I’m not sure we have enough TV judges appearing on the local airwaves.
For the lead item in today’s column, I perused the Observer’s TV listings and saw that a mere 12 different TV judge shows air on the television channels in the region each weekday.
And they occupy just 23 hours of daily programming. (Since most of the shows are 30 minutes long, you can tell that some of the TV judges are on several times a day — and on various channels.)
Wow! Until now, I hadn’t realized the extent of TV judgedom.
Today’s column notes that TV judges aren’t analogous with real judges — though many viewers may think they are. Not all of them have experience as real judges, either. But most do seem to have real law degrees.
Legal commentators think TV judge shows are eroding our view of, respect for and knowledge about how the real legal system does and should work. Go here and here to read a couple of articles on that subject.
But doggone it, TV judge shows are entertaining — to some. Or, uh, judging by the proliferation of the shows, to a lot of people.
Below: A rogue’s gallery of the TV judges now on our airwaves, plus one who was just pretending to be a real TV judge. Can you pick that person? If you can, click on the pic to go to a video spoof of a TV judge show.
