Judge Judy Ends Her Show — Walks Away From Most Lucrative Job on TV

Judy Sheindlin will announce Monday that her hit courtroom show, “Judge Judge,” is coming to an end after 25 seasons.

In an appearance on “The Ellen Degeneres Show,” Sheindlin said the 2020-2021 season will be the last for the CBS institution. But she assured viewers court will remain in sessions thanks to her new show, “Judy Justice.”

“I’ve had a 25-year-long marriage with CBS, and it’s been successful,” Sheindlin told host Ellen Degeneres. “Next year will be our 25th season, silver anniversary, and CBS sort of felt, I think, they wanted to optimally utilize the repeats of my program,” she said. “Because now they have 25 years of reruns. So what they decided to do was to sell a couple of years’ worth of reruns. But I’m not tired, so ‘Judy Justice’ will be coming out a year later.”

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the end of “Judge Judy.”

MORE: Judge Judy Publicly Endorses a Presidential Candidate for the First Time Ever

It was unclear whether “Judy Justice” will be another syndicated program or whether it will appear on a network or other outlet.

Asked by DeGeneres where viewers will be able to watch the new show, Sheindlin replied, “I can’t tell you yet.”

But she added: “‘Judge Judy,’ you’ll be able to see next year — a full year, all new shows. … The following couple of years, you should be able to catch all the reruns that CBS has sold to the stations that are currently carrying ‘Judge Judy,’ and ‘Judy Justice’ will be going elsewhere. Isn’t that fun?”

Wow! The end of an era: Judge Judy is announcing on Ellen tomorrow that her show is ending in 2021 after 25 seasons, and a new series titled Judy Justice is coming to another network. pic.twitter.com/8qQJWPhZXv

— Nicholas Hautman (@nickhautman) March 2, 2020

Sheindlin, 77, a retired Manhattan family court judge known for her non-nonsense style, is reportedly the highest-paid personality on TV. She has earned $47 million a year under her 2015 contract, which expires after this season.

MORE: Judge Judy Laughs in Jussie Smollett’s Face in Banned Twitter Video

In 2018, she sold the rights to “Judge Judge” reruns to CBS for an estimated $100 million. The deal has inspired a series of lawsuits.

“Judge Judy” won three Emmy Awards and has been among the top-rated syndicated TV programs. It was the most-watched court show, averaging about 9 million viewers a day.

In an October op-ed for USA Today, Sheindlin broke her longstanding silence on politics to endorse Michael Bloomberg as a 2020 presidential candidate. Bloomberg, a billionaire former New York City mayor, had not yet entered the race at the time, but has since spent hundreds of millions of dollars as a Democratic candidate.

Pluralist has reached out to Sheindlin’s representative for additional information.

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Andrew Tobin is Pluralist’s Editor-in-chief.

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