Judge Judy Kvetches About CBS As She Departs, Says Her Creation Was ‘Disrespected’
Judge Judy Sheindlin is adjourning from her hit daytime show after 25 years. But not before getting a few things off her chest.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Sheindlin said tensions with CBS made her toss in the towel on her long-running daytime courtroom reality show. Most of the ire stems from CBS buying out Sheindlin’s ownership of Judge Judy reruns, ostensibly to stop her from shopping the show’s library.
Sheindlin added that she felt “disrespected” by CBS’s work on Hot Bench, another courtroom show she created in 2014. Some CBS-owned stations “in major markets” bumped Hot Bench to make room for The Drew Barrymore Show, the WSJ story contended.
“You disrespected my creation,” Sheindlin said of the studio’s Hot Bench efforts. “And you were wrong. Not only in disrespecting my creation, but your gamble in what you put in its place.”
“We had a nice marriage,” she added. “It’s going to be a Bill and Melinda Gates divorce.”
CBS Media Ventures president Steve LoCasci told the Journal, “We have had an incredibly successful relationship with Judy over the last 25 years. It has been an honor representing her show, and just like there has never been another Oprah, there will never be another Judge Judy.”
Sheindlin isn’t retiring. She will be working on a new show, Judy Justice, on the Amazon-owned IMDb TV. No date for its debut has been set.