The Judge

Despite of the success of Ralph Edwards' "People's Court" with Joe Wapner, there was a brief, golden era during the mid-to-late 80s when scripted courtroom dramas like "The Judge" and a revival of the old daytime staple of the 60s/70s "Divorce Court" made a comeback.

To this day, when I see local Los Angeles news correspondent Toni Guinyard file a report, I can't help but wax nostalgic about her brief stint as host of the 80's incarnation of "Divorce Court".

The perverse charm & hilarity of these shows lies in the fact that they were so unintentionally cheesy in every respect: the lousy scripts, the amateurish acting, the cheap sets, the two-bit camera work, and the feeble attempts at pontificating some "relevant social message".

Like him or not, Wapner was nevertheless a savvy, camera-friendly judge with real experience and an astute knowledge of civil law.

"Judge Franklin", on the other hand, was obviously a community theatre bumpkin plucked from the plains of Ohio---dispensing his own special brand of folksy grandfatherly "wisdom". Hence, the whole camp appeal of the show.

There doesn't seem to be any mention in the notes about the show moving production to Canada toward the end of its run. However, it is obvious that it did, as all of the actors involved in the show (save the "Judge") possessed a distinctly Canadian dialect.

The only "crime" surrounding these courtroom dramas is that they are not available to the small, yet devoted fan base like myself who find a (granted, somewhat twisted) appeal in reliving this tiny slice of Reagan-era banality.

I used to watch this show as a kid and I really enjoyed it. The judge, Robert J Franklin isn't your typical powertripping judge. He is a man that tries to enforce justice with mercy. This show didn't have the sleeze that other shows would have, it was just good stories handled in a very diligent manner. It showed what society should be like; descent, truthful, honest, and courageous. True, they are all fake, but it provided plenty of enjoyment while I was growing up. I truly miss this show and hope that reruns will come back.

You had family court cases that were unbelieveable. There was one case in which an elderly man is caught in a undercover vice sting with an explaination he was there for a legitimate massage while another defendant a district attorney has an lame excuse. The attorney was played by the actor who played Elizabeth Shue's father in the Karate Kid. Well the parlor was bugged and you hear the elderly man complaing about his condition while the attorney brags why he's there. Another case had a pizza delivery person accuse an African Amercan youth of robbing him. It turns out he was playing pool and was hustled. He remarks to the Judge: "Well I won the first game I thought I had a chance to win my money back."

Of course the cherry on the top was a child custody case where the father filed suit for custody of his daughter because his ex-spouse and her husband is taking her to Elvis conventions claiming she has the ability to "channel" the "King". If you looked up the definiton of "Trailor Park People" you'd see their picture. As for the "channeler" it was sooo fake. My father really enjoyed it though.

This show was corny and cliched. You watched it and had a good laugh because you realized that real life court isn't at all like they portrayed. Actually I thought Judge Franklin was a cliche-spouted, pompous windbag! I liked Sergeant Fox better then I liked him. At least he was more down to earth (he sort of reminded me of that character that Gene Hackman played in The French Connection, a tough, cynical but honest cop). There were two episodes that I saw that really turned me off and sort of made me hate Judge Franklin. One episode was where there was this teenager who slashed two people to death and Judge Franklin gave him life in prison instead of the death penalty. The other episode was about this woman named Susan Farrell and her young son Bobby. A rich snotty doctor had let his assistant tend to her sick husband and he killed him. I thought it was terrible the way Franklin treated this poor woman. It just shows how our justice system pities the poisonous spider and ignores the innocent fly.

I saw this show a lot when I was 7 years old and thought that it was very entertaining. I remember one episode it was about this boy I think his name was Wally I think he was suppose retarted or something like that, no offence and when he got called to the stand I thought it was funny when he was threating to beat up everyone in the court room including the judge if anybody knows where I can find that episode click on my email address above to let me know. if you like court shows than this is the show for you even though it is fake but very entertaining.