Matt Buckler: 'Judge Judy' was the boss -- and a star

Jul. 22—Judge Judy Sheindlin started her TV fame slowly. Her courtroom show landed on WTXX-TV20, which at the time was a lightly-watched — and regarded — station that had just made the transition from home shopping to the UPN Network. There was no huge fanfare or publicity blitz that accompanied "Judge Judy's" launch.

"Judge Judy" kind of just happened — it was on a station not many Connecticut viewers watched, but they found her show. And the show became a hit, basically from word-of-mouth advertising.

When "Judge Judy" kicked off its second season, Channel 20 knew it had something special — it arranged a media get-together with Sheindlin at a West Hartford restaurant for a chat.

That's when I found out how popular "Judge Judy" was. As soon as the word got out that I was going to see Sheindlin, everyone in the building had a question for me to ask her. I didn't get that response when I talked to Jerry Springer — only Judy Sheindlin.

I was also very nervous because I saw how mean she could be on her show. If I asked a question that she didn't care for, I was afraid I would get sentenced to 30 days in jail.

On television, she could be very intimidating.

In the restaurant, however, she was not intimidating at all. She was down to earth — and funny. She seemed to be overwhelmed by her success, as if it was something she didn't expect. And it had not gotten to her head.

She explained her philosophy of her courtroom show, a form of programming that was dead before she revived it.

On many talk shows during the late '90s, the inmates were running the asylum — the guests were overwhelming the hosts. Shows hosted by Sally Jessy Raphael, Jenny Jones, Maury Povich, and Springer — who was the king of confrontational TV — were turning into shouting matches, and the hosts had no control over the guests.

Sheindlin changed that. There was no question who was in charge of her show. She was the authoritative figure who would take no garbage from anyone.

She also was smart enough to know when someone was trying to pull something over on her — she wouldn't stand for it.

The public liked it — a TV judge who acted like a real judge.

Without her robe on, Sheindlin was very friendly. She was asked a question about her being mean, and she seemed to enjoy it. It meant that her show was working the way she wanted it to work.

Soon the courtroom shows started to multiply. There was Judge Mills Lane and Judge Greg Mathis, "The People's Court" made a comeback and so did "Divorce Court."

Some of the show's aired actual cases, and others were dramatizations.

None of them, however, came close to "Judge Judy" in the Nielsen ratings.

She was able to get on better stations and better time periods and started to close in on Oprah Winfrey for TV's highest-rated syndicated show. When Winfrey retired, Sheindlin moved to the top.

And now Sheindlin is ready to retire. When she appears on WTNH-TV8 Friday at 4 p.m., it will be her final show.

Sheindlin is hanging up her robe and her gavel.

She's not completely disappearing. Sheindlin will be launching a new streaming show on the IMDb streaming service. There will also be enough reruns to last for a while.

Because Sheindlin knew how to handle her career, she was able to make a ton of money. She not only became one of the most popular stars in television, she became one of the richest.

Perhaps because she was making so much cash, I should have asked her to pick up the tab that day.

But I was afraid she would have thrown her gavel at me.

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