I love those syndicated daytime judge shows. I grew up watching The People's Court every day after school with AverageGranDaddy while eating fried baloney sandwiches and sweet tea, so maybe there's some element of Negro Nostalgia at work. Whatever the case, I have these shows on Tivo Season Pass since I actually have a Day Job to go to, and I'm especially a big fan of Judge Mathis and Judge Joe Brown (who even has his own tags on this site). I used to like Divorce Court till they canned my girl Mablean and replaced her with that wannabe Coretta Scott King chick. Note to the producers of Divorce Court: Bad move.
There are at least a dozen of these shows now, and they all follow the same format. Find real life civil cases on local small claims court dockets that sound interesting. Ask the litigants to handle their case out of court. Fly them to a studio. Feed them some manufactured soundbytes for the sake of drama. Mix in a few career school (Everest College), personal injury law firm (my boys Greenberg and Bederman), and predatory lending ("get the cash you need in a flash at CashPoints!") commercials, because you know people at home all day watching these shows are conditioned to look for an easy come-up. And there you have it, a cheap, proven formula for guaranteed syndication dollars.
Simply put, judge shows are soap operas for unemployed men.
Anyone who's ever spent an extended amount of time in court [hint] knows real life court is boring as all get out. Unless you're on the jury or on trial, there's little to see. Deliberations are slow. You can't really hear or see what's going on. The cases aren't even that interesting. So the manufactured Hollyweird drama of these shows makes the real thing seem hollow by comparison.
Maybe Melody Burham missed that memo.
A litigant who appeared on the "Judge Mathis" television court show has sued Greg Mathis, Warner Bros and Telepictures, claiming she was done in by the show and essentially called a "hick".I can't say that I happened to see the episode in question here, since truth be told, I usually skip over the segments that don't have black plaintiffs or defendants. Sorry, but something about watching ghetto dysfunction on TV is too strong a pull for even a righteous brotha like me to resist. And you wonder why BET won't switch up.
Melody Burnham says the show contacted her over a lawsuit she had filed against a tenant. Burnham, a resident of San Diego, alleges producers never explained that Mathis was not a sitting judge in a real court.
Burnham goes on to allege that when she actually appeared before Mathis and the cameras (and the crew and the studio audience), she was still in the dark that it was not a real court. She says she didn't figure that out for more than a year. Ding dang!
So Burnham's suit against Mathis, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, claims she was held hostage in a dressing room for six hours without food. She also claims, among many other things, she didn't know she was going to be countersued until minutes before the trial.
But the unkindest cut of all -- Mathis "....ridiculed her for the pictures showing her washing machine outside, calling her a 'hillbilly.'"
According to the suit, Mathis dismissed the case, awarded damages to neither party, and stated, "I'm sending you hillbillies back to the hills.
Since I am familiar with the show, however, I don't doubt for a second that Judge Mathis called this woman a hillbilly. Part of the perverse appeal of these show is that the judges can throw the book, and every insult in it, at anyone who steps in the court. Sure, it's a little extra, but it's part of what makes the show watchable. Again, this ain't real court. She's lucky she just got called a hillbilly. I've seen people get called far worse.
On the other hand, what kind of moron is Melody Burham? How could she not know this wasn't real court? Did she miss this small fact when she signed that waiver form? Maybe when she was flown to Chicago, although her case was in California? Maybe she overlooked the fact that she was given a clip-on mic before entering the courtroom. Perhaps she missed the 27 video cameras, and the fact that the courtroom didn't even have four walls.
Chick Please!!!
For the uninitiated, here's a quick clip from the show. Pure comedy.
How could you go on a show like this and think you were in a real courtroom? Maybe Melody Burham is just what Judge Mathis called her. What other excuse is there?
I'd normally tab this sorta thing as a Frivolous Lawsuit, but it really makes me wish I had a Caucasian Nonsense tag instead. Don't expect this suit to ever make it to court; be it the real-life boring version or this made-for-TV variant.
Bonus Footage!!! Watch this crackhead get cussed out by Judge Joe Brown. Tell me this ain't entertainment!!!
Litigant to Judge Mathis -- I Ain't No Hillbilly, Dang It! [TMZ]
