Judy Sheindlin, who departed one of first-run broadcast syndication's most enduring and profitable enterprises ever in March 2021 to take her judge act into streaming, is circling back to the syndication market, according to Deadline.
One of the most popular shows on Amazon's free ad-supported Freevee service, Judy Justice, the reality courtroom series produced by and starring Sheindlin is reportedly being shopped in the off-network syndication market by co-producer and distributor Sox Entertainment, with a fall 2024 debut being targeted.
Neither Sheindlin's group or Amazon Studios have officially confirmed or announced anything about this yet.
So far, around 260 episodes and two seasons of Judy Justice have been produced by Amazon Studios for Freevee. The show will have close to 400 episodes through four available by the time of its fall 2024 rollout.
With content flooding into streaming, the suddenly programming bereft broadcast syndication market could probably use a little new blood.
Sheindlin’s previous court series, CBS Media Ventures’s Judge Judy still thrives in “strip” syndication more than two years after it ended production. With an average of 5.6 million viewers per season to date, it still ranks as the No. 1 court show, according to Nielsen, and it's second in daytime syndicated programs behind Steve Harvey’s Family Feud.
Judge Judy ran for 25 seasons before coming to a close in 2021. Before it wrapped, Sheindlin had a whopping $47 million per-year contract, and even once sold the rights to her programming back to CBS for another $95 million.
Still, Sheindlin is hardly winding it down now that she's moved her judicial act to the FAST market.
Freevee and Sheindlin have plans to make things bigger and better with Judy Justice by offering a $10,000 award to plaintiffs rather than the $5,000 offered on her previous series.
In its first season, the series won the Daytime Emmy for Best Legal/Courtoom Program and, according to Freevee, Judy Justice is its No. 1 original program based on hours viewed — with customers watching more than 150 million hours by the end of April.
And last week, it announced that spinoff series Tribunal Justice will get a second season on Freevee.
Judy Justice is distributed by Sox Entertainment, executive produced and directed by Randy Douthit, executive produced by Scott Koondel and co-executive produced by Amy Freisleben.
