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The People's Court

134 statements
25 feature instances
13 referencing feature instances

The People's Court	type	TVTItem
The People's Court	label	The People's Court
The People's Court	page	ThePeoplesCourt
The People's Court	comment	The Ur-Example of the judge talk show, The People's Court had its pilot episode taped in October 1980 and premiered on September 14, 1981 when Judge Joseph Wapner took the court to the TV. The premise is that two parties, a plaintiff and a defendant, that would otherwise take their cases to small claims court would instead agree to have their case settled on television by Judge Wapner. After the verdict was given, each side would be interviewed by host and court reporter Doug Llewelyn, who would often end the show with the Catchphrase "If you and another party find yourselves at loggerheads, and you can't work things out, don't take the law into your own hands: you take 'em to court." On the other hand, if a case ended with a verdict for the defendant, Llewelyn would instead end the episode by saying "If someone files a lawsuit against you and yet you're convinced you're not guilty, that you've done nothing wrong, don't be intimidated. The best policy, as always, is to stand up for your rights: go to court." The show's other two regulars were bailiff Rusty Burrell and announcer Jack Harrell. The show was created by John Masterson, who previously created and executive produced Queen for a Day. It was executive produced by Ralph Edwards, who previously created, executive produced, and hosted Truth or Consequences, and his production partner, Stu Billett. Both men packaged the show under their own separate eponymous production companies, Ralph Edwards Productions and Stu Billett Productions, until 1987, when the companies merged. The show was originally distributed by Telepictures until 1986, when that company merged with Lorimar, creating Lorimar-Telepictures. Lorimar-Telepictures continued to distribute until 1989, when it was purchased by Warner Bros., who continued to distribute until the show's cancellation in 1993.After Judge Judy started the judge show revival in 1996, one of the first shows on the block was a revival of The People's Court, which premiered in 1997. Once again, the show was produced by Ralph Edwards-Stu Billett Productions and distributed by Warner Bros.. Former New York City mayor Ed Koch initially took the bench for the first two years, then was replaced by Jerry Sheindlin (husband of Judge Judy). He was replaced by Marilyn Milian in 2001, who presides over the court today. The bailiff during the Koch-Sheindlin years was Josephine Ann Longobardi. After Milian took the bench, she was replaced by Davy Jones, who only lasted relatively briefly and was in turn replaced by Douglas MacIntosh. Curt Chaplin took over the interview duties and became the new announcer, while host Harvey Levin, who worked on the Wapner version as the show's legal consultant, explains the legalese behind the judges' decisions while polling fans gathered outdoors. In 2016, as part of the show's 35th Anniversary, Doug Llewelyn returned as interviewer. Curt Chaplin, however, remains with the program as the show's announcer.Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Season 24 has a few differences. Milian and the litigants communicate through Zoom, with only Douglas in the courtroom, with Llewelyn stationed next to the logo sign in the hallway. Levin continues to provide commentary from his office at TMZ headquarters in Los Angeles, although his banter with viewers in the Third Street Promenade has been replaced by having viewers send in legal questions for him to answer, and a new segment called â€œAfter the Verdictâ€� was added, showing Milian and her husband, John Schlesinger (a real judge in his own right) discussing the verdict of the case. The intro was changed as well, with Chaplin narrating an altered version of the disclaimer, represented by scrolling text as in the Wapner and Koch eras, though they reverted to the standard intro a few weeks into the season; it was altered later on to use footage from Zoom cases.On February 17, 2023, it was announced that the current incarnation would end after 26 seasons. The final episode aired on July 21, 2023.The original is best known nowadays for being the favorite program of Raymond Babbit.
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The People's Court	processingComment	Dropped link to JudgeJudy: Not a Feature - ITEM
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The People's Court / int_16178c64	type	Gratuitous Spanish
The People's Court / int_16178c64	comment	Gratuitous Spanish: Judge Milian is Latina, and often offers dichos (sayings or proverbs) from her Cuban-America heritage as part of her cross-examinations. "Un clavo saca el otro clavo." ("One nail drives out the other.") "Lo barato sale caro." ("The cheap becomes expensive.") "Me pica que, me rasca aqui." ("It itches me here but you scratch me there." Said to a litigant who is not answering the judge's question directly.) "Toma chocolate, paga lo que debes." ("If you order a hot chocolate, pay for it." In other words, if you received a service, you pay for it. Judge Milian's equivalent of Judge Judy's "You ate the steak.") "Mas sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo." ("The devil knows more from being old than from being the devil.") "Sabes nadar sin mojarse la ropa." ("You know how to swim without getting your clothes wet." In other words, you're slick.) "Un arroz con mango." ("A rice with mango. You don't know where the rice begins and the mango ends." Used for a situation that is highly confusing.)
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The People's Court / int_26ac510e	type	Mythology Gag
The People's Court / int_26ac510e	comment	Mythology Gag: The hallway that the litigants enter the courtroom from and exit to features framed photos of all the former judges (Wapner, Koch and Sheindlin) and former bailiff Rusty Burrell.
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The People's Court / int_37499c8	type	OnceAnEpisode
The People's Court / int_37499c8	comment	Every Episode Opening: "This is the plaintiff..." "This is the defendant...he's accused of (insert horrible pun here)." "(Insert page quote here)". Bailiff: "All rise, the honorable judge (current judge here) presiding." Judge: "You may be seated." Marilyn Milian era, post-opening credits: Bailiff to all: "Be seated and come to order." Bailiff to Milian: "Litigants have been sworn in, your honor." Milian: "Thank you, Douglas!"
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The People's Court / int_38c493f1	type	End-of-Series Awareness
The People's Court / int_38c493f1	comment	End-of-Series Awareness: The last five minutes of the 2023 finale acknowledged that the show was ending. Harvey Levin and executive producer David Scott reminisced over the series' influence and paid tribute to Stu Billett, who had passed in 2021. The last scene saw Judge Milian get up from the desk, walk across the empty set, and turn the lights off as she left.
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The People's Court / int_41d0640b	type	Hello, Attorney!
The People's Court / int_41d0640b	comment	Hello, Attorney!: Marilyn Milian is 61 years old, looks like she's twenty years younger, and is gorgeous.
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The People's Court / int_4f4372e9	type	Early-Installment Weirdness
The People's Court / int_4f4372e9	comment	Early-Installment Weirdness: In addition to the judge-bailiff turnover, Levin originally had a co-host, Carol Martin, who previously was an anchor at New York City TV station WCBS. Unlike Levin, however, Martin hosted from a studio. The set used in Koch's first season was a near-exact replica of Wapner's set. It was remodeled into its current form in his second and final season. Chaplin originally narrated with a normal voice instead of an exaggerated one. In the original series, the first couple of seasons saw most of the cases being simple arbitrations, with rather bland, dull cases being heard. At least one episode â€“ likely from the fall of 1981 â€“ uploaded to video sharing websites was a simple dry cleaning dispute. In most of these cases, the litigants simply answered the judge's questions and did not try to interrupt or call the other litigant names, etc. Wapner rarely if ever accused litigants of outright lying, although he would call them on testimony he thought didn't seem to fit the evidence, and he would point out whether the lack of crucial evidence (such as, in one case, a piece of bone found on a pizza) would hurt their case. When the judge delivered his decision, the litigants â€“ except to answer a direct question â€“ simply listened respectfully, and while some of the litigants were understandably disappointed with the outcome, they generally accepted Wapner's decision in good stride or chalked it up as a lesson learned.
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The People's Court / int_50b05d30	type	Disproportionate Retribution
The People's Court / int_50b05d30	comment	Then there was the lady who called CPS on her neighbor because she wouldn't give back her magazine she loaned to her. Milian became downright vicious.
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The People's Court / int_5f6c6cc1	type	Can't Get Away with Nuthin'
The People's Court / int_5f6c6cc1	comment	Can't Get Away with Nuthin': As mentioned below, whenever litigants forget that Judge Milian is fluent in Spanish and try to curse her out or make snide comments thinking she can't understand. In addition, on one occasion, a defendant's witness openly threatened the plaintiff in court in Spanish, yelling that she was going to bust the plaintiff's face in. Of course, Her Honor caught this and admonished the witness right away. As with Judge Judy, there have also been some instances in which Judge Milian has announced to a litigant who has gotten away with some wrongdoing that she would be referring the case to local law enforcement after the fact. Also as with Judge Judy, one of said cases involved an Ebay scammer - the twist being that the scammer was a 16-year-old boy. The judge told him just before ruling against him, "If I were you I'd be waiting for the knock on the door, pal, because you are going to GET IT." The boy's mother subsequently fled the courtroom in tears, refusing to stop to talk to the court reporter (Curt Chaplin).
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The People's Court / int_7d7a7d0f	type	Opening Narration
The People's Court / int_7d7a7d0f	comment	Opening Narration: A fixture since the Wapner era.
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The People's Court / int_7d89315b	type	"The Reason You Suck" Speech
The People's Court / int_7d89315b	comment	"The Reason You Suck" Speech: So many instances with Judge Milian, all a Moment of Awesome for her. Judge Milian is actually pretty even-tempered compared with Judge Judy, but when something triggers her Berserk Button, hell hath no fury like hers. October 15, 2007: A University of Miami law student says her ruling is "your opinion". Milian goes postal. Then there was the lady who called CPS on her neighbor because she wouldn't give back her magazine she loaned to her. Milian became downright vicious. Another such instance occurred in a case where two tenants were suing their landlord for two thirds of their rent. After Judge Milian listened to a recording of a conversation between the three men and discovered the tenants were scammers, she tore right into them. One of the Zoom cases involved a young woman suing her brother for the cost of a new cell phone after he smashed her old one in a fit of rage, all because her car was parked in a space that the brother claimed was his. Judge Milian watched footage of the incident itself, where the brother pulled up to the driveway, yelled at his sister while she sat in her own car, and destroyed the aforementioned phone before calling their father and taking his anger out on him as well. Needless to say, Judge Milian was not impressed by the brother's decorum and called him out for it. Compared to the current version and its contemporaries (particularly Judge Judy), Judge Wapner from the original series rarely did this â€“ almost never in the first few seasons, but it became somewhat more common (although still comparably rare) by the late 1980s. But it was a sight to see when he got pissed â€“ and when he did, Wapner didn't hold back. One example was from 1987, when Wapner had an obnoxious plaintiff suing for damage to his car. The Plaintiff acted very poorly, bringing a crying baby into the courtroom, and tried to manipulate the proceedings accusing the judge of being 'overly reactive'. Wapner's usual patience quickly wore thin, and he was not shy about calling him out on his bad attitude, stopping just short of throwing him out. The plaintiff went on to actually win his case, but not without Wapner making it clear he only won because the law was on his side, and not because of the way he acted, (and that Wapner would never handle a case for him again). However, the plaintiff had clearly learned nothing, and strutted around the courtroom taunting the defendant. Afterwards, Doug questioned his attitude and the Plaintiff still acted like he was the victim, and only cared that he had won his case.
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The People's Court / int_9f62723d	type	Get Out!
The People's Court / int_9f62723d	comment	Get Out!: Like Judge Judy, Judge Milian won't hesitate to throw out a litigant who tries to talk over her too much, repeatedly ignores her instructions to be quiet, or blatantly disrespects the proceedings. In a case aired ca. Spring 2007 a landlord who wouldn't give the deposit back to his former tenants was very picky about how he was addressed by the judge. After he told her to watch herself she threw him out of the courtroom.
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The People's Court / int_b01abe4f	type	Catchphrase
The People's Court / int_b01abe4f	comment	Catchphrase: Doug Llewelyn closing out each episode, "Don't take the law into your own hands. Take them to court."note This catch phrase is no longer used in the current version, although former court reporter Curt Chaplin used a variation of it in promos during commercial breaks inviting litigants to bring their cases on the show. Judge Wapner, when greeting the litigants: "I know you've all been sworn and I have read your complaint." Harvey Levin, after explaining the summary of the reason behind the verdict: "And that will do it for this case; litigants for the next case on their way into the courtroom right now." Like Judge Judy, Marilyn Milian has her own set of catch phrases: "Did I breathe and give you the impression I was done speaking?" "You redefine chutzpah!" "We have a name for people like you. We call them litigants."note Judge Milian utters this with litigants who didn't make sure to do what was necessary to not have to resolve the issue in court - for example, failing to preserve a contract in writing. She often notes that all that is necessary to create a written contract is a crayon and a roll of toilet paper. Various Spanish sayings part of Her Honor's Cuban-American heritage, as noted below. "Who am I gonna believe, you or my lying eyes?" "I wouldn't believe you if your tongue came notarized." "NOT here! NOT today! And NOT in my courtroom!" "You need to come to court with more than your flapping gums."note Said whenever a litigant comes to court without the necessary evidence, meaning that the litigant can't expect the judge to take his or her word for it. "You're trying to ching, ching, let that cash register ring."note Said to litigants with inflated claims whom the judge determines to be more interested in a big payday than in being made whole; see Epic Fail for an example. "If everyone can stop playing 'quien es mas macho', we wouldn't be here." "Say it, forget it; write it, regret it."note Her Honor says this when reminding litigants that nothing they write on the Internet is ever private or completely "gone." "Good luck, folks."note Usually Judge Milian's final words after issuing her verdict, her equivalent of Judge Judy's "That's all" or "We're done."
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The People's Court / int_b4eff8a8	type	Epic Fail
The People's Court / int_b4eff8a8	comment	Epic Fail / Too Dumb to Live: For one Wapner-era plaintiff. Said plaintiff sued a store owner for $5000. The reason? The plaintiff had bought a candy bar from the defendant's store, took a bite, and found maggots inside. The store owner had offered to either refund the plaintiff's money or replace the candy bar, but the indignant plaintiff insisted that the store would be hearing from his lawyer, because the store had sold him a product that could have made him sick. Wapner got the plaintiff to testify that he ultimately did not consume any of the candy bar and, therefore, did not become sick. Still, the plaintiff kept insisting that the store owner was to be held accountable for the tainted candy bar and practically accused the man of willfully trying to poison him and other people. Wapner did find for the plaintiff... in the amount of 50 cents, the cost of the candy bar. This, to date, is the smallest award ever paid out in show history. Though the store owner technically lost, he understandably felt vindicated by the ruling. Judge Milian had a similar case years later involving a woman who sued a restaurant for $5,000 in emotional distress after finding a small rock in her salad. This time, the plaintiff's case was completely dismissed. And any time someone makes a rude comment in Spanish, thinking that Judge Milian won't understand them. One case involved a plaintiff suing for a refund on an iPhone he bought on eBay that he claimed was stolen and defective, while the defendant claimed he originally bought the phone from another person. However, it turns out the plaintiff didn't have the phone in his possession while in the courtroom, so Judge Milian would not award him his money until the phone showed up. Unhappy with the ruling, he cursed under his breath, thinking the judge wouldn't hear him. But she did. And she amended the judgment by giving him one day to return the phone if he wanted his money back.
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The People's Court / int_b53077b3	type	Take That!
The People's Court / int_b53077b3	comment	Take That!: One of Judge Milian's early cases involved an elderly woman suing a hair salon for pain and suffering over a botched hair extension job. In her testimony, the plaintiff described being in pain while hearing Judge Joe Brown playing on television in the background.
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The People's Court / int_bc74ef27	type	Berserk Button
The People's Court / int_bc74ef27	comment	Berserk Button: While Judge Milian is generally nicer and less abrasive than her rival Judge Judy, it seems to take less to trigger Judge Milian's Berserk Button than it does Judge Judy's. Particularly, she'll get upset when she senses that a litigant is lying, and has said that she is personally offended by liars in court because she feels that they are underestimating her. While Judge Milian doesn't have nearly as many Berserk Buttons as Judge Judy in regard to the way litigants speak and present themselves, she hates it when litigants call her "Miss" instead of "Judge" or "Your Honor." In a case aired February 8, 2018, the plaintiff was suing her ex-girlfriend's daughter and daughter's fiancee for past due rent, among other things. When the plaintiff kept trying to interject during Judge Milian's ruling and the judge ordered her to be quiet, the plaintiff accused the judge of homophobia. Judge Milian overheard this comment and tore into the plaintiff while throwing her out of court and ultimately dismissing her case. While far less common during the Judge Wapner (1981-1993) era, it was not unheard of for Wapner to get upset if a litigant was outright lying, broke the law, engaged in neglect or otherwise violated a code of ethics. More than once, both litigants drew Wapner's ire and â€“Â in calling both out on their bad behavior â€“Â he would dismiss both the plaintiff's claim and defendant's countersuit, calling it a "$0, $0." He also didn't take kindly to members of the courtroom gallery acting disrespectfully in court; more than once, he warned several observers who were snickering at one of the litigants' testimony, and it was not unheard of for him to ask Rusty to throw an observer out for repeatedly ignoring Wapner's directives to be quiet.
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The People's Court / int_c4d09d24	type	Couch Gag
The People's Court / int_c4d09d24	comment	Couch Gag: The episodes produced during COVID-19 have intros showing a rotation of footage from various Zoom cases.
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The People's Court / int_cdd835ce	type	Dude, Not Funny!
The People's Court / int_cdd835ce	comment	invokedDude, Not Funny!: At least once in the original Wapner version â€“ the case involved some sensitive issues â€“ a small number of observers were chuckling at one of the litigant's answers. Wapner paused and (sternly) told the observers to knock it off or he'd have them escorted out. In a March 2018 episode, Judge Milian ejected a defendant from the courtroom for laughing during her ruling.
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The People's Court / int_d394829d	type	Frivolous Lawsuit
The People's Court / int_d394829d	comment	Frivolous Lawsuit: A woman sued a landscaping business over one of their workers allegedly weed whacking her Asiatic Black Wizard lilies that her friend planted. When the defendant gave his side of the story, along with his evidence, the plaintiff constantly stared him down. Judge Milian examined written accounts of the plaintiff's questionable behavior, which the latter of course denied doing. Funnily enough, the plaintiff also stated she suggested the landscaper go to the library to learn what a flower was. The fact that the flowers were on the plaintiff's HOA's property and not her own cost her the entire case. Then the defendant states that the police were called to the scene to de-escalate the situation at hand, much to the plaintiff's chagrin. The madness doesn't end there, though. The defendant presents another nugget of evidence which amuses the judge. The plaintiff obviously wasn't afraid to express her frustration after the verdict, going so far as to bring religion into her argument. You can tell Doug was at least slightly nervous when interviewing her.
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The People's Court / int_d9cf40fa	type	Screw This, I'm Outta Here
The People's Court / int_d9cf40fa	comment	Screw This, I'm Outta Here: One plaintiff, upset at the way Judge Milian was ruling, not only stormed out of the courtroom, but kicked the door as he did so. He attempted to re-enter the courtroom, but Milian angrily yelled at him to leave. Similarly, during the Judge Wapner version, another plaintiff similarly stormed out of the courtroom due to disagreeing with Judge Wapner's decision. Unlike the above example, however, the plaintiff's storming out was far more civil, as he did not kick the door down, nor tried to re-enter the courtroom. When Doug Llewelyn tried to get an interview from him, he just merely blew him off. Another case involved a plaintiff suing the defendant's towing company for allegedly damaging her Honda Pilot, but she had absolutely no proof of such events that happened during the tow and never even bothered to document any sort of damage in writing.
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The People's Court / int_dcc35bb	type	Celebrity Cameo
The People's Court / int_dcc35bb	comment	Celebrity Cameo: Wally George was the defendant in an episode of the original Wapner version, being sued by one of his guests who claimed that Wally offered to pay his travel expenses, but didn't do so. Wapner ruled in favor of George (and had to remind the constantly interrupting George just whose show he was on). The Coasters also appeared as defendants in one case, being sued by a promoter. Wapner found in favor of the group.
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The People's Court / int_e13156e1	type	Mama Bear
The People's Court / int_e13156e1	comment	Mama Bear: As the mother of young daughters, Milian will not hold back on a litigant who's actions caused a young girl to get hurt in some way.
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The People's Court / int_e83f211c	type	O.O.C. Is Serious Business
The People's Court / int_e83f211c	comment	O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Judge Milian goes on a tear, she's entertaining; one suspects she has a theatrical personality anyway. When a litigant crosses a line (most likely trying to get away with a bald-faced lie), and she stares at that litigant and starts talking to them in a low, quiet voice, she is terrifying. And if you're unlucky enough to be on the receiving end, you are screwed.
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The People's Court / int_f0e85546	type	Unbuilt Trope
The People's Court / int_f0e85546	comment	Unbuilt Trope: The Wapner-era court was the Ur-Example of the judge show, but despite the occasional Lemony Narrator, it was a much more serious courtroom than Judge Judy or most of the imitators. Most cases were fairly pedestrian arbitrations between usually-reasonable people, and really dumb or obnoxious litigants were the exception rather than the rule (though they did happen often enough to spice up the show). Judge Judy came along later and introduced the Jerkass judge and a preference for idiotic plaintiffs and defendants for her to take apart, which came to typify the genre and became part of the rebooted People's Court.
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The People's Court / int_fab3b838	type	Everything Is Racist
The People's Court / int_fab3b838	comment	Everything Is Racist: Circa 2003, an elderly couple sued for alleged damage to their awning by a bottle rocket, charging their neighbors with anti-Semitism and claiming they had done it on purpose. It turned out that the plaintiffs had a track record of making baseless claims of anti-Semitism against neighbors - they had called the police on the defendants no fewer than 58 times, and had done the same in previous neighborhoods, alleging anti-Semitism with each call. The defendants had filed a counterclaim for one dollar, which was more about sending a message than anything else. Judge Milian skewered the plaintiffs for filing a frivolous complaint and for taking her time and attention away from legitimate cases, before dismissing their case and ruling for the defendant for double the amount he'd sued for - $2.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The People's Court	hasFeature	And Knowing Is Half the Battle / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Confession Cam / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Every Episode Ending / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	First-Run Syndication / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Get Out! / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Instrumental Theme Tune / int_51757b31
JudgeJudy	seeAlso	The People's Court
The People's Court	hasFeature	Mad Libs Dialogue / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Pilot / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Series of the 2000s / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Series of the 2020s / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Signing-Off Catchphrase / int_51757b31
The People's Court	hasFeature	Spicy Latina / int_51757b31

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