Impact The playful commercials featuring Peller
offered an endearing portrait of a determined octo-
genarian who, despite her size and gender, was not
going to let anyone shortchange her. They com-
bined a pervasive 1980’s cultural focus on demand-
ing personal satisfaction with the suggestion that
contemporary institutions were not to be trusted.
Further Reading
Sullivan, Luke.Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to
Creating Great Ads.2d ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John
Wiley & Sons, 2003.
Twitchell, James B.Adcult, USA.New York: Columbia
University Press, 1997.
Scot M. Guenter
See also Advertising; Elections in the United
States, 1984; Fads; Food trends; Hart, Gary; Mon-
dale, Walter; Slang and slogans; Television.
People’s Court, The
Identification American television program
Date Original run aired from 1981 to 1993
The People’s Courtwas the first popular court show fea-
turing actual litigants in small-claims court.
The People’s Courtpremiered on September 12, 1981,
featuring Judge Joseph A. Wapner as he presided
over an actual small-claims civil court case. The show
was syndicated to air daily on television stations
across the country. The program’s researchers culled
interesting cases from actual filings in California’s
small-claims court. The litigants agreed, prior to ap-
pearing on the show, to drop their lawsuits and abide
by the program’s binding arbitration in exchange
for their appearance. Their lawsuits were originally
limited to $1,500, as this was then the limit of small-
claims decisions in California. However, as the state
raised small-claims maximums, so did the show. By
the time its initial run ended in 1993, litigants could
claim up to $5,000 in damages. Both parties were
paid to appear on the program, and when Wapner
voted a monetary verdict, the losing party forfeited
that amount of the payment.
Claimants were shown into the courtroom, and
plaintiffs and defendants had a chance to present
their cases to the judge. After hearing both sides,
Wapner retired to chambers to consider his deci-
sion. He could support the plaintiff, defendant, or,
as he sometimes chose, neither party. Litigants filed
suits and countersuits, so that sometimes each party
was both defendant and plaintiff.
Judge Wapner was joined by a regular crew, in-
cluding bailiff Rusty Burrell and court reporter Doug
Llewelyn. Llewelyn also hosted the show, introduc-
ing the cases and providing the wrap-up at the end.
Each case generally took about fifteen minutes, or
half of the allotted program time. Rare cases took
the entire thirty minutes. If there was time at the
end, Wapner might address legal questions from the
audience, or legal consultant Harvey Levin might
offer advice on some legal quagmire.Impact Melding talk shows with courtroom dra-
mas,The People’s Courtenjoyed such popularity that it
spawned a television subgenre, as the American pub-
lic’s appetite for real-life legal drama proved to be
great enough to sustain several shows. Unlike its fic-
tional counterparts,The People’s Courtdid not focus
on the judges or the lawyers, but instead concen-
trated on cases and the people presenting them. It
was also one of the first programs to institute audi-
ence polls. In some controversial cases, Llewelyn
would tell viewers how the studio audience would
have decided the case after Wapner had rendered
his verdict. Llewelyn ended each case by reminding
viewers “Don’t take the law into your own hands: You
take ’em to court,” and viewers tuned in weekly for
more than a decade to see who was suing whom.Subsequent Events Four years after the show’s orig-
inal run ended, it was revived in an hourlong format
starting in 1997. The first judge to preside in the new
show was former mayor of New York City Ed Koch.Further Reading
Cohn, Marjorie, and David Dow.Cameras in the Court-
room: Television and the Pursuit of Justice. Jefferson,
N.C.: McFarland, 1998.
Kammen, Michael.American Culture, American Tastes:
Social Change and the Twentieth Centur y. New York:
Basic Books, 2000.
Meyer, Jon’a, and Paul Jesilow.“Doing Justice” in the
People’s Court: Sentencing by Municipal Court Judges.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997.
Jessie Bishop PowellSee also Crime; Supreme Court decisions; Televi-
sion.The Eighties in America People’s Court, The 753