'Judge Judy' Moves To Streaming

The last case she taped for “Judge Judy” didn’t deviate in style from the roughly 12,750 cases before it. Wearing a black robe, lace collar and expression of intense focus, Judy Sheindlin heard a typical dispute—contractor suing for payment, client claiming shoddy work—which she dispatched with signature jabs like “That’s baloney” and “Don’t waste my time.”

The Wall Street Journal reports the judge gave no farewell remarks from the bench. When the episode airs June 8—others taped earlier will air later—only one detail will make it stand out among reruns for years to come: a glittery, bee-shaped clip Ms. Sheindlin wore in her hair. It was a wink to fans, and a nod to her Queen Bee production company at the end of a 25-year reign over daytime television.

Ms. Sheindlin has been an unwavering force in an industry where names like Oprah made more splash. “Judge Judy,” the No. 1 first-run show in syndicated TV for 11 consecutive seasons, looks on track to end with a 12th, with an average 7.8 million viewers.

The broadcast landscape, dictated by the rhythms of talk shows, doctor shows and court shows leading up to the local news, is in flux as audiences break with old routines and studios sell more programs to streaming platforms. At age 78, Ms. Sheindlin is headed for streaming, too, instead of retirement. Next on her docket: a new court show that will premiere on Amazon’s free, ad-supported streaming service, IMDb TV, later this year.

Her broadcast career, which made her one of TV’s highest-paid stars and arguably the most famous jurist outside the Supreme Court, followed 14 years on the bench in New York and 10 years as a lawyer. “I don’t play golf. I don’t play tennis. I don’t play mahjong. Why would I want to look for something I want to do when I already know what I like to do?”

Ms. Sheindlin’s universal no-nonsense rule has served her well in the TV business. 

For much of her run Ms. Sheindlin’s contract renegotiations were a one-sided tradition. She’d sit down at a restaurant with the head of the TV studio that produces and distributes “Judge Judy,” CBS Media Ventures, and hand him an envelope in which her desired salary was written. (Her annual pay for “Judge Judy” has been widely reported at $47 million, a figure Ms. Sheindlin declines to comment on: “I’m a Midwesterner when I talk about money,” the native New Yorker says.)

The streaming show will include some notable changes to her formula. A higher dollar limit on her judgments will allow producers to scout for cases beyond the small-claims fodder that “Judge Judy” relied on. Surrogate courts, which typically deal with fallout from people’s wills and estates, could be a source of more complex family disputes, she says.

Going to a streaming world where people consume content on-demand means leaving the weekday routines of millions of people. It also takes Ms. Sheindlin out of the traditional ratings race she long dominated.