Despite ending in 2021, “Judge Judy,” hosted by TV icon Judy Sheindlin, remains one of the most revered daytime court shows. Now, amid the 30th anniversary of the beloved series, CBS has announced a documentary, “Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable,” featuring appearances from A-listers such as Samuel L. Jackson.
The Judge Judy Documentary Will Air This Month on CBS
GettyAccording to Deadline, “Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable” will air on September 22 at 8:00 pm ET/PT on CBS. The 90-minute special will then become available to stream on Paramount+ the following day. The documentary will explore Sheindlin’s 30-year TV career as Judge Judy and feature interviews with some of Hollywood’s biggest names.
Some of the celebrities who will take part include Steven Spielberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Amy Poehler, RuPaul and Sherry Lansing. Members of Sheindlin’s family will also be featured, including her son, Judge Adam Levy from “Adam’s Law.” The documentary will also include input from lifelong friends of the TV legend, colleagues, litigants, etc.
Of course, Sheindlin will also appear, offering insight into her life, beginning with her childhood in Brooklyn and documenting the ups and downs that led to “Judge Judy.”
See It Now Studios produced the new documentary. The executive producers are John R. Green, Susan Zirinsky, and Terence Wrong.
Judy Sheindlin Previously Opened Up About Her Legacy
As mentioned, Sheindlin stopped filming new episodes of “Judge Judy” in 2021, after 25 years on air. More recently, the icon hosted “Judy Justice” on Prime Video. The TV personality spoke to Thought Economics in 2022 about her career, both as a family court judge and in her work on television.
When asked what “legacy” meant to her, she responded, “I’ve had a successful career as a prosecutor in the Family Court, as a judge in the Family Court, as a supervising judge, and was given the rare opportunity to be a judge on television.”
Schindlin then said, “My television career went successfully, and after a quarter of a century, I’ve been able to move onto another fabulous opportunity successfully. That’s my professional legacy, and I’m immensely proud of that.”
After that, she discussed her family, noting, “More than that, however, I have a family, a mate, children, and grandchildren. When we’re together over Thanksgiving, there were 22 of us at dinner every night for nine days. Fortunately for them, and for me, I wasn’t cooking. That’s part of my footprint, my legacy.”
More recently, in February 2025, she compared her work as a family court judge to her time on TV. She said to PEOPLE, “Being a judge in a courtroom in the family court … it’s probably the most worthwhile work that you do.”
Schindlin went on, “Television judging is a lot more fun, a lot less work, and you take a lot fewer Tylenol than you do in family court.”
The “Judge Judy” star explained, “What you do in the family court has to do with children and their future and their lives, and whether they make it and whether they don’t, or whether a family makes it or doesn’t make it.”
However, she described TV court as “having fun every day and just deciding, sort of, fun cases that are not life-altering and also having a good time getting dressed up, having people take your picture.”
