Two of television’s longest-running courtroom reality programs, Judge Mathis and The People’s Court, have been sentenced to cancelation, Deadline reports. Their current seasons will be their last.
The People’s Court is a four-time Daytime Emmy Award winner which initially ran from 1981 to 1993 before being revived in 1997. The show revolutionized judicial programming with the introduction of binding arbitration, which allowed real litigants to settle small-claims disputes for televised audiences. Judge Marilyn Milian is the show’s most long-lasting arbitrator, having served since 2001.
Judge Greg Mathis is television’s longest-tenured Black host, having anchored Judge Mathis since 1999. The first court show to feature a Black judge, it won the 2018 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program.
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The shows are the latest victims of a hostile daytime syndication environment, the format of which has decreased in popularity with the rise of on-demand streaming. Other long-running programs to recently end include Dr. Phil, The Dr. Oz Show, and The Ellen Degeneres Show.
