Warner Bros. Cancels ‘Judge Mathis’ And ‘The People’s Court’ After Airing For More Than Two Decades

Warner Bros. cancels two court shows, ‘Judge Mathis’ and ‘The People’s Court.’

On Friday, the entertainment company ended two popular daytime court shows due to the challenging market in the daytime syndication landscape.

Since local TV stations have shrunk their syndication dollars on top of the advertising marketplace shrinking for daytime syndication, first-run syndications have become a challenging landscape.

‘Judge Mathis’ premiered in 1998 and aired for 24 seasons. During that time, the court show racked up a handful of accomplishments. In 2018, the show won a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding legal/courtroom program. ‘Judge Mathis’ was also coined as the second longest-running court show with a single production life after ‘Judge Judy.’

On another note, ‘The People’s Court’ initially debuted from 1981 to 1993 with Judge Jospeh Wapner. The series ran was later revived in 1997 and followed Judge Ed Koch before Jerry Sheindlin took over. A few years later, Judge Marilyn Milian became the presiding judge in 2001, making her the first Latino judge to host a nationally syndicated television court show.

Nevertheless, the series made incredible strides similar to aforementioned show. ‘The People’s Court’ won four Daytime Emmy Awards for outstanding legal/courtroom program.

The daytime show is also the longest-running traditional court show and second-longest-running court show in general.