title: George Bernard Shaw

text: As the new century began, Shaw became increasingly disillusioned by the limited impact of the Fabians on national politics. Thus, although a nominated Fabian delegate, he did not attend the London conference at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street in February 1900, that created the Labour Representation Committee—precursor of the modern Labour Party. By 1903, when his term as borough councillor expired, he had lost his earlier enthusiasm, writing: "After six years of Borough Councilling I am convinced that the borough councils should be abolished". Nevertheless, in 1904 he stood in the London County Council elections. After an eccentric campaign, which Holroyd characterises as "[making] absolutely certain of not getting in", he was duly defeated. It was Shaw's final foray into electoral politics. Nationally, the 1906 general election produced a huge Liberal majority and an intake of 29 Labour members. Shaw viewed this outcome with scepticism; he had a low opinion of the new prime minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, and saw the Labour members as inconsequential: "I apologise to the Universe for my connection with such a body".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In the years after the 1906 election, Shaw felt that the Fabians needed fresh leadership, and saw this in the form of his fellow-writer H. G. Wells, who had joined the society in February 1903. Wells's ideas for reform—particularly his proposals for closer cooperation with the Independent Labour Party—placed him at odds with the society's "Old Gang", led by Shaw. According to Cole, Wells "had minimal capacity for putting [his ideas] across in public meetings against Shaw's trained and practised virtuosity". In Shaw's view, "the Old Gang did not extinguish Mr Wells, he annihilated himself". Wells resigned from the society in September 1908; Shaw remained a member, but left the executive in April 1911. He later wondered whether the Old Gang should have given way to Wells some years earlier: "God only knows whether the Society had not better have done it". Although less active—he blamed his advancing years—Shaw remained a Fabian.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In 1912 Shaw invested £1,000 for a one-fifth share in the Webbs' new publishing venture, a socialist weekly magazine called "The New Statesman", which appeared in April 1913. He became a founding director, publicist, and in due course a contributor, mostly anonymously. He was soon at odds with the magazine's editor, Clifford Sharp, who by 1916 was rejecting his contributions—"the only paper in the world that refuses to print anything by me", according to Shaw.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: After the First World War began in August 1914, Shaw produced his tract "Common Sense About the War", which argued that the warring nations were equally culpable. Such a view was anathema in an atmosphere of fervent patriotism, and offended many of Shaw's friends; Ervine records that "[h]is appearance at any public function caused the instant departure of many of those present."


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Despite his errant reputation, Shaw's propagandist skills were recognised by the British authorities, and early in 1917 he was invited by Field Marshal Haig to visit the Western Front battlefields. Shaw's 10,000-word report, which emphasised the human aspects of the soldier's life, was well received, and he became less of a lone voice. In April 1917 he joined the national consensus in welcoming America's entry into the war: "a first class moral asset to the common cause against junkerism".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Three short plays by Shaw were premiered during the war. "The Inca of Perusalem", written in 1915, encountered problems with the censor for burlesquing not only the enemy but the British military command; it was performed in 1916 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. "O'Flaherty V.C.", satirising the government's attitude to Irish recruits, was banned in the UK and was presented at a Royal Flying Corps base in Belgium in 1917. "Augustus Does His Bit", a genial farce, was granted a licence; it opened at the Royal Court in January 1917.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw had long supported the principle of Irish Home Rule within the British Empire (which he thought should become the British Commonwealth).


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In April 1916 he wrote scathingly in "The New York Times" about militant Irish nationalism: "In point of learning nothing and forgetting nothing these fellow-patriots of mine leave the Bourbons nowhere." Total independence, he asserted, was impractical; alliance with a bigger power (preferably England) was essential. The Dublin Easter Rising later that month took him by surprise. After its suppression by British forces, he expressed horror at the summary execution of the rebel leaders, but continued to believe in some form of Anglo-Irish union. In "How to Settle the Irish Question" (1917), he envisaged a federal arrangement, with national and imperial parliaments. Holroyd records that by this time the separatist party Sinn Féin was in the ascendency, and Shaw's and other moderate schemes were forgotten.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In the postwar period, Shaw despaired of the British government's coercive policies towards Ireland, and joined his fellow-writers Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton in publicly condemning these actions. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 led to the partition of Ireland between north and south, a provision that dismayed Shaw. In 1922 civil war broke out in the south between its pro-treaty and anti-treaty factions, the former of whom had established the Irish Free State. Shaw visited Dublin in August, and met Michael Collins, then head of the Free State's Provisional Government. Shaw was much impressed by Collins, and was saddened when, three days later, the Irish leader was ambushed and killed by anti-treaty forces. In a letter to Collins's sister, Shaw wrote: "I met Michael for the first and last time on Saturday last, and am very glad I did. I rejoice in his memory, and will not be so disloyal to it as to snivel over his valiant death". Shaw remained a British subject all his life, but took dual British-Irish nationality in 1934.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's first major work to appear after the war was "Heartbreak House", written in 1916–17 and performed in 1920. It was produced on Broadway in November, and was coolly received; according to "The Times": "Mr Shaw on this occasion has more than usual to say and takes twice as long as usual to say it". After the London premiere in October 1921 "The Times" concurred with the American critics: "As usual with Mr Shaw, the play is about an hour too long", although containing "much entertainment and some profitable reflection". Ervine in "The Observer" thought the play brilliant but ponderously acted, except for Edith Evans as Lady Utterword.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's largest-scale theatrical work was "Back to Methuselah", written in 1918–20 and staged in 1922. Weintraub describes it as "Shaw's attempt to fend off 'the bottomless pit of an utterly discouraging pessimism'". This cycle of five interrelated plays depicts evolution, and the effects of longevity, from the Garden of Eden to the year 31,920 AD. Critics found the five plays strikingly uneven in quality and invention. The original run was brief, and the work has been revived infrequently. Shaw felt he had exhausted his remaining creative powers in the huge span of this "Metabiological Pentateuch". He was now sixty-seven, and expected to write no more plays.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: This mood was short-lived. In 1920 Joan of Arc was proclaimed a saint by Pope Benedict XV; Shaw had long found Joan an interesting historical character, and his view of her veered between "half-witted genius" and someone of "exceptional sanity". He had considered writing a play about her in 1913, and the canonisation prompted him to return to the subject. He wrote "Saint Joan" in the middle months of 1923, and the play was premiered on Broadway in December. It was enthusiastically received there, and at its London premiere the following March. In Weintraub's phrase, "even the Nobel prize committee could no longer ignore Shaw after Saint Joan". The citation for the literature prize for 1925 praised his work as "... marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty". He accepted the award, but rejected the monetary prize that went with it, on the grounds that "My readers and my audiences provide me with more than sufficient money for my needs".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: After "Saint Joan", it was five years before Shaw wrote a play. From 1924, he spent four years writing what he described as his "magnum opus", a political treatise entitled "The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism". The book was published in 1928 and sold well. At the end of the decade Shaw produced his final Fabian tract, a commentary on the League of Nations. He described the League as "a school for the new international statesmanship as against the old Foreign Office diplomacy", but thought that it had not yet become the "Federation of the World".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw returned to the theatre with what he called "a political extravaganza", "The Apple Cart", written in late 1928. It was, in Ervine's view, unexpectedly popular, taking a conservative, monarchist, anti-democratic line that appealed to contemporary audiences. The premiere was in Warsaw in June 1928, and the first British production was two months later, at Sir Barry Jackson's inaugural Malvern Festival. The other eminent creative artist most closely associated with the festival was Sir Edward Elgar, with whom Shaw enjoyed a deep friendship and mutual regard. He described "The Apple Cart" to Elgar as "a scandalous Aristophanic burlesque of democratic politics, with a brief but shocking sex interlude".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: During the 1920s Shaw began to lose faith in the idea that society could be changed through Fabian gradualism, and became increasingly fascinated with dictatorial methods. In 1922 he had welcomed Mussolini's accession to power in Italy, observing that amid the "indiscipline and muddle and Parliamentary deadlock", Mussolini was "the right kind of tyrant". Shaw was prepared to tolerate certain dictatorial excesses; Weintraub in his ODNB biographical sketch comments that Shaw's "flirtation with authoritarian inter-war regimes" took a long time to fade, and Beatrice Webb thought he was "obsessed" about Mussolini.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's enthusiasm for the Soviet Union dated to the early 1920s when he had hailed Lenin as "the one really interesting statesman in Europe". Having turned down several chances to visit, in 1931 he joined a party led by Nancy Astor. The carefully managed trip culminated in a lengthy meeting with Stalin, whom Shaw later described as "a Georgian gentleman" with no malice in him. At a dinner given in his honour, Shaw told the gathering: "I have seen all the 'terrors' and I was terribly pleased by them". In March 1933 Shaw was a co-signatory to a letter in "The Manchester Guardian" protesting at the continuing misrepresentation of Soviet achievements: "No lie is too fantastic, no slander is too stale ... for employment by the more reckless elements of the British press."


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's admiration for Mussolini and Stalin demonstrated his growing belief that dictatorship was the only viable political arrangement. When the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in January 1933, Shaw described Hitler as "a very remarkable man, a very able man", and professed himself proud to be the only writer in England who was "scrupulously polite and just to Hitler". His principal admiration was for Stalin, whose regime he championed uncritically throughout the decade. Shaw saw the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact as a triumph for Stalin who, he said, now had Hitler under his thumb.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's first play of the decade was "Too True to be Good", written in 1931 and premiered in Boston in February 1932. The reception was unenthusiastic. Brooks Atkinson of "The New York Times" commenting that Shaw had "yielded to the impulse to write without having a subject", judged the play a "rambling and indifferently tedious conversation". The correspondent of "The New York Herald Tribune" said that most of the play was "discourse, unbelievably long lectures" and that although the audience enjoyed the play it was bewildered by it.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: During the decade Shaw travelled widely and frequently. Most of his journeys were with Charlotte; she enjoyed voyages on ocean liners, and he found peace to write during the long spells at sea. Shaw met an enthusiastic welcome in South Africa in 1932, despite his strong remarks about the racial divisions of the country. In December 1932 the couple embarked on a round-the-world cruise. In March 1933 they arrived at San Francisco, to begin Shaw's first visit to the US. He had earlier refused to go to "that awful country, that uncivilized place", "unfit to govern itself... illiberal, superstitious, crude, violent, anarchic and arbitrary". He visited Hollywood, with which he was unimpressed, and New York, where he lectured to a capacity audience in the Metropolitan Opera House. Harried by the intrusive attentions of the press, Shaw was glad when his ship sailed from New York harbour. New Zealand, which he and Charlotte visited the following year, struck him as "the best country I've been in"; he urged its people to be more confident and loosen their dependence on trade with Britain. He used the weeks at sea to complete two plays—"The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles" and "The Six of Calais"—and begin work on a third, "The Millionairess".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Despite his contempt for Hollywood and its aesthetic values, Shaw was enthusiastic about cinema, and in the middle of the decade wrote screenplays for prospective film versions of "Pygmalion" and "Saint Joan". The latter was never made, but Shaw entrusted the rights to the former to the unknown Gabriel Pascal, who produced it at Pinewood Studios in 1938. Shaw was determined that Hollywood should have nothing to do with the film, but was powerless to prevent it from winning one Academy Award ("Oscar"); he described his award for "best-written screenplay" as an insult, coming from such a source. He became the first person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar. In a 1993 study of the Oscars, Anthony Holden observes that "Pygmalion" was soon spoken of as having "lifted movie-making from illiteracy to literacy".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's final plays of the 1930s were "Cymbeline Refinished" (1936), "Geneva" (1936) and "In Good King Charles's Golden Days" (1939). The first, a fantasy reworking of Shakespeare, made little impression, but the second, a satire on European dictators, attracted more notice, much of it unfavourable. In particular, Shaw's parody of Hitler as "Herr Battler" was considered mild, almost sympathetic. The third play, an historical conversation piece first seen at Malvern, ran briefly in London in May 1940. James Agate commented that the play contained nothing to which even the most conservative audiences could take exception, and though it was long and lacking in dramatic action only "witless and idle" theatregoers would object. After their first runs none of the three plays were seen again in the West End during Shaw's lifetime.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Towards the end of the decade, both Shaws began to suffer ill health. Charlotte was increasingly incapacitated by Paget's disease of bone, and he developed pernicious anaemia. His treatment, involving injections of concentrated animal liver, was successful, but this breach of his vegetarian creed distressed him and brought down condemnation from militant vegetarians.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Although Shaw's works since "The Apple Cart" had been received without great enthusiasm, his earlier plays were revived in the West End throughout the Second World War, starring such actors as Edith Evans, John Gielgud, Deborah Kerr and Robert Donat. In 1944 nine Shaw plays were staged in London, including "Arms and the Man" with Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, Sybil Thorndike and Margaret Leighton in the leading roles. Two touring companies took his plays all round Britain. The revival in his popularity did not tempt Shaw to write a new play, and he concentrated on prolific journalism. A second Shaw film produced by Pascal, "Major Barbara" (1941), was less successful both artistically and commercially than "Pygmalion", partly because of Pascal's insistence on directing, to which he was unsuited.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Following the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 and the rapid conquest of Poland, Shaw was accused of defeatism when, in a "New Statesman" article, he declared the war over and demanded a peace conference. Nevertheless, when he became convinced that a negotiated peace was impossible, he publicly urged the neutral United States to join the fight. The London blitz of 1940–41 led the Shaws, both in their mid-eighties, to live full-time at Ayot St Lawrence. Even there they were not immune from enemy air raids, and stayed on occasion with Nancy Astor at her country house, Cliveden. In 1943, the worst of the London bombing over, the Shaws moved back to Whitehall Court, where medical help for Charlotte was more easily arranged. Her condition deteriorated, and she died in September.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's final political treatise, "Everybody's Political What's What", was published in 1944. Holroyd describes this as "a rambling narrative ... that repeats ideas he had given better elsewhere and then repeats itself". The book sold well—85,000 copies by the end of the year. After Hitler's suicide in May 1945, Shaw approved of the formal condolences offered by the Irish Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, at the German embassy in Dublin. Shaw disapproved of the postwar trials of the defeated German leaders, as an act of self-righteousness: "We are all potential criminals".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Pascal was given a third opportunity to film Shaw's work with "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1945). It cost three times its original budget and was rated "the biggest financial failure in the history of British cinema". The film was poorly received by British critics, although American reviews were friendlier. Shaw thought its lavishness nullified the drama, and he considered the film "a poor imitation of Cecil B. de Mille".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In 1946, the year of Shaw's ninetieth birthday, he accepted the freedom of Dublin and became the first honorary freeman of the borough of St Pancras, London. In the same year the British government asked Shaw informally whether he would accept the Order of Merit. He declined, believing that an author's merit could only be determined by the posthumous verdict of history. 1946 saw the publication, as "The Crime of Imprisonment", of the preface Shaw had written 20 years previously to a study of prison conditions. It was widely praised; a reviewer in the "American Journal of Public Health" considered it essential reading for any student of the American criminal justice system.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw continued to write into his nineties. His last plays were "Buoyant Billions" (1947), his final full-length work; "Farfetched Fables" (1948) a set of six short plays revisiting several of his earlier themes such as evolution; a comic play for puppets, "Shakes versus Shav" (1949), a ten-minute piece in which Shakespeare and Shaw trade insults; and "Why She Would Not" (1950), which Shaw described as "a little comedy", written in one week shortly before his ninety-fourth birthday.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: During his later years, Shaw enjoyed tending the gardens at Shaw's Corner. He died at the age of ninety-four of renal failure precipitated by injuries incurred when falling while pruning a tree. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 6 November 1950. His ashes, mixed with those of Charlotte, were scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw published a collected edition of his plays in 1934, comprising forty-two works. He wrote a further twelve in the remaining sixteen years of his life, mostly one-act pieces. Including eight earlier plays that he chose to omit from his published works, the total is sixty-two.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's first three full-length plays dealt with social issues. He later grouped them as "Plays Unpleasant". "Widowers' Houses" (1892) concerns the landlords of slum properties, and introduces the first of Shaw's New Women—a recurring feature of later plays. "The Philanderer" (1893) develops the theme of the New Woman, draws on Ibsen, and has elements of Shaw's personal relationships, the character of Julia being based on Jenny Patterson. In a 2003 study Judith Evans describes "Mrs Warren's Profession" (1893) as "undoubtedly the most challenging" of the three Plays Unpleasant, taking Mrs Warren's profession—prostitute and, later, brothel-owner—as a metaphor for a prostituted society.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw followed the first trilogy with a second, published as "Plays Pleasant". "Arms and the Man" (1894) conceals beneath a mock-Ruritanian comic romance a Fabian parable contrasting impractical idealism with pragmatic socialism. The central theme of "Candida" (1894) is a woman's choice between two men; the play contrasts the outlook and aspirations of a Christian Socialist and a poetic idealist. The third of the Pleasant group, "You Never Can Tell" (1896), portrays social mobility, and the gap between generations, particularly in how they approach social relations in general and mating in particular.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: The "Three Plays for Puritans"—comprising "The Devil's Disciple" (1896), "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1898) and "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" (1899)—all centre on questions of empire and imperialism, a major topic of political discourse in the 1890s. The three are set, respectively, in 1770s America, Ancient Egypt, and 1890s Morocco. "The Gadfly", an adaptation of the popular novel by Ethel Voynich, was unfinished and unperformed. "The Man of Destiny" (1895) is a short curtain raiser about Napoleon.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's major plays of the first decade of the twentieth century address individual social, political or ethical issues. "Man and Superman" (1902) stands apart from the others in both its subject and its treatment, giving Shaw's interpretation of creative evolution in a combination of drama and associated printed text. "The Admirable Bashville" (1901), a blank verse dramatisation of Shaw's novel "Cashel Byron's Profession", focuses on the imperial relationship between Britain and Africa. "John Bull's Other Island" (1904), comically depicting the prevailing relationship between Britain and Ireland, was popular at the time but fell out of the general repertoire in later years. "Major Barbara" (1905) presents ethical questions in an unconventional way, confounding expectations that in the depiction of an armaments manufacturer on the one hand and the Salvation Army on the other the moral high ground must invariably be held by the latter. "The Doctor's Dilemma" (1906), a play about medical ethics and moral choices in allocating scarce treatment, was described by Shaw as a tragedy. With a reputation for presenting characters who did not resemble real flesh and blood, he was challenged by Archer to present an on-stage death, and here did so, with a deathbed scene for the anti-hero.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: "Getting Married" (1908) and "Misalliance" (1909)—the latter seen by Judith Evans as a companion piece to the former—are both in what Shaw called his "disquisitionary" vein, with the emphasis on discussion of ideas rather than on dramatic events or vivid characterisation. Shaw wrote seven short plays during the decade; they are all comedies, ranging from the deliberately absurd "Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction" (1905) to the satirical "Press Cuttings" (1909).


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In the decade from 1910 to the aftermath of the First World War Shaw wrote four full-length plays, the third and fourth of which are among his most frequently staged works. "Fanny's First Play" (1911) continues his earlier examinations of middle-class British society from a Fabian viewpoint, with additional touches of melodrama and an epilogue in which theatre critics discuss the play. "Androcles and the Lion" (1912), which Shaw began writing as a play for children, became a study of the nature of religion and how to put Christian precepts into practice. "Pygmalion" (1912) is a Shavian study of language and speech and their importance in society and in personal relationships. To correct the impression left by the original performers that the play portrayed a romantic relationship between the two main characters Shaw rewrote the ending to make it clear that the heroine will marry another, minor character. Shaw's only full-length play from the war years is "Heartbreak House" (1917), which in his words depicts "cultured, leisured Europe before the war" drifting towards disaster. Shaw named Shakespeare ("King Lear") and Chekhov ("The Cherry Orchard") as important influences on the piece, and critics have found elements drawing on Congreve ("The Way of the World") and Ibsen ("The Master Builder").


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: The short plays range from genial historical drama in "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets" and "Great Catherine" (1910 and 1913) to a study of polygamy in "Overruled"; three satirical works about the war ("The Inca of Perusalem", "O'Flaherty V.C." and "Augustus Does His Bit", 1915–16); a piece that Shaw called "utter nonsense" ("The Music Cure", 1914) and a brief sketch about a "Bolshevik empress" ("Annajanska", 1917).


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: "Saint Joan" (1923) drew widespread praise both for Shaw and for Sybil Thorndike, for whom he wrote the title role and who created the part in Britain. In the view of the commentator Nicholas Grene, Shaw's Joan, a "no-nonsense mystic, Protestant and nationalist before her time" is among the 20th century's classic leading female roles. "The Apple Cart" (1929) was Shaw's last popular success. He gave both that play and its successor, "Too True to Be Good" (1931), the subtitle "A political extravaganza", although the two works differ greatly in their themes; the first presents the politics of a nation (with a brief royal love-scene as an interlude) and the second, in Judith Evans's words, "is concerned with the social mores of the individual, and is nebulous." Shaw's plays of the 1930s were written in the shadow of worsening national and international political events. Once again, with "On the Rocks" (1933) and "The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles" (1934), a political comedy with a clear plot was followed by an introspective drama. The first play portrays a British prime minister considering, but finally rejecting, the establishment of a dictatorship; the second is concerned with polygamy and eugenics and ends with the Day of Judgement.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: "The Millionairess" (1934) is a farcical depiction of the commercial and social affairs of a successful businesswoman. "Geneva" (1936) lampoons the feebleness of the League of Nations compared with the dictators of Europe. "In Good King Charles's Golden Days" (1939), described by Weintraub as a warm, discursive high comedy, also depicts authoritarianism, but less satirically than "Geneva". As in earlier decades, the shorter plays were generally comedies, some historical and others addressing various political and social preoccupations of the author. Ervine writes of Shaw's later work that although it was still "astonishingly vigorous and vivacious" it showed unmistakable signs of his age. "The best of his work in this period, however, was full of wisdom and the beauty of mind often displayed by old men who keep their wits about them."


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's collected musical criticism, published in three volumes, runs to more than 2,700 pages. It covers the British musical scene from 1876 to 1950, but the core of the collection dates from his six years as music critic of "The Star" and "The World" in the late 1880s and early 1890s. In his view music criticism should be interesting to everyone rather than just the musical élite, and he wrote for the non-specialist, avoiding technical jargon—"Mesopotamian words like 'the dominant of D major'". He was fiercely partisan in his columns, promoting the music of Wagner and decrying that of Brahms and those British composers such as Stanford and Parry whom he saw as Brahmsian. He campaigned against the prevailing fashion for performances of Handel oratorios with huge amateur choirs and inflated orchestration, calling for "a chorus of twenty capable artists". He railed against opera productions unrealistically staged or sung in languages the audience did not speak.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In Shaw's view, the London theatres of the 1890s presented too many revivals of old plays and not enough new work. He campaigned against "melodrama, sentimentality, stereotypes and worn-out conventions". As a music critic he had frequently been able to concentrate on analysing new works, but in the theatre he was often obliged to fall back on discussing how various performers tackled well-known plays. In a study of Shaw's work as a theatre critic, E. J. West writes that Shaw "ceaselessly compared and contrasted artists in interpretation and in technique". Shaw contributed more than 150 articles as theatre critic for "The Saturday Review", in which he assessed more than 212 productions. He championed Ibsen's plays when many theatregoers regarded them as outrageous, and his 1891 book "Quintessence of Ibsenism" remained a classic throughout the twentieth century. Of contemporary dramatists writing for the West End stage he rated Oscar Wilde above the rest: "... our only thorough playwright. He plays with everything: with wit, with philosophy, with drama, with actors and audience, with the whole theatre". Shaw's collected criticisms were published as "Our Theatres in the Nineties" in 1932.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw maintained a provocative and frequently self-contradictory attitude to Shakespeare (whose name he insisted on spelling "Shakespear"). Many found him difficult to take seriously on the subject; Duff Cooper observed that by attacking Shakespeare, "it is Shaw who appears a ridiculous pigmy shaking his fist at a mountain." Shaw was, nevertheless, a knowledgeable Shakespearian, and in an article in which he wrote, "With the single exception of Homer, there is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I can despise so entirely as I despise Shakespear when I measure my mind against his," he also said, "But I am bound to add that I pity the man who cannot enjoy Shakespear. He has outlasted thousands of abler thinkers, and will outlast a thousand more". Shaw had two regular targets for his more extreme comments about Shakespeare: undiscriminating "Bardolaters", and actors and directors who presented insensitively cut texts in over-elaborate productions. He was continually drawn back to Shakespeare, and wrote three plays with Shakespearean themes: "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets", "Cymbeline Refinished" and "Shakes versus Shav". In a 2001 analysis of Shaw's Shakespearian criticisms, Robert Pierce concludes that Shaw, who was no academic, saw Shakespeare's plays—like all theatre—from an author's practical point of view: "Shaw helps us to get away from the Romantics' picture of Shakespeare as a titanic genius, one whose art cannot be analyzed or connected with the mundane considerations of theatrical conditions and profit and loss, or with a specific staging and cast of actors."


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's political and social commentaries were published variously in Fabian tracts, in essays, in two full-length books, in innumerable newspaper and journal articles and in prefaces to his plays. The majority of Shaw's Fabian tracts were published anonymously, representing the voice of the society rather than of Shaw, although the society's secretary Edward Pease later confirmed Shaw's authorship. According to Holroyd, the business of the early Fabians, mainly under the influence of Shaw, was to "alter history by rewriting it". Shaw's talent as a pamphleteer was put to immediate use in the production of the society's manifesto—after which, says Holroyd, he was never again so succinct.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: After the turn of the twentieth century, Shaw increasingly propagated his ideas through the medium of his plays. An early critic, writing in 1904, observed that Shaw's dramas provided "a pleasant means" of proselytising his socialism, adding that "Mr Shaw's views are to be sought especially in the prefaces to his plays". After loosening his ties with the Fabian movement in 1911, Shaw's writings were more personal and often provocative; his response to the furore following the issue of "Common Sense About the War" in 1914, was to prepare a sequel, "More Common Sense About the War". In this, he denounced the pacifist line espoused by Ramsay MacDonald and other socialist leaders, and proclaimed his readiness to shoot all pacifists rather than cede them power and influence. On the advice of Beatrice Webb, this pamphlet remained unpublished.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: "The Intelligent Woman's Guide", Shaw's main political treatise of the 1920s, attracted both admiration and criticism. MacDonald considered it the world's most important book since the Bible; Harold Laski thought its arguments outdated and lacking in concern for individual freedoms. Shaw's increasing flirtation with dictatorial methods is evident in many of his subsequent pronouncements. A "New York Times" report dated 10 December 1933 quoted a recent Fabian Society lecture in which Shaw had praised Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin: "[T]hey are trying to get something done, [and] are adopting methods by which it is possible to get something done". As late as the Second World War, in "Everybody's Political What's What", Shaw blamed the Allies' "abuse" of their 1918 victory for the rise of Hitler, and hoped that, after defeat, the Führer would escape retribution "to enjoy a comfortable retirement in Ireland or some other neutral country". These sentiments, according to the Irish philosopher-poet Thomas Duddy, "rendered much of the Shavian outlook passé and contemptible".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: "Creative evolution", Shaw's version of the new science of eugenics, became an increasing theme in his political writing after 1900. He introduced his theories in "The Revolutionist's Handbook" (1903), an appendix to "Man and Superman", and developed them further during the 1920s in "Back to Methuselah". A 1946 "Life" magazine article observed that Shaw had "always tended to look at people more as a biologist than as an artist". By 1933, in the preface to "On the Rocks", he was writing that "if we desire a certain type of civilization and culture we must exterminate the sort of people who do not fit into it"; critical opinion is divided on whether this was intended as irony. In an article in the American magazine "Liberty" in September 1938, Shaw included the statement: "There are many people in the world who ought to be liquidated". Many commentators assumed that such comments were intended as a joke, although in the worst possible taste. Otherwise, "Life" magazine concluded, "this silliness can be classed with his more innocent bad guesses".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's fiction-writing was largely confined to the five unsuccessful novels written in the period 1879–1885. "Immaturity" (1879) is a semi-autobiographical portrayal of mid-Victorian England, Shaw's "own "David Copperfield"" according to Weintraub. "The Irrational Knot" (1880) is a critique of conventional marriage, in which Weintraub finds the characterisations lifeless, "hardly more than animated theories". Shaw was pleased with his third novel, "Love Among the Artists" (1881), feeling that it marked a turning point in his development as a thinker, although he had no more success with it than with its predecessors. "Cashel Byron's Profession" (1882) is, says Weintraub, an indictment of society which anticipates Shaw's first full-length play, "Mrs Warren's Profession". Shaw later explained that he had intended "An Unsocial Socialist" as the first section of a monumental depiction of the downfall of capitalism. Gareth Griffith, in a study of Shaw's political thought, sees the novel as an interesting record of conditions, both in society at large and in the nascent socialist movement of the 1880s.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's only subsequent fiction of any substance was his 1932 novella "The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God", written during a visit to South Africa in 1932. The eponymous girl, intelligent, inquisitive, and converted to Christianity by insubstantial missionary teaching, sets out to find God, on a journey that after many adventures and encounters, leads her to a secular conclusion. The story, on publication, offended some Christians and was banned in Ireland by the Board of Censors.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw was a prolific correspondent throughout his life. His letters, edited by Dan H. Laurence, were published between 1965 and 1988. Shaw once estimated his letters would occupy twenty volumes; Laurence commented that, unedited, they would fill many more. Shaw wrote more than a quarter of a million letters, of which about ten per cent have survived; 2,653 letters are printed in Laurence's four volumes. Among Shaw's many regular correspondents were his childhood friend Edward McNulty; his theatrical colleagues (and "amitiés amoureuses") Mrs Patrick Campbell and Ellen Terry; writers including Lord Alfred Douglas, H. G. Wells and G. K. Chesterton; the boxer Gene Tunney; the nun Laurentia McLachlan; and the art expert Sydney Cockerell. In 2007 a 316-page volume consisting entirely of Shaw's letters to "The Times" was published.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's diaries for 1885–1897, edited by Weintraub, were published in two volumes, with a total of 1,241 pages, in 1986. Reviewing them, the Shaw scholar Fred Crawford wrote: "Although the primary interest for Shavians is the material that supplements what we already know about Shaw's life and work, the diaries are also valuable as a historical and sociological document of English life at the end of the Victorian age." After 1897, pressure of other writing led Shaw to give up keeping a diary.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Through his journalism, pamphlets and occasional longer works, Shaw wrote on many subjects. His range of interest and enquiry included vivisection, vegetarianism, religion, language, cinema and photography, on all of which he wrote and spoke copiously. Collections of his writings on these and other subjects were published, mainly after his death, together with volumes of "wit and wisdom" and general journalism.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Despite the many books written about him (Holroyd counts 80 by 1939) Shaw's autobiographical output, apart from his diaries, was relatively slight. He gave interviews to newspapers—"GBS Confesses", to "The Daily Mail" in 1904 is an example—and provided sketches to would-be biographers whose work was rejected by Shaw and never published. In 1939 Shaw drew on these materials to produce "Shaw Gives Himself Away", a miscellany which, a year before his death, he revised and republished as "Sixteen Self Sketches" (there were seventeen). He made it clear to his publishers that this slim book was in no sense a full autobiography.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Throughout his lifetime Shaw professed many beliefs, often contradictory. This inconsistency was partly an intentional provocation—the Spanish scholar-statesman Salvador de Madariaga describes Shaw as "a pole of negative electricity set in a people of positive electricity". In one area at least Shaw was constant: in his lifelong refusal to follow normal English forms of spelling and punctuation. He favoured archaic spellings such as "shew" for "show"; he dropped the "u" in words like "honour" and "favour"; and wherever possible he rejected the apostrophe in contractions such as "won't" or "that's". In his will, Shaw ordered that, after some specified legacies, his remaining assets were to form a trust to pay for fundamental reform of the English alphabet into a phonetic version of forty letters. Though Shaw's intentions were clear, his drafting was flawed, and the courts initially ruled the intended trust void. A later out-of-court agreement provided a sum of £8,300 for spelling reform; the bulk of his fortune went to the residuary legatees—the British Museum, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the National Gallery of Ireland. Most of the £8,300 went on a special phonetic edition of "Androcles and the Lion" in the Shavian alphabet, published in 1962 to a largely indifferent reception.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's views on religion and Christianity were less consistent. Having in his youth proclaimed himself an atheist, in middle age he explained this as a reaction against the Old Testament image of a vengeful Jehovah. By the early twentieth century, he termed himself a "mystic", although Gary Sloan, in an essay on Shaw's beliefs, disputes his credentials as such. In 1913 Shaw declared that he was not religious "in the sectarian sense", aligning himself with Jesus as "a person of no religion". In the preface (1915) to "Androcles and the Lion", Shaw asks "Why not give Christianity a chance?" contending that Britain's social order resulted from the continuing choice of Barabbas over Christ. In a broadcast just before the Second World War, Shaw invoked the Sermon on the Mount, "a very moving exhortation, and it gives you one first-rate tip, which is to do good to those who despitefully use you and persecute you". In his will, Shaw stated that his "religious convictions and scientific views cannot at present be more specifically defined than as those of a believer in creative revolution". He requested that no one should imply that he accepted the beliefs of any specific religious organisation, and that no memorial to him should "take the form of a cross or any other instrument of torture or symbol of blood sacrifice".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw espoused racial equality, and inter-marriage between people of different races. Despite his expressed wish to be fair to Hitler, he called anti-Semitism "the hatred of the lazy, ignorant fat-headed Gentile for the pertinacious Jew who, schooled by adversity to use his brains to the utmost, outdoes him in business". In "The Jewish Chronicle" he wrote in 1932, "In every country you can find rabid people who have a phobia against Jews, Jesuits, Armenians, Negroes, Freemasons, Irishmen, or simply foreigners as such. Political parties are not above exploiting these fears and jealousies."


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In 1903 Shaw joined in a controversy about vaccination against smallpox. He called vaccination "a peculiarly filthy piece of witchcraft"; in his view immunisation campaigns were a cheap and inadequate substitute for a decent programme of housing for the poor, which would, he declared, be the means of eradicating smallpox and other infectious diseases. Less contentiously, Shaw was keenly interested in transport; Laurence observed in 1992 a need for a published study of Shaw's interest in "bicycling, motorbikes, automobiles, and planes, climaxing in his joining the Interplanetary Society in his nineties". Shaw published articles on travel, took photographs of his journeys, and submitted notes to the Royal Automobile Club.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw strove throughout his adult life to be referred to as "Bernard Shaw" rather than "George Bernard Shaw", but confused matters by continuing to use his full initials—G.B.S.—as a by-line, and often signed himself "G.Bernard Shaw". He left instructions in his will that his executor (the Public Trustee) was to license publication of his works only under the name Bernard Shaw. Shaw scholars including Ervine, Judith Evans, Holroyd, Laurence and Weintraub, and many publishers have respected Shaw's preference, although the Cambridge University Press was among the exceptions with its 1988 "Cambridge Companion to George Bernard Shaw".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw did not found a school of dramatists as such, but Crawford asserts that today "we recognise [him] as second only to Shakespeare in the British theatrical tradition ... the proponent of the theater of ideas" who struck a death-blow to 19th-century melodrama. According to Laurence, Shaw pioneered "intelligent" theatre, in which the audience was required to think, thereby paving the way for the new breeds of twentieth-century playwrights from Galsworthy to Pinter.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Crawford lists numerous playwrights whose work owes something to that of Shaw. Among those active in Shaw's lifetime he includes Noël Coward, who based his early comedy "The Young Idea" on "You Never Can Tell" and continued to draw on the older man's works in later plays. T. S. Eliot, by no means an admirer of Shaw, admitted that the epilogue of "Murder in the Cathedral", in which Becket's slayers explain their actions to the audience, might have been influenced by "Saint Joan". The critic Eric Bentley comments that Eliot's later play "The Confidential Clerk" "had all the earmarks of Shavianism ... without the merits of the real Bernard Shaw". Among more recent British dramatists, Crawford marks Tom Stoppard as "the most Shavian of contemporary playwrights"; Shaw's "serious farce" is continued in the works of Stoppard's contemporaries Alan Ayckbourn, Henry Livings and Peter Nichols.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Shaw's influence crossed the Atlantic at an early stage. Bernard Dukore notes that he was successful as a dramatist in America ten years before achieving comparable success in Britain. Among many American writers professing a direct debt to Shaw, Eugene O'Neill became an admirer at the age of seventeen, after reading "The Quintessence of Ibsenism". Other Shaw-influenced American playwrights mentioned by Dukore are Elmer Rice, for whom Shaw "opened doors, turned on lights, and expanded horizons"; William Saroyan, who empathised with Shaw as "the embattled individualist against the philistines"; and S. N. Behrman, who was inspired to write for the theatre after attending a performance of "Caesar and Cleopatra": "I thought it would be agreeable to write plays like that".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Assessing Shaw's reputation in a 1976 critical study, T. F. Evans described Shaw as unchallenged in his lifetime and since as the leading English-language dramatist of the (twentieth) century, and as a master of prose style. The following year, in a contrary assessment, the playwright John Osborne castigated "The Guardian"s theatre critic Michael Billington for referring to Shaw as "the greatest British dramatist since Shakespeare". Osborne responded that Shaw "is the most fraudulent, inept writer of Victorian melodramas ever to gull a timid critic or fool a dull public". Despite this hostility, Crawford sees the influence of Shaw in some of Osborne's plays, and concludes that though the latter's work is neither imitative nor derivative, these affinities are sufficient to classify Osborne as an inheritor of Shaw.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In a 1983 study, R. J. Kaufmann suggests that Shaw was a key forerunner—"godfather, if not actually finicky paterfamilias"—of the Theatre of the Absurd. Two further aspects of Shaw's theatrical legacy are noted by Crawford: his opposition to stage censorship, which was finally ended in 1968, and his efforts which extended over many years to establish a National Theatre. Shaw's short 1910 play "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets", in which Shakespeare pleads with Queen Elizabeth I for the endowment of a state theatre, was part of this campaign.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Writing in "The New Statesman" in 2012 Daniel Janes commented that Shaw's reputation had declined by the time of his 150th anniversary in 2006 but had recovered considerably. In Janes's view, the many current revivals of Shaw's major works showed the playwright's "almost unlimited relevance to our times". In the same year, Mark Lawson wrote in "The Guardian" that Shaw's moral concerns engaged present-day audiences, and made him—like his model, Ibsen—one of the most popular playwrights in contemporary British theatre.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada is the second largest repertory theatre company in North America. It produces plays by or written during the lifetime of Shaw as well as some contemporary works. The Gingold Theatrical Group, founded in 2006, presents works by Shaw and others in New York City that feature the humanitarian ideals that his work promoted. It became the first theatre group to present all of Shaw's stage work through its monthly concert series "Project Shaw".


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: In the 1940s the author Harold Nicolson advised the National Trust not to accept the bequest of Shaw's Corner, predicting that Shaw would be totally forgotten within fifty years. In the event, Shaw's broad cultural legacy, embodied in the widely used term "Shavian", has endured and is nurtured by Shaw Societies in various parts of the world. The original society was founded in London in 1941 and survives; it organises meetings and events, and publishes a regular bulletin "The Shavian". The Shaw Society of America began in June 1950; it foundered in the 1970s but its journal, adopted by Penn State University Press, continued to be published as "Shaw: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies" until 2004. A second American organisation, founded in 1951 as "The Bernard Shaw Society", remains active . More recent societies have been established in Japan and India.


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: Besides his collected music criticism, Shaw has left a varied musical legacy, not all of it of his choosing. Despite his dislike of having his work adapted for the musical theatre ("my plays set themselves to a verbal music of their own") two of his plays were turned into musical comedies: "Arms and the Man" was the basis of "The Chocolate Soldier" in 1908, with music by Oscar Straus, and "Pygmalion" was adapted in 1956 as "My Fair Lady" with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Although he had a high regard for Elgar, Shaw turned down the composer's request for an opera libretto, but played a major part in persuading the BBC to commission Elgar's Third Symphony, and was the dedicatee of "The Severn Suite" (1930).


title: George Bernard Shaw

text: The substance of Shaw's political legacy is uncertain. In 1921 Shaw's erstwhile collaborator William Archer, in a letter to the playwright, wrote: "I doubt if there is any case of a man so widely read, heard, seen, and known as yourself, who has produced so little effect on his generation." Margaret Cole, who considered Shaw the greatest writer of his age, professed never to have understood him. She thought he worked "immensely hard" at politics, but essentially, she surmises, it was for fun—"the fun of a brilliant artist". After Shaw's death, Pearson wrote: "No one since the time of Tom Paine has had so definite an influence on the social and political life of his time and country as Bernard Shaw."


title: Castle (TV series)

text: Castle is an American crime mystery/comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC for a total of eight seasons from March 9, 2009, to May 16, 2016. The series was produced jointly by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: Created by Andrew W. Marlowe, it primarily traces the lives of Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), a best-selling mystery novelist, and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), a homicide detective, as they solve various unusual crimes in New York City. Detective Beckett is initially infuriated at the thought of working with a writer and goes to great lengths to keep him out of her way. However, the two soon start developing feelings for each other. The overarching plot of the series focused on the romance between the two lead characters and their ongoing investigation of the murder of Beckett's mother.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: On May 12, 2016, it was announced that despite some cast members signing one-year contracts for a potential ninth season, the show was canceled.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: Richard Castle (Fillion) is a famous mystery novelist. Bored and suffering from writer's block, he kills off Derrick Storm, the main character in his successful book series. He is brought in by the New York Police Department for questioning regarding a copycat murder based on one of his novels, where he meets and becomes intrigued by Kate Beckett (Katic), the detective assigned to the case. Castle is inspired to take Beckett as his muse for Nikki Heat, the main character of his next book series, and uses his friendship with the mayor to force the police to let him shadow Beckett. Castle's exuberant man-child personality clashes with Beckett's more reserved and professional demeanor. However, as Beckett begins to appreciate Castle's assistance in helping her catch killers, the two eventually become friends and then lovers. Their cases often deal with murders occurring within various unusual subcultures or milieus, including reality TV shows, vampire enthusiasts, a science-fiction convention, and a man who claims to be a time traveler. A recurring plotline deals with the unsolved murder of Beckett's mother years before, an investigation that leads to an increasingly sprawling, and dangerous, conspiracy. The series also focuses on the backstories of supporting characters like Detective Javier Esposito, Detective Kevin Ryan, Medical Examiner Lanie Parish, Captain Roy Montgomery, and Captain Victoria Gates, through multiple episodes.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: Real-life writers Stephen J. Cannell, James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, and Michael Connelly appear as themselves during periodic games of poker at Castle's apartment. Typically, they discuss Castle and Beckett's current case and tease Castle about his involvement with Beckett. Following Cannell's death on September 30, 2010, an empty chair was kept at the poker table for a year in his honor.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: "Castle" premiered as a midseason replacement on ABC on March 9, 2009. ABC renewed "Castle" for a second season with an initial order of 13 episodes (later extended to 24 episodes). The second season premiered on Monday, September 21, 2009. In March 2010, ABC renewed "Castle" for a third, 22-episode season, which began on September 20, 2010. On November 11, 2010, ABC extended the episode order to 24. On January 10, 2011, ABC announced "Castle" had been renewed for a fourth season for 22 episodes. Season four premiered on September 19, 2011. On December 8, 2011, ABC ordered an additional episode bringing season 4 up to 23 episodes.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: On May 10, 2012, "Castle" was renewed for a fifth season by ABC, which started on Monday September 24, 2012. Two additional episodes were ordered on October 19, 2012, and February 5, 2013, respectively, which brought season 5 up to a total of 24 episodes. On May 10, 2013, ABC announced via Twitter that "Castle" had been renewed for a sixth season. On May 8, 2014, ABC renewed the series for a seventh season, which premiered on September 29, 2014. On May 7, 2015, the series was renewed for its eighth season, which premiered on September 21, 2015. On April 18, 2016, ABC and ABC Productions announced that Stana Katic and Tamala Jones would not return for "Castle"s ninth season, should it be renewed. Despite several other cast members having signed on for a ninth season, on May 12, 2016, it was announced that the show would be cancelled instead; the final episode aired on May 16, 2016.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: In June 2011, TNT acquired exclusive cable rights from Disney-ABC Domestic Television to air the first two seasons of "Castle" beginning in the summer of 2012. In advance of the series' fourth season, TNT broadcast an eight-hour marathon of episodes on September 15, 2011, including five from season 3. "Castle" began airing on TNT every Wednesday beginning September 26, 2012. "Castle" also began airing in broadcast syndication on weekends beginning September 29, 2012, but then in the fall of 2022, "Castle" is currently airing reruns on MyNetworkTV.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: "Castle then" joins Ion Television’s lineup, starting on August 6, 2013. It aired every Tuesday mornings until June 1, 2019, since it moved to Saturday mornings before back-to-back episodes and reruns of , all the way through until January 2021; it was moved to Thursday nights at 9:00 pm after repeat episodes of Chicago P.D. for the rest of the Ion Television lineup.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: In the series, Castle writes a novel titled "Heat Wave". As a tie-in, ABC and sister publisher Hyperion Books released that novel as a real book with "Richard Castle" as the author. It is entirely in character, from the dedication to the acknowledgments, although the latter mentions the principal cast and the show's creators by first name. ABC released the first half of the novel in weekly increments on their website. The complete novel was published in September 2009 as a hardcover, debuting at No. 26 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. In its fourth week on the list, "Heat Wave" broke into the top 10 at No. 6. "Heat Wave" was released in paperback on July 27, 2010, and debuted at No. 34 on "The New York Times" Best Seller Paperback Mass-Market list. It once again appeared on "The New York Times" Best Seller list on May 27, 2012, at No. 19.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: "Naked Heat", the sequel to "Heat Wave", was released on September 28, 2010. "Naked Heat" debuted at No. 7 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. As they did with "Heat Wave", ABC released a series of the early chapters online as a promotional tool. A third novel, titled "Heat Rises", was released on September 20, 2011. It debuted at No. 1 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list on October 9, 2011 and at No. 5 on the "USA TODAY" Best-Selling Books list.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: The season three finale introduced a graphic novel based on Castle's previous novel character, Derrick Storm. "Castle: Richard Castle's Deadly Storm" was published by Marvel Comics on September 28, 2011. It debuted at No. 3 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list on October 16, 2011. This has been followed by three more graphic novels, published a year apart.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: A fourth novel, titled "Frozen Heat", was released on September 11, 2012, and debuted on "The New York Times" Best Seller list at No. 7 on September 23, 2012. The fifth Nikki Heat novel "Deadly Heat" was released September 17, 2013 and debuted at No. 8 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. "Raging Heat", the sixth novel, was released on September 16, 2014. It landed on No. 6 on "The New York Times" Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list and on No. 17 on "The New York Times" Combined Print and E-Book Fiction bestseller list on October 5, 2014. The seventh novel, "Driving Heat", was released on September 15, 2015. It debuted on "The New York Times" Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list at No. 13 on October 4, 2015.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: On May 20, 2016, it was announced that two more novels would be published in the Nikki Heat series, even though the show itself had been canceled. The eighth book in the series, "High Heat", was published on October 25, 2016. The ninth, "Heat Storm", was released in May 2017.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: In July 2018 a 10th Nikki Heat book was announced. "Crashing Heat" was published by Kingswell, a division of Disney Books, on March 12, 2019, almost three years after the TV series ended.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: In February 2012, Hyperion announced three e-book novellas as part of Richard Castle's famous Derrick Storm series. The first novella of the series, "A Brewing Storm", was released in digital media on May 1, 2012. It debuted at No. 13 on "The New York Times" E-Book Fiction Best Seller list, as well as No. 18 on "The New York Times" Combine Prints & E-book Fiction list on May 20, 2012. On July 3, 2012, the second novella of the new Derrick Storm books, "A Raging Storm", was released in e-book format. It landed on "The New York Times" Best Seller e-books list at #19 and at No. 31 for the combined Prints & E-book list, both on July 22, 2012. The final Derrick Storm novella, "A Bloody Storm", was released on August 7, 2012. It debuted on "The New York Times" Best Seller e-books list at #20 and at #34 on the combined Prints & E-book list on August 26, 2012.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: "Castle: Never Judge a Book by its Cover" was released on July 9, 2013. The game was available on Steam and could be downloaded on most mobile devices. It is no longer available for download. Players work with Castle and Beckett to find clues and stop a serial killer.


title: Castle (TV series)

text: On August 20, 2014, ABC announced that the early development stage had begun on a television series centered on Derrick Storm. The series was to have been a CIA procedural written by Gregory Poirier, who was to have executive-produced it with "Castle"s Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller. There were no subsequent announcements about a Derrick Storm TV series, indicating that development had concluded.


title: Judge Judy

text: Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set. Prior to the proceedings, all involved parties signed arbitration contracts agreeing to Sheindlin's ruling. The show aired in first-run syndication. As it was during its active years in production, it continues to be distributed by CBS Media Ventures in syndication, now in reruns that still draw notably high ratings.


title: Judge Judy

text: The series premiered on September 16, 1996, and concluded on July 23, 2021. The court show ended with its 25th season after Sheindlin and CBS renewed their contract for the final time in 2017. During its run in new episodes, the show never released airings in the order they were taped. Thus the final filmed case of the series aired on June 8, 2021. While latter seasons of the show currently rerun in syndication, the first and second seasons stream on Paramount Global's Pluto TV "Courtroom" channel as well as the "Judge Judy" channel.


title: Judge Judy

text: "Judge Judy" delivered a noted impact on courtroom programming, reviving the genre as a whole. It was the highest Nielsen-rated court show for the entirety of its 25 year run in original episodes, also frequently ranking as highest-rated television broadcast in daytime television and syndication. Of the court shows with a single series run (without on-and-off production from cancellation turned series revivals/recasting), "Judge Judy" prevails as having the most seasons. The series also won three Emmy Awards; earned Sheindlin a "Guinness World Records" recognition for longest serving television arbitrator; and originated many courtroom programming trends, from use of eponymous show titles to cold open trailers.


title: Judge Judy

text: Two court spin-offs have been generated from "Judge Judy": "Judy Justice", starring Sheindlin as judge; and upcoming "Tribunal", featuring Byrd as bailiff. Like "Judy Justice", "Tribunal" is created by Sheindlin and will stream on Amazon Freevee.


title: Judge Judy

text: After Joseph Wapner was released from "The People's Court" on May 21, 1993, Sheindlin called up the program's producers, Ralph Edwards-Stu Billett Productions and Warner Bros. Television, and offered to do the show in his place. The receptionist who answered the phone responded "Are you crazy, lady?" before directly hanging up on Sheindlin. Earlier that same year in February 1993, a "Los Angeles Times" article on Sheindlin's reputation as one of the toughest family court judges in the country, written by Josh Getlin (inspired by his wife, Heidi, both of whom Sheindlin credits with her stardom) caught the attention of "60 Minutes", which aired a segment on her on October 24, 1993. The segment brought her national recognition, and days later from its airing, led to Sheindlin receiving an offer from a literary agent to write her first book. Sheindlin accepted the offer, writing "Don't Pee On My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining", published on February 7, 1996. Its publisher, HarperCollins, expressed disapproval of her book title, claiming no one would promote it under that kind of name. Sheindlin stood her ground on the use of the title and ended up selling 216,709 copies.


title: Judge Judy

text: In March 1995, two talent scouts (before that, former "People's Court" producers) from a talent agency that was later entitled "Rebel Entertainment", Kaye Switzer and Sandi Spreckman, asked Sheindlin if she would like to preside over her own courtroom series. Sheindlin eventually accepted, and the "Rebel" talent agency used a pilot episode to pitch to then CBS Big Ticket President Larry Lyttle in 1995. Switzer, Spreckman, along with Rebel Entertainment Owner Richard Lawrence later sued CBS and Sheindlin numerous times over allegedly owed profit shares for their part in commencing the program and introducing the two parties.


title: Judge Judy

text: Sheindlin originally desired the show title to be "Hot Bench", and the network and various news publications even promoted it as "Hot Bench" for some time prior to débuting, but Big Ticket Television ultimately decided on "Judge Judy". The "Hot Bench" title was eventually used by Sheindlin, however, for a different court show she later created (2014–present), which does not feature Sheindlin herself, but rather a panel of judges she cast for the series.


title: Judge Judy

text: Petri Hawkins-Byrd, referred to on the program simply as Byrd or Officer Byrd, was the bailiff on "Judge Judy" for the show's entire 25-season run, making him the longest-serving bailiff in court television history. Byrd's professional relationship with Sheindlin predates "Judge Judy" as he was her bailiff throughout her career in the Manhattan family court system. When Byrd found out about Sheindlin's show, he sent her a congratulatory letter, stating, "If you ever need a bailiff, I still look good in uniform." She phoned Byrd at his home in California to accept his offer, and he ended up replacing the unaired pilot episode bailiff. Sheindlin has stated that the show's producers desired different individuals for the role of bailiff, but she refused.


title: Judge Judy

text: Sheindlin has revealed that from the start, she only envisioned her courtroom program lasting 2 to 3 seasons, rationalizing that most TV ventures fail. Sheindlin appeared again on "60 Minutes" on April 30, 2003. During the interview, Sheindlin stated:


title: Judge Judy

text: I have a contract with the company to do the program through the 2006 season. At that point, we will have produced this program for 10 years. Right now, I would be satisfied with a good 10-year run. I think that would really be phenomenal. It would be lovely if we could end on a high note and for me to say "10 years and I still had people watching and I had a second career that was a blast."


title: Judge Judy

text: On September 14, 2015, Sheindlin began celebrating her 20th season anniversary presiding on "Judge Judy". The program is the first in the court show genre to make it to 20 seasons without cancellation as well as the first to make it to this extent under one arbitrator. Three years later by September 2018, the "Judge Mathis" court show entered its 20th season and became the second and only other court show to accomplish this feat. Sheindlin's distinction as television's longest-serving judge or arbitrator won her a place in the "Guinness World Records" on September 14, 2015. "Judge Judy" completed its series run at 25 seasons. In honor of the 25th and final season of the program, Josh Getlin published another article on Sheindlin. The "Los Angeles Times" article, published on June 8, 2021 (the same day as the airing of the final filmed case), shared background details about the 1993 article that catapulted Sheindlin's television career and his relationship with Sheindlin.


title: Judge Judy

text: Each episode of "Judge Judy" began with a cold open trailer of the main case, sensationalizing various moments of the case with brief soundbites accompanied with dramatic music, voice-over commentary, graphics, etc. This was followed by the show's title sequence music video. At the beginning of each court proceeding, information regarding who is suing whom and what for was revealed by voice-over commentary. When Sheindlin made her entrance, the courtroom audience was brought to order and instructed to rise by Byrd. He then informed Sheindlin of the docket number on the court calendar in the midst of providing Sheindlin a file of legal statements about the case, and directing audience members to be seated.


title: Judge Judy

text: Sheindlin typically began each case by summarizing the disputed matters brought before her. This was followed by preliminary questioning of the parties as to dates, times, locations, and other scene-setting facts before addressing the crux of the lawsuit. Governing the discourse throughout the cases, Sheindlin typically allowed only brief portions of each of the testimonies; having read the parties' sworn statements before the taping, she was quick to reply, impose her spiel, and disallow responses that were not concise or which interrupted her. Less frequently, Sheindlin allowed one or both of the opposing litigants to recount the entirety of their testimony. During the proceedings, Sheindlin coerced the parties to adhere to her strict management: participants were not allowed to tuck hands in pockets, fold arms, chew gum, appear for court dressed at all revealingly or casually, speak out of turn, hesitate in answering questions, offer statements of hearsay, assert to the knowledge and thoughts of others, and had to maintain eye contact with Sheindlin while relaying testimony, among other things. If Sheindlin deemed that children were not needed to testify, she directed Byrd to escort them out of the courtroom at the outset of the proceedings. If children testified, occasionally teens as well, Sheindlin would have them sit on the witness stand next to her, which Byrd typically stood in front of.


title: Judge Judy

text: Like most modern court shows, cases on "Judge Judy" imitated small claims court cases in which civil trials (non-criminal cases) were heard and ruled on. Typically Sheindlin handled cases among former lovers, disputing neighbors, or family and friend relations. Disputes generally revolved around issues such as broken engagements, unpaid personal loans, contract breaches, personal injuries from other litigants or their pets, minor property damages (e.g., fender benders, carpet stains, etc.), the fate of jointly purchased household appliances and rightful ownership of property. As is standard practice in small claims court and most reality court shows alike, "Judge Judy" proceedings operated in the form of a bench trial (as opposed to its more common counterpart, the jury trial). Moreover, lawyers were not present and litigants had to represent themselves. Generally each show presented two cases, but infrequently, an episode would present a single long case, three shorter ones, or even four shorter ones.


title: Judge Judy

text: After expressing her views of the circumstances and behaviors of the litigants with regards to their testimonies, Sheindlin rendered the judgment either by finding for the plaintiff (typically by stating, "Judgement for the plaintiff in the amount of x dollars,” and adding to that a closing exclamation, such as “That's all", “We're done", or "Goodbye!"), or by dismissing the case specifically with or without prejudice. After she ruled and exited the courtroom, Byrd was heard stating "Parties are excused. You may step out," followed by escorting the litigants out of the courtroom. Any counterclaims filed were handled similarly to this. At the end of each case, there was typically a fourth-wall-breaking segment where the litigators, and sometimes their witnesses alike, would express their feelings regarding the case directly to broadcast viewers by speaking to the camcorders. Sometimes, however, these segments were omitted, especially after cases involving resentful litigants, too upset over the circumstances to remain in the studio and provide comments.


title: Judge Judy

text: The producers of "Judge Judy" hired extras from an audience service who composed the entire studio. Paid audience members were easier to control due to contracts and employment. Producers also looked for a certain demographic of individuals and sat them strategically throughout their audience. Most of these paid extras were aspiring actors. Though tickets were not offered for the show, arrangements could sometimes be made with Sheindlin's production staff to allow fans of the show into the audience. The extras could not dress casually, and no logos or brand names could be visible on their clothing. Extras were also instructed to appear as if they were having discussions with each other before and after each case, so Byrd made such announcements as "Order! All rise."


title: Judge Judy

text: After one of these three processes, if the producers were interested, their employees would then call both parties and ask them questions relating to their lawsuit, making sure they were suitable for "Judge Judy". If the parties agreed to be on the show and signed an arbitration contract, agreeing that arbitration in Sheindlin's court was final and couldn't be pursued elsewhere (unless Sheindlin dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice), their case would've aired on "Judge Judy".


title: Judge Judy

text: The award limit on "Judge Judy", as on most "syndi-court" shows (and most small claims courts in the U.S.), was $5,000. The award for each judgment was paid by the producers of the show from a fund reserved for the purpose. Sheindlin ruled by either A.) issuing a verdict of a specific dollar amount (not always in the full amount of what is requested and rarely if ever more than what was requested even if she believed complainants were deserving of more) or B.) by dismissing the lawsuit altogether. When ruled on in these manners, cases couldn't be refiled or retried elsewhere. However, if Sheindlin specifically dismissed the lawsuit "without prejudice", that lawsuit could be refiled and retried in another forum. In some instances, Sheindlin dismissed cases without prejudice deliberately so that complainants pursued defendants in an actual court of law so that the defendants themselves were held financially accountable as opposed to the show. In such cases, Sheindlin had expressed particular aversion to the defendants in question. Further, Sheindlin dismissed cases without prejudice when she suspected both the plaintiff(s) and defendant(s) of conspiring together to gain monetary rewards from the program.


title: Judge Judy

text: Both the plaintiff(s) and the defendant(s) also received an appearance fee. The appearance fee amount had varied between different litigants of the show: certain litigants had reported receiving a $500 appearance fee while others had reported receiving $100, and others $250. In addition to the appearance fee amount, reportedly (at least some) litigants were paid $35 a day by the show. The litigants' stay lasted for the number of days that the show did taping for that week, which was two or three days. In addition, the airfare (or other means of travel) and hotel expenses of the litigants and their witnesses were covered by the show, and the experience was generally treated as an all-expense-paid vacation outside of the actual court case. If there was an exchange of property, Sheindlin signed an order, and a sheriff or marshal oversaw the exchange. Sheindlin saw only a half-page complaint and a defense response before the taping of the cases, sometimes only moments before. Most of the cases, not including any footage deleted to meet the time constraints of the show, usually lasted anywhere from twelve to forty-five minutes.


title: Judge Judy

text: "Judge Judy", like most court programs, was inexpensive to produce and thus created considerable income. A budget for a week's worth of "Judge Judy" episodes was half the cost of a single network sitcom episode.


title: Judge Judy

text: Three days every other week (two weeks a month), Sheindlin and her producers taped the court show. They usually produced ten to twelve cases for each day they taped the show. This made for about a week's worth of episodes, all done within one day. Anywhere from thirty to thirty-six cases were taped over three days during the week. Sheindlin appeared as a guest on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on September 13, 2011. When asked by Kimmel how many days a month she works, Sheindlin replied, "Five days." Sheindlin and her producers sometimes taped only five cases per day and two days per week. The show had fifty-two taping days a year. For each season, some 650 claims were brought to the set to be "presided" over by Judge Judy. This means approximately 16,250 claims had been brought to Judy Sheindlin's Hollywood set by the show's completion.


title: Judge Judy

text: For the most part, cases were taped throughout the year except for two breaks Sheindlin and all of the staff members of her show had for the year. One of the two breaks included an extra week off in December, as the show was only taped one week out of that month because of the holidays. The other break was from mid-July (only taping one week in July) and all through August. According to members of the show, the reason for this break was that people were more interested in taking vacations than in filing lawsuits around that time. When the seasons premiered in September, only episodes perceived as the best by program staff of the ones taped before Sheindlin's break were selected to start the season. Thus, the first few weeks (the first week in particular) would consist of what the show felt to be its best episodes. In Sheindlin's words, "It's like drinking wine. You don't serve the really good bottle of wine third."


title: Judge Judy

text: Altogether, there were 260 new episodes each season. There was at least one new episode for every weekday, except a few hiatuses during most of the summer, a couple of holidays, and in the latter seasons of the show, early spring as well (much of March and April). The cases were all pre-recorded for editing purposes and would usually air one to three months after being taped. The cases were mixed up and not shown in order of when they were recorded. While the cases taped in March (sometimes April) ended the seasons, the cases taped throughout April, May, June, and July started each season in September and lasted through October.


title: Judge Judy

text: Throughout the very beginning of each season, two new "Judge Judy" episodes aired per day. After two weeks, this was reduced to one new airing a day, followed by a repeat. There were also various other moments throughout the year where two new episodes were shown for a few weeks. This had sometimes included January when the show returned from its winter hiatus. Two new episodes were also shown daily during the "sweeps" months of November, February, and May. Unlike other television programs, the "Judge Judy" season finale did not air in April or May; rather, it aired in June, July, August, or sometimes even very early September just before the following season. When the season finale was extended to July, August, or September, most of the summer episodes preceding it were repeats with new episodes that were few and far in between.


title: Judge Judy

text: Two DVDs, featuring "memorable cases," were released by the show: the first in 2007, "Judge Judy: Justice Served," and the second in 2008, "Judge Judy: Second To None."


title: Judge Judy

text: For its entire 25-season run, "Judge Judy" taped at the Sunset Bronson Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. In alternating weeks, Sheindlin, who owns a home in New York among other cities/states, flew out on her private jet to tape her show, typically Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.


title: Judge Judy

text: From 2014 through the conclusion of "Judge Judy" in 2021, the show's courtroom set was located directly beside the set of the courtroom series Sheindlin created and produces, "Hot Bench." "Hot Bench" remains in production at the Sunset Bronson Studios. Previous to that, the space directly beside Sheindlin's set was used for the courtroom series "Paternity Court", only for the 2013–14 television season (that court show's 1st season). Prior to that, the space was used for "Judge Judy"s long-running sister show "Judge Joe Brown" until "Judge Joe Brown"s 2013 cancellation. Like "Judge Judy", "Judge Joe Brown" was also produced by Big Ticket Entertainment. The two shows alternated taping weeks.


title: Judge Judy

text: Despite the show being taped primarily in California, it displayed various images of New York City during the incoming commercial bumpers (audio and visuals shown returning from commercial breaks), including New York subways, parks, monuments, etc. In addition, the words "State of New York" and "Family Court" (Sheindlin was previously a New York family court judge in addition to being a native of New York) scrolled back and forth within the letterbox-like graphics that appeared during the show's outgoing and incoming commercial bumpers, lasting from season 9 through 25. The set also featured a New York state flag (positioned across from an American flag) situated behind Judge Judy Sheindlin's chair.


title: Judge Judy

text: Over the show's 25-year existence, it saw very few restyling updates from season to season, that is, outside of seasons 1, 2, 9, and 25 (season 25 due to COVID-19). Outside of initial seasons and the final season, most modifications to the program had been done in minute detail, such as to the show's bookshelf display seen near the courtroom entrance. Aesthetically, the show's theme song, graphics, and color scheme were the only aspects that had changed repeatedly throughout its lifespan.


title: Judge Judy

text: Season 1, and specifically its initial episodes, took a strikingly contrasting presentation from the latter seasons of the show. The courtroom set design and stage props vastly differed from what would become commonplace for the court show. The first episodes of season 1 also used music composed by Fred Lapides: a piano-based melody for the title sequence and closing credits. This theme music was never to be used again outside of the early stages of season 1 in 1996. The show's season 1 voice-over artist Michael Stull was heard narrating this intro theme, stating: "This is Judge Judy. Real people—in real cases—in real conflict. She's a real judge with over 15 years of courtroom experience."


title: Judge Judy

text: After numerous episodes towards the beginning of season one, the show's theme music was completely revamped to a percussive drum-like, ascending melody composed by Bill Bodine. Integrated into the modified theme music, the narration during the title sequence was also updated with Michael Stull announcing, "You are about to enter the courtroom of Judge Judith Sheindlin. The people are real. The cases are real. The rulings are final. This is her courtroom. This is Judge Judy." This narration lasted through season 8 of the program, though Jerry Bishop took over the narration by season 2.


title: Judge Judy

text: When the show switched to the melody composed by Bill Bodine in season 1, the opening music video was updated to motioning scenes of Sheindlin from the bench, gesticulating as though presiding over cases. These motioning images moved freely until colliding with an image of the "Judge Judy" courthouse logo, emphasized by a striking cymbal-like sound effect. The background scene for this title sequence music video was originally depicted in navy blue for a short portion of season 1 before switching to a sea green that same season through the 4th season.


title: Judge Judy

text: In season 4, the entire courtroom set was redesigned while retaining the sea green and saffron graphics and intro.


title: Judge Judy

text: By seasons 5 through 8, the title sequence commenced with an approaching scene towards a computer animated courthouse display up until that scene entered the courthouse. From there, several shots of Sheindlin gesticulating from her bench—as though presiding over various cases—were displayed in motion. These motioning images eventually developed into the courthouse logo that represents the program (the logo is always displayed within the letter "D" in "Judy") by the end of this opening music video. The graphics were also changed to blue and saffron along with this change.


title: Judge Judy

text: In the seventh season, while the theme song remained, the instrumentals were updated. In addition, the font for the short closing credits and litigants font was updated but the long closing credits retained the original font. By the eighth season, the font was completely changed and the returning from commercial break scenes were replaced with New York City scenes.


title: Judge Judy

text: Strikingly atypical to most of the show's run, the first few seasons saw litigators and their witnesses readily speaking out of turn, bickering between each other and taking to misbehaviors without Sheindlin exacting the strict measures for which later became a staple of the program.


title: Judge Judy

text: The ninth season (2004–05) was one of the few seasons in which the show underwent major remodeling when music for the show's opening, closing, and to/from commercial portions were modified. A remixed version of a melody from Beethoven's 5th Symphony was then adopted as the show's title sequence and closing music. This arrangement was composed by Non-Stop Music Productions. During the program's outgoing commercial bumpers (short portions of the program that took each episode to a commercial break, in the case of this program, adding previews of the remainder of the case or cases to be featured in the episode) a dramatic violin-like melody sounded in contrast to the Beethoven remix. When the program resumed with its incoming commercial bumper, the Beethoven remix once again played. Additionally, solemn violin-like striking tones sounded directly following Sheindlin's final verdict of each episode, lasting from season 9 through the remainder of the show's run. The graphics also began showing up in falu red.


title: Judge Judy

text: The intro was also changed for the ninth season as well. For its scenes, the Lady Justice statue is shown followed by a split screen of Sheindlin and the Statue of Liberty (over a blue background) followed by Sheindlin approaching the camera folding her arms and smiling. This is followed by shots of her presiding over different cases (which are shown in the scales of the Lady Justice statue in cubes).


title: Judge Judy

text: For much of the series outside of the initial episodes, the opening music video consisted of voice-over artist Jerry Bishop stating: "You are about to enter the courtroom of Judge Judith Sheindlin. The people are real. The cases are real. The rulings are final. This is "Judge Judy"." Originally between the statements "The rulings are final" and "This is Judge Judy" was the statement, "This is her courtroom." This line was dropped in 2004 when season 9 began.


title: Judge Judy

text: Beginning in September 2012, the show made a switch to high definition with its 17th season. The bumpers between commercials are also in HD, although most on-screen graphics such as plaintiff and defendant descriptions are framed to fit a .


title: Judge Judy

text: Late into the show's 23rd season, Sheindlin drastically altered her hairstyle by abandoning the bouffant hairdo that she had sported since the show's beginnings; she replaced that with a new style created from her hair pulled back and bounded by a clip-on hair bun at the back of her head. Her new hairstyle sparked widespread attention, and considerable negative reviews from viewers (media spectators alike) to the point that the show's Facebook moderator admonished posters that negative commentary about the clip-on bun would be deleted.


title: Judge Judy

text: Her bailiff, Petri Hawkins-Byrd, admitted to a preference for the original hairdo. Asked about the change in hairstyle, Sheindlin described the former as "a lot of goop and teasing and product and fussing around by somebody else. This is so much easier. And as each hour in every day we have becomes more precious, the less you want to spend time patshkeing over the way you look."


title: Judge Judy

text: In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the 24th season production of "Judge Judy" to end prematurely at only 199 episodes, 61 episodes fewer than the show's typical season number of 260.


title: Judge Judy

text: When "Judge Judy" returned for season 25, its final season, a multitude of COVID-19 precautionary measures were in place, vastly distinguishing this season of the show from previous seasons. Sheindlin presided remotely from New York; producers built a partial makeshift set there for her, with a different set design behind her and a larger, darker executive chair. Byrd and the litigants (and witnesses if any) participated from the Los Angeles studio, now devoid of audience members. Sheindlin interacted with the litigants through a live Internet link. Because Byrd could not physically convey evidence between her and the litigants, evidence was scanned with a document camera at the litigant lecterns, allowing Sheindlin to view it remotely. In addition, litigant afterthoughts following the case were shared at the podiums, instead of in the hallway set used pre-COVID.


title: Judge Judy

text: Steve Kamer took over as voice-over announcer for the 25th season after Jerry Bishop's death on April 21, 2020.


title: Judge Judy

text: On May 21, 2021, Sheindlin was asked by "USA Today" what she recalled of her unaired "Judge Judy" pilot episode, used to sell the series to Big Ticket Entertainment. Sheindlin responded by expressing great disfavor of the pilot episode, indicating that "Judge Judy" producers only set up fictionalized cases and steered her to dramatized reactions and behaviors. This ultimately ended up in Sheindlin's production team sending only bits and pieces of the pilot to CBS for approval of the show's broadcast. During the interview, Sheindlin recounted:


title: Judge Judy

text: I remember that somebody then was trying to fit me into a sort of cookie cutter (mold). They had seen the "60 minutes" [documentary], and they thought the approach that they saw in "60 minutes" could be almost a caricature, and I'm not a caricature of that person, I am that person. So the cases that they brought to me to do the pilot were not genuine, and I couldn't react to things that weren't genuine. Because when I'm trying to figure out the truth of a case, and there really is no truth, I can't work. So they took little snippets of the pilot and created a sizzle reel, along with "60 Minutes" tape and sold that."


title: Judge Judy

text: Sheindlin taped the final case of the series on April 15, 2021. The case, described by media spectators as mundane, saw a general contractor suing his customer over unpaid work. In this final taped case of the series, Sheindlin also made no farewell remarks nor gave any attention to it being the series' close. While this final filmed case (episode 179 of season 25, "Judge Judy Makes a Call!/Mother vs. Son") aired on June 8, 2021, cases taped before that point continued to air for the first time through the series finale episode, which aired on July 23, 2021 (episode 200 of season 25, "Architecture Barter Gone Bad"). Worthy to note, only one detail made Sheindlin's final filmed case of the series on June 8 stand out among other episodes since it was not featured in the series finale episode: that is a glittery, bee-shaped clip that Sheindlin wore in her hair. Sheindlin explained that this was a wink to her " Judge Judy" fans and a nod to her Queen Bee production company at the end of a 25-year reign over daytime television.


title: Judge Judy

text: Sheindlin addressed that never once throughout 25 years of filming her courtroom series did her appeal for the job wane. "I was as enthusiastic and rigorous in the last case that I taped as I was at the beginning," Sheindlin pointed out. On her final day of taping, Sheindlin was not in low spirits. Rather, she was reflective on her tenure on the show as "a job well done," with excitement about her new spin-off series, "Judy Justice". Of her thoughts on ending the program, Sheindlin added:


title: Judge Judy

text: I think that one of the reasons why I wasn't teary is because I wasn't going into a vast unknown. I wasn't going to do a cooking show. I was gonna be doing exactly what I was doing, exactly what I do, but in a different format.


title: Judge Judy

text: On May 20, 2014, CBS aired a one-hour special called "Judge Judy Primetime" which aired at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The special was a combination of reshown clips from the 1993 "60 Minutes Special" on Sheindlin, as well as a few never before seen cases. The special marked "Judge Judy"s first airing in primetime, a landmark for court shows which are typically limited to daytime or late night hours. It brought in 5.66 million viewers, enough to make it the night's top-rated show on CBS. In addition, the special came in just behind "American Idol", which brought in 6.61 million viewers.


title: Judge Judy

text: At least one case in the series was allegedly contrived by the litigants just to receive monetary payment from the program.


title: Judge Judy

text: In April 2013, former litigants from a 2010 airing of the show revealed they conspired together in fabricating a lawsuit in which the logical outcome would be to grant payment to the plaintiff. The operation, devised by musicians Kate Levitt and Jonathan Coward, was successful: Sheindlin awarded the plaintiff (Levitt) $1,000. The litigants involved also walked away with an appearance fee of $250 each and an all-expense-paid vacation to Hollywood, California. In reality, all the litigants in question—plaintiffs and defendants alike—were friends who split the earnings up among each other. It was also reported that the show's producers were suspicious of the sham all along, but chose to look the other way. The lawsuit was over the fictitious death of a cat as a result of a television crushing it.


title: Judge Judy

text: Sheindlin and her program appeared on the November 26, 2017, broadcast of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", presiding over a sketch comedy court case with Larry David as the plaintiff who unsuccessfully sued the previous owner of his house over custody of a sick ficus plant she left behind when she moved out, but later stole back. The pseudo-Judge Judy case assumed the appearance of an actual case from Sheindlin's program, taking place from the show's courtroom set with trademarked voice-over briefs, theme music, and audience response.


title: Judge Judy

text: Sheindlin appeared as herself, presiding judge on her "Judge Judy" courtroom program in the 1998 American made-for-television crime drama film, "CHiPs '99". Leading up to her cameo, Officer Francis (Frank) Llewelyn Poncherello "Ponch" (played by Erik Estrada) twists the arm of Captain Jonathan Baker (played by Larry Wilcox) into appearing on her television courtroom program. Uneasy about the idea of humiliating himself on national television, Baker acquiesces and ends up suing Nyeman (played by Googy Gress). The case saw Baker accusing Nyeman of failure to practice proper dog-walking etiquette, Nyeman was accused of allowing his dog to poop on his private property resulting in financial damage.


title: Judge Judy

text: Judge Judy Sheindlin was born on October 21, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, to German-Jewish parents Murray and Ethel Blum.


title: Judge Judy

text: Sheindlin had gained a reputation for although sporting a "grannyish" lace collar, having a deceivingly tough judicial approach, both in the Manhattan family court and her simulated televised courtroom. Sheindlin also became widely known for her no-nonsense fact-finding process that limited litigants to concise and relevant statements, restiveness for litigants to move things along quickly, and forthright interjections that cut through the parties' attempts at arguments and excuse-making with her. In line with these attributes, her program had been touted as "a show where justice is dispensed at the speed of light."


title: Judge Judy

text: Strict in her management of the proceedings, Sheindlin coerced precise compliance with her many courtroom rules and expectations. To that end, Sheindlin was especially sudden with scolding and punishing what she perceived as insolence, disobedience, misbehavior or even annoyance.


title: Judge Judy

text: As a result of her crusty disposition, volatile temper, and cheeky treatment, taglines such as "Justice with an Attitude" had been used to characterize the program. As examples of this, Sheindlin was known for her signature catchphrases, such as: