'Judge Judy' Fans Lose It After Judy Sheindlin Announces End After 25 Seasons

Judge Judy, an American television institution, will be coming to an end after 25 seasons, Judy [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Judge Judy, an American television institution, will be coming to an end after 25 seasons, Judy Sheindlin announced on the upcoming Monday episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The show's final season will air during the 2020-2021 television season. Fans rushed to Twitter to share their shock after the news broke.

Sheindlin said CBS Television Distribution wants to use repeats after the 25th season, which would allow her to focus on a new series called Judy Justice. She revealed almost no details about the new series, such as where it will air.

"I've had a 25-year-long marriage with CBS [Television Distribution, which distributes the show], and it's been successful," she said in a preview clip published by The Hollywood Reporter. "Next year will be our 25th season, silver anniversary, and CBS sort of felt, I think, they wanted to optimally utilize the repeats of my program. Because now they have 25 years of reruns. So what they decided to do was to sell a couple of years' worth of reruns. But I'm not tired, so Judy Justice will be coming out a year later."

"Judge Judy, you'll be able to see next year — a full year, all new shows," Sheindlin continued. "The following couple of years, you should be able to catch all the reruns that CBS has sold to the stations that are currently carrying Judge Judy, and Judy Justice will be going elsewhere. Isn't that fun?"

Judge Judy debuted in 1996 and has helped make Sheindlin the highest-paid television personality. In 2015, she signed a contract with CBS that pays her $47 million a year.

Scroll on to see how shocked fans were the news broke.

Photo credit: Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images

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Heartbreaking

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