The Truth About Courtroom TV

The first time I served as a paid extra was for America's Court with Judge Ross.

Never heard of it?  Here's a sample case via glorious YouTube:

Believe it or not, that shit ain't real.  Of course it isn't, but I was pretty surprised to see what sort of fake it was.

Unlike Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown, this show is not an arbitration where both parties sign contracts to be bound by the "court's" decision.  America's Court takes real case FILES, and then has actors re-enact the cases, relying heavily on improvisation.  Judge Ross is a real retired LA judge, and even the bailiff is "an active duty sheriff" (not sure how he has time for this show).

The day I was there, they had us record seven cases.  Two of those cases used actors pulled straight from the audience.  I could probably have played the role of "Art Collector" if I had just raised my hand (nobody wanted to do it and the guy who eventually did it was ridiculous).

If you ever watch the show, take a look at the audience.  Notice something about everyone in the first four or five rows (only six rows total)?  They're all women.  I can't imagine anyone wanting to watch courtroom TV for the babes in the audience, but I suppose it's better than using the troglodytes like me who end up in the back row.

Still, you can get paid $8 an hour to sit quietly in a chair for about seven hours, while your fellow extras all bitch about the pay (which we knew beforehand), the hours (we were warned beforehand) and the air-conditioning (which was pretty damn cold).

I never cared for courtroom tv and I probably never will, but I'll say this:  despite the shortcomings of America's Court with Judge Ross, I was impressed with how Judge Ross takes a ridiculous case and manages to deliver his ruling with a small lecture on parenting, family, or personal responsibility.  It's actually something I think might be good for people; it's like they hid Arthur or Doug-styled lessons in these crazy cases to teach adults how to be good people.  I'm not even being sarcastic, though this whole paragraph reeks of it.

Still, with only a judge making decisions you can avoid a hung jury...

_V.S.