SHE RULES
‘Judge Judy’ Sheindlin is TV’s daytime dynamo
‘JUDGE Judy dy” is marching inexorably toward its ninth straightraight season as TV’s top-rated syndicatedd daytime show.
And Judyy Sheindlinn says therethere’ss a reason for that.
“I think people stilll like order and they still likeke rules anandnd they like that comfortort of seeing,seeingg, at least, a case from start to finish,”sh,” says ShSheindlin,heindlin, 75. “I’m so disgusted withith things I can’t relate to on TV ... and everything seems to be in such disorderorder in thee world and people still likeike order. They want their comfortrt food andd I think I’ve been associatedated with comfort food. I have a particular personality and sense of humor and I don’t have to workk hard doing my job — it comeses natunaturally to me.”
In today’s daytime land-ndscape, a show averagingg 3 million to 4 million daily viewers is having a great week; “Judge Judy,” by comparison, tops 10 million (sometimes 12 million) viewers daily — off the charts for any show, let alone one in its 22nd season. Part of that can be attributedibuted to Sheindlin’s interactions,ons, not only with on-air litigantsigants but with viewers: The show’s cur-current Facebook contest, “Judge JudJudydy Ultimate High School Graduationn Essay Contest,” will reward thehe winner with Sheindlin speak-speak ing at its 2018 high schoolool graduation ceremony.
“I think I have a balancedanced sense of justice and I can read people and situationsions reasonably well,” says Sheindlin. “I thinkk women who watch [‘Judge Judy’] like to seeee women in control; so many women are notot in control of their lives, and a lot of the e-mails I get are about that. They watch and they like to see some-some one in control.”
Sheindlin is asked to commentcomment on the #MeToo movement.
“There are predators as opposed to schmucks and they all form part of this #MeMeToo movement because I think the dialogue is you’re neitneither supposed to be a predator or a schmuck — you’re supposedsupp to be respectfulful of people,” she says. “And unfortunaunfortunately, because of it, I think the easy social dialogue between normal people has become sort of restricted. YouYo don’t know where the edge is: if you’re going too err, yyou better err on the side of caution. “I experiencedd some gender bias early on in my [legalegal]al] carecareer but my reaction to it was, ‘LiListen,isten, I’I’m better than that and I can be bettbetter,’ ” she says. “I think ththathat any person, man or womanwoman,an, who uses their ability to impaimpactact your livelihood in order to sesexuallyexually gratify themselves, or ttheir ego,eg by humiliating yoyouou has tto be drummed out oof the corps,co whatever that ccorps isis. They’re really just bbad people.pe “One of the first photo shoots I had [for ‘Judge Judy’], the company doing the shoshoot sent me a young manman wwho was the son of the owowner of the company. II wawas 52, he was 23, and hehe was holding his hhand up to the lens llike he knows what he’s doing and says to me, ‘I think you shouldsh do this,’ and I saisaid to him, ‘Young man, I have food in my refrefrigeratorfrigerat older than you are.’ I don’t eever remember any time afterr that inin which I felt as if someonesomeone waswaas tryingtryin to talk down to me because II wwaswas aa wwoman.” Sheindlin is signsignedgned for “Judge Judy” throughgh the show’s 25th season (2020-21), and says she’ll know when it’s time to hhang up her TV robe. “Absolutely — I’m waiting forf that time, but so far it hasn’t happened,” she says.sa “Somebody is gonna have to tell me when I start to sound ... confused and not focused: ‘JuJudy is getting too confused, there’s too much eediting to put this together.’ But I don’t think ththat’s happened yet. “I don’t play golf or tennistennis — right now I’m in my gym clothes and will pprobably go downstairsstairs for another brief walk this afternoon,” she says. “I like the work as an ancanchor and it hasn’t become boring yet. I’m sure ththere will come a time — but it’s not just yet.”