'She's not full of crap': the reason Spielberg's mother gave for 30 years of Judge Judy — and why he's saying it on CBS
Thirty years ago this fall, a small, terrifying woman from Brooklyn put on a lace collar and began yelling at America's least-prepared litigants. America never recovered, and thank god for that.
Now CBS is making it official with Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable, a 90-minute primetime special airing Tuesday, September 22 at 8/7c (and streaming on Paramount+), tracing Judy Sheindlin's path from the New York City Family Court — where she was famously one of the toughest judges in the state — to 25 seasons of the most successful courtroom show in syndication history.
The guest list is a fever dream
The tribute lineup, per the announcement, includes Amy Poehler, RuPaul, Samuel L. Jackson, Steven Spielberg, and former Paramount chief Sherry Lansing, plus Sheindlin's son, Judge Adam Levy, various family members, old colleagues, and — my personal favorite category — actual former litigants. Imagine losing a $400 security-deposit dispute on national TV and then getting the call to appear in the anniversary special. Healing.
But the crown jewel is Spielberg, who shows up not with a director's appraisal of the genre but with a story about his mother.
"My mom watched her religiously, and one day I asked my mom, 'Why do you love Judge Judy as much as you do?' and my mom said, 'Because she's not full of crap, she tells the truth, she calls it the way she sees it. In a way, she is the voice of myself that I don't let go out that far.'"
"The voice of myself that I don't let go out that far" is, frankly, the most precise description of the Judge Judy viewing experience ever committed to a press release. She says the thing. We all just think it.
Judy, international woman of mystery
Samuel L. Jackson — a man who cannot walk ten feet without being recognized — contributes a story about having tea with Sheindlin in a London hotel lobby:
"People were walking by, 'My God, Judge Judy, and that guy, that actor guy.' But they knew her way better than they knew me."
That guy. That actor guy. Nick Fury, demoted to "and guest" by a 5'2" retired family court judge. The special promises never-before-seen home movies and full access to Sheindlin's personal archives, but honestly, it earned its 90 minutes with that anecdote alone. Baaaald-faced icon behavior, and the lace collar remains undefeated.
