fork in me, I am done!
What part of "Stop" didn't you understand?
Not here, not today, and not in my courtroom!
Did I breathe and give you the impression that I was done speaking?
You redefine chutzpah!
Is my English not as good as I think it is?
This is the part of The People's Court where we do a little rough justice.
Have you confused this with your opportunity to continue to talk?
What part is this, Douglas? This is the part where I rule and they have to shut up and listen. I LOVE this part.

Judge Milian also occasionally tosses a Spanish saying or proverb into her cross-examination, sayings she learned from her mother and grandmother. (Examples: "Un clavo saca el otro clavo" ("One nail drives out the other") and "Sabe nadar sin mojarse la ropa" ("He's so slick he swims without getting wet").

Studios

The People's Court currently tapes episodes at MTI Television City on the 8th Floor in New York. The 1981-93 version was taped at the studios of the Production Group in Los Angeles.

Parody

In 1995, Judge Wapner appeared on the Fox Network's science fiction show Sliders as "himself" in the parallel world version of this program where, as a Soviet judge, he sentences Rembrandt Brown to 15 years in the Alaskan gulag.

British version

A British version of the show was produced by SMG Productions (stv) to replace Trisha Goddard's talk show on ITV1 in 2005. The court reporter was Carol Smilie, the male judge was Jerome Lynch and the other judge was Rhonda Anderson. The show failed in the UK, and wasn't re-commisioned.

Show Trivia

George Reese, Open Source developer and author of several technology books, served as an audience page on the show from 1991 until 1992.

When watching Marilyn Millian on the show, keep an eye the color of her blouse above the opening of her robe. It changes colors frequently as the aired episodes are spliced together from when they are filming.

External Links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.