Best movies & TV Shows like Judge Judy

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Judge Judy Starring Judith Sheindlin, Petri Hawkins-Byrd, Steven Kamer, and more. If you liked Judge Judy then you may also like: 12 Angry Men, 12 Angry Men, On Trial, Rules of Engagement, Judge for a Day and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

TV show

Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by retired Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show features Sheindlin adjudicating real-life small claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set. All parties involved must sign contracts, agreeing to arbitration under Sheindlin. The series is in first-run syndication and distributed by CBS Television Distribution. Judge Judy, which premiered on September 16, 1996, reportedly revitalized the court show genre. Only two other arbitration-based reality court shows preceded it, The People's Court and Jones and Jury. Sheindlin has been credited with introducing the "tough" adjudicating approach into the judicial genre, which has led to several imitators. The two court shows that outnumber Judge Judy's seasons, The People's Court and Divorce Court, have both lasted via multiple lives of production and shifting arbiters, making Sheindlin's span as a television arbiter the longest.

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12 Angry Men

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.

12 Angry Men

During the trial of a man accused of his father's murder, a lone juror takes a stand against the guilty verdict handed down by the others as a result of their preconceptions and prejudices.

On Trial

A man is put on trial for the murder of his best friend. A young attorney wants to become successful and decides to defend him. However, he is very inexperienced.

Rules of Engagement

A Marine Colonel is brought to court-martial after ordering his men to fire on demonstrators surrounding the American embassy in Yemen.

Judge for a Day

Betty Boop, annoyed by 'public pests' like backslappers, gum parkers, and mud splashers, imagines what she'd do to them if she were a judge.

Anatomy of a Murder

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

Custody

When a hard-working single mother, Sara Diaz, has her children taken from her after she is suspected of injuring her son, Ally Fisher, a recent law school graduate, is assigned to represent her case before Judge Martha Schulman, a veteran of the Family Court System.

The Children Act

In the midst of a marital crisis, a High Court judge must decide if she should order a life-saving blood transfusion for a teen with cancer despite his family's refusal to accept medical treatment for religious reasons.

Easy Virtue

Larita Filton is named as correspondent in a scandalous divorce case. She escapes to France to rebuild her life where she meets John Whittaker. They are later married, but John's well-to-do family finds out Larita's secret.

Suspect

When a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson, a homeless veteran who's deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley is assigned to his case, she begins to believe that Anderson may actually be innocent. Juror Eddie Sanger, a Washington lobbyist, agrees, and together the pair begins their own investigation of events.

The Marrying Kind

Florence and Chet Keefer have had a troublesome marriage. Whilst in the middle of a divorce hearing the judge encourages them to remember the good times they have had hoping that the marriage can be saved.

The Prosecutors

Drama (and prospective pilot) about the lives of three women who work in the New York City DA's office: one a brilliant prosecutor of high-profile cases whose husband is shot and killed in an armed robbery; a second, her tough, bitter, chain-smoking, boozing, wheelchair-bound former mentor; a third, a Latina who is an ambitious legal intern.

God Is My Partner

A retired surgeon starts giving away money to religious causes and his family tries to file suit, claiming that he's incompetent.

Perfect Strangers

Romance at a murder trial with a pair of sequestered jurors who are the only ones who think that the woman in the dock is innocent. Separated from their normal lives, jurors Terry Scott and David Campbell start to fall in love.

Law & Order

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

The Casagrandes

The Casagrandes tells the story of Ronnie Anne, an independent, adventurous, 11-year-old who explores city life with her big, loving, multi-generational Mexican-American family.

Damages

Damages is an American legal thriller television series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler. The plot revolves around the brilliant, ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes and her protégée, recent law school graduate Ellen Parsons. Each season features a major case that Hewes and her firm take on, while also examining a chapter of the complicated relationship between Ellen and Patty. The first two seasons center around the law firm Hewes & Associates. Later seasons center more on Patty and Ellen's relationship as Ellen begins to distance herself from Hewes & Associates and begins an independent career.

Extra

Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It was initially produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution. From 1995-2003 it was distributed by Time-Telepictures Television a joint merger between Time Magazine and Telepictures. Extra also had a spinoff show called Celebrity Justice, which ran for only three seasons from 2002–2005. Extra is one of two Warner Bros. Television shows to be syndicated to NBCUniversal television stations, the other being The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Extra is also one of two WBTV entertainment programs, the other being TMZ on TV.

George of the Jungle

George of the Jungle is an American animated series produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who created The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The character George was inspired by the legend of Tarzan. It ran for 17 episodes on Saturday mornings from September 9 to December 30, 1967, on the American TV network ABC. The half-hour program was distributed for many years by Worldvision Enterprises, currently part of CBS Television Distribution.  Each Full Episode was a compilation of 3 mini episodes from 3 different shows: George of the Jungle; Tom Slick; Super Chicken -Each voiced by the same actors.

The Good Wife

Alicia Florrick boldly assumes full responsibility for her family and re-enters the workforce after her husband's very public sex and political corruption scandal lands him in jail.

L.A. Law

L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights, homophobia, sexual harassment, AIDS, and domestic violence. The series often also reflected social tensions between the wealthy senior lawyer protagonists and their less well-paid junior staff. The show was popular with audiences and critics, and won 15 Emmy Awards throughout its run, four of which were for Outstanding Drama Series.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent

The third installment of the “Law & Order” franchise takes viewers deep into the minds of its criminals while following the intense psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve its crimes.

Law & Order: Trial by Jury

The inner workings of the judicial system, beginning with the arraignment, and continuing through the prosecutors' complicated process of building a case, investigating leads and preparing witnesses for trial.

Perry Mason

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.

The Practice

A provocative legal drama focused on young associates at a bare-bones Boston firm and their scrappy boss, Bobby Donnell. The show's forte is its storylines about “people who walk a moral tightrope.”

Rachael Ray

Rachael Ray, also known as The Rachael Ray Show, is an American talk show starring Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006. It is filmed at Chelsea Television Studios in New York City. The show's 8th season premiered on September 9, 2013, and became the last Harpo show in syndication to switch to HD with a revamped studio. In January 2012, CBS Television Distribution announced a two-year renewal for the show, taking it through the 2013–14 season.

The People's Court

The People's Court is an American arbitration-based reality court show currently presided over by retired Florida State Circuit Court Judge Marilyn Milian. Milian, the show's longest-reigning arbiter, handles small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. The People's Court is the first court show to use binding arbitration, introducing the format into the genre in 1981. The system has been duplicated by most of the show's successors in the judicial genre. Moreover, The People's Court is the first popular, long-running reality in the judicial genre. It was preceded only by a few short-lived realities in the genre; these short-lived predecessors were only loosely related to judicial proceedings, except for one: Parole took footage from real-life courtrooms holding legal proceedings. Prior to The People's Court, the vast majority of TV courtroom shows used actors, and recreated or fictional cases. Among examples of these types of court shows include Famous Jury Trials and Your Witness. The People's Court has had two contrasting lives. The show's first life was presided over solely by former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Wapner. His tenure lasted from the show's debut on September 14, 1981, until May 21, 1993, when the show was cancelled due to low ratings. This left the show with a total of 2,484 ½-hour episodes and 12 seasons. The show was taped in Los Angeles during its first life. After being cancelled, reruns aired until September 9, 1994.

Matlock

Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock. The show, produced by The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions, Viacom Productions and Paramount Television originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC; and from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC. The show's format is similar to that of CBS's Perry Mason, with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dramatic courtroom scenes. One difference, however, was that whereas Mason usually exculpated his clients at a pretrial hearing, Matlock usually secured an acquittal at trial, from the jury.

Everybody Loves Raymond

Ray Barone is a successful sportswriter living on Long Island with his wife Debra, daughter Ally, and twin sons, Geoffrey and Michael. That's the good news. The bad news? Ray's meddling parents, Frank and Marie, live directly across the street and embrace the motto "Su casa es mi casa," infiltrating their son's home to an extent unparalleled in television history.

Judge Mathis

Judge Mathis is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by retired Superior Court Judge of Michigan's 36th District Court, Greg Mathis. The syndicated series features Mathis adjudicating small claims disputes.

Nuremberg

Justice Robert H. Jackson leads Allied prosecutors in trying 21 Germans for Nazi war crimes after World War II.

Selling New York

Selling New York is an American television series airing on HGTV. It features real estate brokers from three Manhattan real estate companies selling real estate to New York's elite. Season I was filmed between September 2009 and February 2010. It premiered in March 2010 and concluded in June of the same year. The series was renewed for a second season for 39 new episodes. It premiered on January 6, 2011. The show is now in its fourth season. It is produced by Canadian production company, JV Productions Inc. The series has inspired Los Angeles and European spin-offs titled Selling LA which premiered October 13, 2011 on HGTV and Selling London.

Silk

Silk is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2011. Written by Peter Moffat, the series follows a set of barristers, and what they do to attain the rank of Queen's Counsel, known as "taking silk."

The Client

The Client is an American television series that aired on CBS from September 18, 1995 to August 16, 1996. The series was based on the 1994 film The Client, itself adapted from the 1993 John Grisham novel also of the same name.

Divorce Court

The venerable courtroom show takes a look at real-life divorcing couples. The soon-to-be exes tell their stories to the judge, who gives the ruling and settles all the usual -- and unusual -- divorce issues by the end of the episode. This third incarnation of the show premiered on August 30, 1999, with the first having premiered in 1957. This current incarnation has seen different presiding judges: former Los Angeles prosecuting attorney Mablean Ephriam (1999–2006), former municipal court judge Lynn Toler (2006–2020), former NYC prosecutor Faith Jenkins (2020–2022), and former Brooklyn A.D.A. Star Jones (2022- ). Since the debut of the original series in 1957, it is one of the longest-running syndicated television programs of all time. Divorce Court also holds the record for the longest-running court show of all time, leading the second-place show The People's Court by two years.

Hot Bench

A panel of three judges hear court cases, argue the merits of the case amongst themselves, and render a verdict.

Judge Mills Lane

Judge Mills Lane is an American television series and arbitration-based reality court show that ran in first-run syndication from August 17, 1998 to September 7, 2001. Reruns later aired on The National Network. The show was produced by John Tomlin and Bob Young for Hurricane Entertainment Corporation, and distributed by Rysher Entertainment. The show's judge was Mills Lane. Mills Lane was previously a well-known professional boxing referee, as shown in the show's intro; "he's been a boxer, a lawyer, a prosecutor, and a referee." The intro also declared Lane to be "America's Judge." Lane uses his catchphrase "Let's get it on!" at the beginning of each case, and occasionally when someone states something that is either quite obvious or tried to deceive him, he usually states "I may have been born at night, but I wasn't born last night!"

Public Defender

The Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954 to June 23, 1955, a season and a half.

We the People with Gloria Allred

We the People with Gloria Allred is an American nontraditional/dramatized court show that debuted in first-run syndication on September 12, 2011. The series is presented by famed celebrity lawyer/attorney Gloria Allred, who also serves as co-producer with series creator Byron Allen through his production company Entertainment Studios, LLC. John Cramer does the narration of the judge's final verdict.

Chrissy's Court

Chrissy Teigen reigns supreme as the “judge” over small claims cases. The plaintiffs, defendants, and disputes are real, as Chrissy’s mom turned “bailiff,” Pepper Thai, maintains order in the courtroom.

Chaos in Court

CHAOS IN COURT examines clips of dramatic, unexpected, and cathartic courtroom moments. Each episode brings the backstories of the crimes and legal proceedings to the forefront with insightful analysis from a diverse panel of experts including judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and criminal psychologists. Featured within each episode are interviews with defendants, family members, and others who witnessed the action to help bring dramatic courtroom moments to life, and the emotional realities of what happens when the ultimate stakes are on trial.

Justice with Judge Mablean

Judge Mablean Ephriam, who presided over "Divorce Court" from 1999-2006 as the first star of the revived version of the show, returns to the courtroom genre with his half-hour series that deals with life and the law. The former Los Angeles-based prosecutor takes on the typical cases that are found on TV court shows. The arbitrator says that her show "will be life because everything we do, it involves the law."

Judy Justice

The Honorable Judy Sheindlin, retired Judge of the Manhattan family Court, brings her signature blend of sharp wit and wisdom, hilarious candor and unwavering honesty that has made her America’s favorite judge for over 25 years, as she presides over real cases, arbitrates binding decisions and delivers what only she can: “Judy Justice.”

Judge Steve Harvey

Steve Harvey employs his own life experiences and some good old common sense as he expands his resume by taking on the roles of judge and jury in the courtroom. Harvey welcomes a variety of conflicts and characters to his courtroom -- from small claims to big disputes and everything in between -- where, playing by his own rules, he helps to settle his guests' cases with his own unique comedic flair.

Night Court

Unapologetically optimistic judge Abby Stone, the daughter of the late Harry Stone, follows in her father's footsteps as she presides over the night shift of a Manhattan arraignment court and tries to bring order to its crew of oddballs and cynics, most notably former night court prosecutor Dan Fielding.

Everyday Justice

Three lawyers with strong and unique characters settle disputes that fall under the jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court. In addition to hearing the cases, the champions of justice give us privileged access to the debates leading up to the verdict. Who will win the case? How much will be paid as compensation? It will be up to the three lawyers to decide... and the production to pay the damages!

Jury Duty

The inner workings of an American jury trial through the eyes of one particular juror, Ronald Gladden. Gladden is unaware the entire case is fake, everyone except him is an actor and everything that happens — inside the courtroom and out — is carefully planned.

Tribunal Justice

Justice Junction brings together a dynamic trio of judges who delve into genuine and captivating cases, sparking lively debates and spirited deliberations. Their diverse perspectives often lead to fascinating disagreements, resulting in a thrilling and unpredictable final ruling.

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