Zip your lip!

I like to keep a TV running to give me background noise while I work. Daytime TV like talk shows and arbitration shows are better because they have very loose formats. Documentaries don't work very well, if anything turns remotely interesting I would start paying attention to it instead of work. WWII documentaries about the Nazi are usually good for this, especially if the narrator has a droning voice.

Thanks to this I have sort of developed a taste for judge shows. I think I like most of them, maybe because when you have a job that demands such a high attention to detail, and with such horrible stress, that watching complete strangers get yelled at for doing stupid things becomes sort of medicinal. Every now and then some idiot goes on print or TV to complain about these judges giving a bad example about how the judicial system works, but they are missing the point: this is all about entertainment.

Here's my current "honor roll":

• Judge Judy Sheindlin: the master, especially if you suffer from being surrounded by people with no common sense whatsoever. Have a shitty day at work? Watch her show and she'll make you smile in less than 15 minutes.
• Judge Joe Brown: very stern, likes to lecture, he is big on role models.
• Judge Greg Mathis: lighthearted, likes to lecture on second chances for troubled youths. 
• Judge Marilyn Milian: Anyone married to a Redhead Latin Woman (like myself) will love this show. Many times I can actually predict what is going to make her blow a gasket. When she gets mad her accent gets almost as bad as mine. 
• Judge Karen: this one took me a while to get used to, and couldn't figure out why. It was the robe! She wears a maroon robe instead of black, made her look weird. The show is fine, she is much milder in temper, and has a tendency to make people hug things out.  

This was originally posted at http://www.paralegal.net/judge-judy/ :