The verdict is in: Judge Judy is a certified binger.
The 81-year-old—whose real name is Judy Sheindlin—recently revealed her and husband Jerry Sheindlin’s go-to nighttime activity involves catching their favorite reruns of, naturally, crime-centered TV.
“Watch Jerry Orbach,” Judy exclusively told E! News correspondent Will Marfuggi, referring to the original leading man of Law & Order. “Occasionally, I got to Criminal Minds. And Vincent [D’Onofrio] in Criminal Content. I watch after dinner, when I’m getting ready for bed.”
Just don’t ask her to take her binging into the true crime podcast sphere. “I’ve never listened to a podcast,” she noted. “Not interested.” (For more with Judy, tune into E! News tonight Sept. 24 at 11 p.m.)
And just as the longtime TV judge’s genre of choice doesn’t come as a surprise, the amusing reason behind her strict adherence to only watching re-runs is likewise characteristically very Judy.
“I hate falling asleep to something new,” she admitted. “I know the end with the re-runs! I know that’s ridiculous. If I watch something new, it has to be great.”
As she added of any new series, “You have to be invested now, knowing there’s 12 episodes to the end of the series. And—maybe it’s an age thing—but what happens if I die in episode six?”
And much like Judy has personally fostered a loyalty to crime re-runs, her eponymous series as well as her new Judy Justice series on Prime Video have also garnered a steadfast fanbase.
But, according to the woman herself, the case as to how Judy’s series have found so much success doesn’t take a detective to crack.
“I don’t sway depending on who’s producing this program, who the audience is and how they might react to my verdict,” she explained. “I speak the truth and it’s consistent. The basics are the same. People still want to see consistent yes/no, black/white.”
As she put it, “I don’t make excuses for bad behavior. My priority is to keep citizens safe.”
In fact, that predictability and simplicity is why she so favors Law & Order.
“You watch the show because there’s a certain cadence,” she reflected. “And they almost always catch the bad guy.”
New episodes of Judy Justice stream weekdays on Amazon Freevee and Prime Video.
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