Judge Mathis

Judge Mathis is a long-running, Daytime Emmy Award–winning syndicated arbitration-based reality court show presided over by the retired Judge of Michigan's 36th District Court and black-culture motivational speaker, Greg Mathis. The syndicated series features Mathis adjudicating small claims disputes. The series was originally produced by Black Pearl Entertainment. It is now produced by Telepictures Productions and Syndicated Productions, while distributed by Warner Bros. Television. It is taped at the NBC Tower in Chicago, but includes cases and litigants from other U.S. jurisdictions. Greg Mathis's "inspirational and positive messages to young people" won the court show a PRISM Commendation in May 2002. The court show also won an NAACP Image Award in 2004 and a Daytime Emmy Award in 2018, just ahead of making it to its 20th season anniversary. Each Judge Mathis episode runs for one hour and typically consists of 4 cases. The show is broadcast five days a week in every U.S. state, as well as Canada through Omni Television. The show has been on the air since Monday, September 13, 1999 and has taped over 2000 episodes. By the 2014-15 television season, Judge Mathis made it to its 16th season, making Mathis the longest serving African American court show arbitrator, beating out Judge Joe Brown whose program lasted 15 seasons. Moreover, Mathis holds a record of second longest serving court show arbitrator ever, just behind Judy Sheindlin of the court show Judge Judy. Judge Mathis is among few courtroom programs able to boast a long, successful series run as most court shows suffer the fate of early cancellations. It is the fourth longest running courtroom series behind Divorce Court, The People's Court, and Judge Judy, respectively. Though both Divorce Court and The People's Court have suffered cancellation(s) and shifting arbitrators, Judge Mathis has not. Consequently, of the court shows with only one production life, Judge Mathis is the second longest running (second only to Judge Judy by three seasons). Judge Mathis began celebrating its 20th season anniversary beginning on Monday, September 3, 2018.