The People's Court/Trivia

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• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The Wapner version has not been seen since the late 2000's, when it was reran on In2TV, an internet television service jointly owned by America Online and Warner Bros.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, when John Masterson devised the format in 1975, the two people he first pitched it to were Monty Hall, the host of Let's Make a Deal and Split Second, and his production partner Stefan Hatos. Both men were interested and gave Masterson a one year option to sell the show. Unfortunately, the networks weren't interested, and the option ran out.
  • Joseph Wapner almost didn't get the judge's seat; when Ralph Edwards and Stu Billett were pitching the show to NBC, the network wanted a black comedian like Nipsey Russell or Pigmeat Markham, to preside, all the while making jokes during the proceedings (although after a commercial break, he would be coached by a real judge and would then give his decision). NBC had Edwards and Billett shoot two pilots, one with Wapner and one with Markham, after which the network would determine which would go to air. After taping the Wapner pilot, Edwards and Billett felt they just couldn't do a Markham pilot because it'd be too campy, and instead decided to bypass the networks and go straight to syndication.
  • Similarly, Rusty Burrell was almost passed over for the bailiff's position because Stu Billett originally wanted a "sexy girl" to be the bailiff. It was only at Joseph Wapner's insistence that Rusty got the job.