That was the question my sister, Beth, asked me late last week. She, her husband, Rande, and a mutual friend, Marcie, were going to a taping and had an extra ticket.
Now I haven’t really watched the show since the Ed Koch days. To be honest, my own experience in court (i.e., divorce proceedings) kind of soured me on the notion of watching other people relive misery and pain in a courtroom setting. I know they’re there voluntarily, but it still gives me a vaguely unsettling, even voyeuristic feeling.
On the other hand, in the words of Doc Brown, “Well, I figured…what the hëll?”
So I met them at the studio as prearranged early Wednesday morning, and after being seated in the second row on the defendant’s side (how visible we were, I’ve no clue), we watched as five cases were marched before the presiding judge, Judge Milian. This was my first exposure to her, and to say she does not suffer fools gladly is to understate it. She shredded several of the plaintiffs/defendants, including some college students arguing over shared utilities and a guy who played upon a female friend’s credulousness by getting her to use her charge card to rent him cars all summer. And through it all, I still had that same queasy “This really is none of my business but I can’t look away” feeling.
All except one, the single creepiest case of the afternoon. A case in which a New York City bus driver claimed that a belligerent passenger had kicked the crap out of him, doing him permanent injury (torn ligaments, unable to move his right arm, etc.), and he was suing him for $5000 in emotional distress. (He naturally could have gone after him in “big boy” court rather than small claims, but at least with “People’s Court,” any money awarded is guaranteed by the producers, so it’s a sure thing…if you win.) The passenger claimed that the driver had started it and he was the victim.
The driver was White and 51, the passenger Black and 61. The reason I mention race was because the passenger made a major issue out of it. Having earlier pled guilty in criminal court and been sentenced, not to jail, but to attend anger management classes (which he angrily stated he didn’t need and had then not attended), he proceeded to claim that the driver was racist, the witnesses were racist, the cops who arrested him were racist, the judge who had sentenced him was racist, and even started threatening to attack the bus driver again in the presence of Judge Milian, the entire audience, and the driver’s twelve year old son. Everyone in the audience, Black and White alike, was sitting there with his or her mouth open in shock. I won’t say what the verdict was, but he didn’t exactly help his case.
Between cases, Beth and I started coming up with imaginary scenarios for “The People’s Court.” You know, like “This is Satan. He claims that God threw him out of Paradise, and is demanding the return of his deposit and one half of the rent money.” “This is God. He says that Satan was no angel, gave him a hotfoot, and left him no choice but to give him the heave ho.” That kind of thing.
The guy I had the most fun watching was the baliff, Douglas, a strapping young man who constantly looked like he was biting his tongue not to laugh at some of the remarkable idiots being paraded before them. My understanding is that he’s not a real baliff but an actor. Nevertheless, he sure didn’t consider his job just for show: He did not hesitate, for instance, to put himself bodily between the bus driver and the passenger when it seemed as if the passenger was actually going to make a serious move right there.
After the show, various court personnel including the judge posed with Beth, Rande, Marcie and me. The pictures will be up shortly.
The shows should be airing some time in September. I’ll be sure to let you know the exact air dates.
PAD
• 
Give ’em the chair.
The Chair!
THE CHAIR!!
Seriously, I myself spent a day at a taping for five episodes of Judge Mills Lane (Remember him?) I was contacted through a friend Mike who did casting, and I got paid for my day’s time (something like a hundred dollars, or something), and all I had to do was get dressed up. You could tell who in the audience (galley?) were also signed up by Mike, because they were the ones similarly attired.
We didn’t hear any case as outrageous as Peter’s “The Case of the Bad Rosa Parks Impersonator,” but I was pretty appalled out how the litigants in one case brought their very young son to the proceedings, as I wondered if he should’ve been in school, instead of watching his mommy and daddy trading verbal jabs. I was also offended at the woman’s histrionics, which looked manufactured simply because she knew she’d be on TV.
This was in a February or January of three or four years ago, and coincidentally, my episodes ended up airing in September too. As I recall, I got mostly cropped out by the camera.
Figures. I guess I should’ve sued them.
Ðámņ. Still getting used to the new setup. Now whole chunks of text not meant to be italicized were italicized.
This is what I get for constantly suggesting a registration setup for the blog.
It’s amazing the things you see at a program with a live audience. Heck, I work in television, and deal with it all of the time, and it still amazes me!
And through it all, I still had that same queasy “This really is none of my business but I can’t look away” feeling.
All except one, the single creepiest case of the afternoon…
So, does the “all except one” mean you were able to look away, or does it mean you decided this case was your business, and didn’t feel queasy one bit?
(I felt I should say something besides, “This is just a test”)
Italics do seem to work a little differently here. The top two paragraphs in my previous post of course should have been italicized.
“So, does the “all except one” mean you were able to look away, or does it mean you decided this case was your business, and didn’t feel queasy one bit?”
That’s exactly right.
Most of the other cases occurred “behind closed doors,” as it were. They were, for the most part, people who’d lived together or had relationships that had somehow gone off the rails. For obvious reasons, they had a personal resonance with which I wasn’t always entirely comfortable.
But this was a public fist fight in the middle of Queens. It was, basically, a criminal case. So it didn’t have that same “I wish I weren’t hearing this” impact for me.
PAD
It seems like going to tapings of “The People’s Court” is far more common than I thought. I went once to a taping back when I was going to journalism school in Manhattan, and convinced my professor that it would make a good story on the “courts and criminals” beat. The finished result barely resembled actual journalism, but I had fun.
My clearest memory — and this was from the Koch years — was standing out in the waiting area, waiting to be allowed onto the set, with a guy who kept singing those introductory notes that start the theme song, when they’re introducing people. Just those three notes. “Da dum, dum.” Pause. “Da dum, dum.” I imagined that, in his mind, those notes were announcing his arrival on the scene. He seemed familiar enough with the tune that I suspected he used those notes as the internal sountrack to every room he entered.
By the Koch: fair judge, but boy, he was no Wapner.
Hey, that’s pretty cool. I work nights and record cartoons from the Kids’ WB, so occasionally I wake up in the late morning/early afternoon and discover the Tivo is still on the affiliate station, which runs a plethora of judge shows, including an hour block of [I]The Peoples’ Court[/I]. I think all judge shows are pretty stupid — they operate on kind of a lay-person’s condensed law — but Judge Sexy McRedhead is usually worth a watch. She’s got a pair of brass ones from time to time, and I’m pretty sure I could guess what she said to the defendant on the show you attended. I probably won’t go out of my way to see it, but it’s usually fun to see her go after something other than a pissy civil suit.
Um, why was my name ghosted in my first two posts, and not in bold blue?
Can anyone help me out there?
Thanks.
I miss Dug Loo Ellen.
mine was ghosted too… What gives?
Luigi,
I tried typing my e-mail address in the “URL:” field in the “Post a comment” section and my name came out bolded blue. However, it isn’t a good link. It tries to make whatever you type in the field a URL. For instance, in the “URL:” field for this comment, I typed a true URL. I’m gonna say it probably will be a good link after I post (if it were an acutal website, that is).
Comment: car crash tv?
You can’t help but looking even though part of you wants to turn away.
Now, if I could apply the samething to myself when it comes to Big Brother …
Luigi,
Typekey is not sending your address through. It was sending mine and I had to go to their website to click the box to ask them not to do it. If you want your shown, you’ll have to click the box at your account that asks if you want you address sent. I worry overly much about spam. Considering some of the recent posters, I alos like to be selective about who gets my address.
PAD:
>Between cases, Beth and I started coming up with imaginary scenarios for “The People’s Court.” You know, like “This is Satan. He claims that God threw him out of Paradise, and is demanding the return of his deposit and one half of the rent money.” “This is God. He says that Satan was no angel, gave him a hotfoot, and left him no choice but to give him the heave ho.” That kind of thing.
Cool thinking. Have you ever read the book “I, Lucifer”? The premise involves Satan being given a second chance to redeem himself by God. He is given human form and instructed to do good. Once being placed on Earth, he can’t resist the temptation to give “his side of the story” to the world.
I haven’t picked it up, but it sounds like it has some potential.
Anyone?
Fred
I love Judge Millian! I try to catch her whenever I’m home during the day. It’s a lot of fun to watch her castigate idiots! 🙂
Honestly, after watching several weeks of Judge Judy (it’s standard background noise at dinner in my house), nothing surprises me anymore.
I love Peoples Court. The judge truly takes no guff. Please remember to let us know when the episodes are on.
Good Morning PAD:
I just submit a test post to make sure I am up and running.
Regards:
Warren S. Jones III
Just putting in my first post to get through the system.
Interested in a real case involving Satan? Here’s a classic case in American law, Mayo v. Satan and his Staff:
http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/cyberia-l/msg40881.html
Well, that was interesting. I just spent ten minutes detailing a brilliant SNL sketch from the ’80s that featured the Devil being sued on “The People’s Court,” and the text disappeared when I hit the preview button…
Brad and Karen, thanks for the advise. I was leaving the URL field blank, since I don’t have a website, but I see now that just putting my email address in there makes my name bold and blue (which is all I wanted, not necessarily showing my address). 🙂
PAD, can I use this on a story?
By the way, I will buy two FALLEN ANGEL copies on Amazon, one of them as a gift.
hmm…
When I was in college, a friend and I used to watch a block of shows including “Quincy”, “Ducktales”, “Real Ghostbusters”, “The Judge” and “People’s Court” (Judge Wapner version). “The Judge” was a riot for the opening credits alone, in which we see him getting ready for work, putting on his coat and tie, surrounded by pictures of _himself_ on his dresser, and mantle, and whatnot. Then his wife waves to him from the door like she’s June Cleaver, as he heads off, briefcase in hand. As this is happening, his pretentious voiceover tells us who he is (mercifully, I forget his name) and how he hopes to “temper justice with mercy.”
I don’t remember any of the actual cases, however; but I’m sure they were good for a chuckle or two.
The one “People’s Court” case that stands out involved a guy who proposed to this girl working in some store (whom he didn’t know, and had only just met). He gave her a ring, and when the wedding never took place he wanted it back. She claimed she gave it to her boyfriend to have it appraised, and that he later “lost” it. I don’t recall the final verdict in the case, only that Judge Wapner called the guy who’d proposed something along the lines of a 24 karat idiot for giving a woman he didn’t even know an expensive ring.
“Ducktales” and “Real Ghostbusters” were both good stuff, Maynard (“That’s illogical. You _cannot_ move a lake.”) But the best was “Quincy.” Thanks to that show, we knew how to identify a dead body on sight. It came in handy when someone would be foolish enough to eat the cafeteria food.
THUD.
“He’s dead, Jim,” I’d say.
“My name’s not Jim. You _know_ my name’s not Jim. Why do you keep saying that?”
I’d just shrug.
Rick
Rick Keating, when I spent a year in Ohio, I saw the original, REAL version of “The Judge.” It was a small local show, put on when TV stations HAD to serve the public (a legal obligation destroyed by Ronald Reagan).
It was made in conjunction with the Ohio Bar Association, and in a couple of small sets – mostly the judge’s personal chambers – it illustrated real points of law, mostly involving problems with children and teens. It was filmed on a budget of about twelve bucks. But it was real, non-sensational, and honest. Which its later imitation, “The People’s Court”, and its brief incarnation as a syndicated show, were not.
//Rick Keating, when I spent a year in Ohio, I saw the original, REAL version of “The Judge.” It was a small local show, put on when TV stations HAD to serve the public (a legal obligation destroyed by Ronald Reagan).//
//It was made in conjunction with the Ohio Bar Association, and in a couple of small sets – mostly the judge’s personal chambers – it illustrated real points of law, mostly involving problems with children and teens. It was filmed on a budget of about twelve bucks. But it was real, non-sensational, and honest. Which its later imitation, “The People’s Court”, and its brief incarnation as a syndicated show, were not.//
Huh. I saw “The Judge” years ago in Indiana when it was part of an afternoon syndicated package that included “The People’s Court”, “Divorce Court” (1980’s version, with the campy fictionalized cases and the judge clearly having himself a ball with some of the stories/cases unfolding in front of him), and a show who’s title escapes me at the moment (it was set in a federal courtroom and looked like it was made by the same company that put on the “Judge” and done on a similar budget). I had always wondered where “The Judge” and the one-whose-title-escapes-me had come from originally. And now I know. Or at least have a clue where to start looking for information on them. Thank you Thomas E. Reed.
Chris
Hi,
I’m looking for Beth D Milyo. According to a posting on another site, she is also looking for me, but her email address appears to have expired (bethd@home.com). If anyone has a current email address for her, please send it to danette@oddpost.com (this is my daughter’s email, as I am getting a new email soon and don’t know what it will be).
Beth and I knew each other in Great Lakes in the Navy.
Thank you!!
Glenna Collins