Judge Judy’s new deal with CBS is a done deal, according to CBS News which announced on Monday that Judy Sheindlin has signed on to extend her contract by two additional years. Since the former New York state family judge’s contract already ran through 2015, she will now be on the air through 2017 — giving her a cool 21 years on the air.
The 70-year-old hasn’t said whether she got a raise from her already hefty salary — reportedly $45 million a year. If Judge Judy’s new deal does include more money, though, it’s probably well-deserved.
With lines like “Sir don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining,” and “My grandmother always told me; beauty fades, but dumb is forever!” the blunt-spoken judge has no trouble maintaining her popularity on daytime TV.
In fact, the program is so hugely popular that it because the highest-rated daytime show in the 2009-2010 season, even surpassing the wildly popular The Oprah Winfrey Show.
By comparison, Judge Joe Brown, also on CBS, failed to secure a new contract for his similar courtroom show. His program officially ends in September.
Judge Judy herself was the target of a lawsuit after she bought a set of dishes for $50,000 from a producer, who was apparenly in the middle of an ugly divorce. The ex-wife popped up and filed suit against the judge, stating that the dishes were community property. Rather than wrangle over some dishes, Judge Judy simply shipped them back.
Pretty smart. Yes, she was out $50,000, but the good judge can afford it, so why get dragged through the mud over a set of china?
Here’s the story of how Judge Judy got her start in television:
Love her or hate her, one thing you’ve got to say for Judge Judy. She’ll say exactly what she thinks.
And I have to admit that I’m loving the part in that interview with Marlo Thomas where Thomas is just giving us the old handjob about how success means you need to take risk — and Judge Judy shoots right back with the fact that the risk was a lot easier to take because her husband was a working judge too.
What do you think about Judge Judy’s new deal?
[Judge Judy photo by s_bukley / Shutterstock.com ]