Judge Judy
I enjoy watching Judge Judy.
The people are real, the cases are real, and the judgments are binding.
The judgments are binding because the plaintiff and defendant have to agree to this beforehand in writing before Judge Judy will hear the case. The plaintiff also has to agree that the case cannot be pursued again in any other court if he/she is not satisfied with the judgment.
The advantage of the process for the defendant is that money judgments awarded against them are paid by the production company. When property has to be returned, this is done through an order from Judge Judy which is enforced by a sheriff's department.
I'm going tell to a story about a case which was dismissed without prejudice (which releases the plaintiff from the agreement not to pursue the matter in another court)..
The plaintiff was a young woman aged about 25 who was suing her former boyfriend for $5,000 which she had loaned to him for some reason which I forget. She actually lent him $6,500 but the maximum Judge Judy can award in her small claims court if $5,000. Anyway, the defendant, who was a young man aged about 25, stood slouching in a disrepectful manner (for someone in court) and told Judge Judy that he didn't want to be there and thought the whole thing was a waste of his time and he'd rather be at work. Judge Judge looked at him calmly and explained that he didn't have to be there, but he had agreed to be there to have the case heard.
The guy repeated that he thought it was a waste of time and he didn't want to be there. Judge Judy turned to the plaintiff and explained to her that she (the Judge) could dismiss the case without prejudice, which would enable the plaintiff to take the defendant to her local court and sue him for the full $6,500 which she would surely win based on the evidence presented.
Judge Judge then turned again to address the young man, and explained once again that he didn't have to be there and if he preferred the judge would dismiss the case without prejudice so that the plaintiff could take him to another court where she could sue him for the full $6,500 and would be likely to succeed, and the court would award that the amount would be garnisheed from his wages. Judge Judy made the guy's choices as plain to him as she could, several times, without actually spelling out that in her court his debt to the plaintiff gets paid by the production company and he doesn't have to pay anything, but in the other court decision the money will be deducted from his wages by his employer until the full amount was repaid and perhaps with interest. Judge Judy finally asked him again what he wanted to do. He wanted to leave, so the judge dismissed the case without prejudice.
The plaintiff and defendant are paid for their attendance. And so are those people in the audience, who are paid extras instructed to talk amongst each other like a real audience. The reason for using paid extras is to ensure there is always an audience.
Note By Note: The Making of Steinway L1037
I've moved my comments to the Pianos page.
Antiques Roadshow
For a while it was off air, and replaced by a Channel 9 experiment called This Afternoon where even Mark Ferguson, the main presenter, quit and moved to Ch 7 in the first week. Good for him. I wondered at the time how long this show would last?
This Afternoon was axed after three weeks and the Antiques Roadshow returned to its usual spot at 5.00pm weekdays.
But how about this little video -
Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, etc
I'm a huge fan of these shows. But no matter what you think of them, the guys who thought them up (Simon Cowell and Nigel Lithgow respectively) are making mega millions out of them, and their franchise TV shows in other countries, every year.
Therein lies the challenge to make millions. Think up a new reality show and sell it to a network.
Law and Order: UK
Tonight (12 Aug 2009) I watched the first episode of this programme. I expected to dislike the UK version of one of my favourite programmes, but instead, I loved it.
That was only the first episode, so we'll see how it goes.