How does TV court work? What jurisdiction does it have, who has power over it, and how does a judge like Judge Judy get selected to be on tv?
It’s arbitration. Each side agrees to dismiss the court case and have an arbitrator rule on it and follow his/her decision.
Presumably, it has the same jurisdiction as where it’s being tried.
Judge Judy gets selected becasue she’s annimated and, to some, ‘fun’ to watch. If she were boring, like most judges on the bench are, she’d never see the front side of a camera.
Just a little teaser until the big boys swoop in with better explainations.
I believe that TV court is a little like arbitration.
The litigants sign a document agreeing to accept whatever determination is made by the TV court. Such agreements are usually enforceable, unless the TV judge does something that’s pretty outrageous.
IIRC, there was a case in New York recently where somebody was able to have a Judge Judy decision nullified.
Also, IIRC the “People’s Court” agreement provided that the litigants were paid an appearance fee, and Judge Wapner’s “judgment” was deducted from the loser’s appearance fee. So the result is that a losing defendant is much better off on the “People’s Court” than in regular court.
Actually, from what “Judge Mathis” has said/done, he appeared to have at least some judicial authority. He put some horrid “professional photographer” out of business. He ruled that the gvt was to revoke his business license and keep tabs on him to make sure he didn’t try to keep going illegally. He has also threatened to “put people away” on his show. No, whether he actually can or can’t, I dunno 
Oops, looks like somebody beat me to the punch
Anyway, here’s an interesting link:
http://www.lawnewsnetwork.com/stories/A18937-2000Mar16.html
“Judge Judy Overruled by Judge Jeffrey”
The article touches on the “arbitration” aspect of TV court.
The producers of these shows comb through the Small Claims Court filings I believe. I filed a case against a landlord because he was slow in returning a security deposit. I got a call from Judge Wapner’s show, but they weren’t interested once they found out the facts.
I got my deposit back before I went to court.