CBS Television Distribution is pitching a new court show to stations titled Hot Bench for next fall. The program was created by Judge Judy Sheindlin and will be executive produced by Randy Douthit, Judge Judy's current EP.
CTD declined to comment.
The show will feature a panel of three making decisions on cases.
New
York State Supreme Court Judge Patricia DiMango spent most of this year
working in the Bronx to help clear a massive backlog of cases but
expects to return to her home stomping grounds of Brooklyn in November.
Larry Bakman is a federal and state criminal attorney with offices in Los Angeles' Century City.
And Tanya Acker is a practicing attorney with a rising television career. Acker has appeared on CBS' The Early Show, ABC's Good Morning America, CNN's Larry King Live, Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor,
and several other programs. She also was cast in primetime reality
pilot for CBS that would have been produced by the creators of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
The show is titled Hot Bench
because it holds a place in Sheindlin's heart: it was the working title
for Sheindlin's fledgling court show before it was officially named Judge Judy.
Hot Bench is the latest entry in a syndication development field that includes three crime-based shows - Telepictures' True Crime Daily, from the producers of Extra; CTD's Crimesider, coming off of the Web site by the same title;and Debmar-Mercury's panel talker starring Star Jones that it's working on in partnership with Scripps.
Other syndicated shows expected to be launched next fall include NBCU's Meredith Vieira, which has been quietly closing deals across the country, and Warner Bros.' The Real, which performed this summer as a test on six Fox owned stations and is expected to get a pick-up from Fox in the coming weeks.
