History Series / JudgingAmy

After her divorce, attorney Amy Gray (Creator/AmyBrenneman) and her young daughter move back into her mother's house in Hartford, Connecticut, and Amy becomes a family court judge. Amy's mother Maxine (Creator/TyneDaly) is a social worker who holds herself, as well as everyone else -- especially Amy -- to her perfectionist standards. Since Amy is a family court judge and Maxine is a social worker, they occasionally cross paths professionally, sometimes creating discord that spills over into their personal relationship. Amy and Maxine are both single and interested in romance. Amy's introspective, younger brother Vincent (Dan Futterman) is a writer, while her older brother Peter (Creator/MarcusGiamatti), an insurance salesman, and his neurotic wife Gillian (Creator/JessicaTuck) frequently drop by.

* PositiveDiscrimination: It's doubtful that Bruce's statements in one episode about disagreeing with the idea of interracial families would have been presented so sympathetically if he were white.

%% * NotSoDifferent: Amy and Maxine seem often to be at war with each other, but...

After her divorce, attorney Amy Gray (Creator/AmyBrenneman) and her young daughter move back into her mother's house in Hartford, Connecticut, and Amy becomes a family court judge. Amy's mother Maxine (Tyne Daly) is a social worker who holds herself, as well as everyone else -- especially Amy -- to her perfectionist standards. Since Amy is a family court judge and Maxine is a social worker, they occasionally cross paths professionally, sometimes creating discord that spills over into their personal relationship. Amy and Maxine are both single and interested in romance. Amy's introspective, younger brother Vincent (Dan Futterman) is a writer, while her older brother Peter (Marcus Giamatti), an insurance salesman, and his neurotic wife Gillian (Creator/JessicaTuck) frequently drop by.

After her divorce, attorney Amy Gray (Creator/AmyBrenneman) and her young daughter move back into her mother's house in Hartford, Connecticut, and Amy becomes a family court judge. Amy's mother Maxine (Tyne Daly) is a social worker who holds herself, as well as everyone else -- especially Amy -- to her perfectionist standards. Since Amy is a family court judge and Maxine is a social worker, they occasionally cross paths professionally, sometimes creating discord that spills over into their personal relationship. Amy and Maxine are both single and interested in romance. Amy's introspective, younger brother Vincent (Dan Futterman) is a writer, while her older brother Peter (Marcus Giamatti), an insurance salesman, and his neurotic wife Gillian (Jessica Tuck) frequently drop by.

%% * {{Adorkable}}: Maxine and Amy when they're flustered by the attention of the opposite sex... which leads Amy once to declare that she is done with men. ...it doesn't stick.
* AssholeVictim: The creep stalking Amy [[spoiler:that ended up being killed by Sean's foster kid in defense of the Grays]].

%% * BlackBestFriend: Bruce.

''Judging Amy'' is an American legal drama television series that was broadcast from September 19, 1999, to May 3, 2005, on Creator/{{CBS}}.

After her divorce, attorney Amy Gray and her young daughter move back into her mother's house in Hartford, Connecticut, and Amy becomes a family court judge. Amy's mother Maxine is a social worker who holds herself, as well as everyone else -- especially Amy -- to her perfectionist standards. Since Amy is a family court judge and Maxine is a social worker, they occasionally cross paths professionally, sometimes creating discord that spills over into their personal relationship. Amy and Maxine are both single and interested in romance. Amy's introspective, younger brother is a writer, while her older brother, an insurance salesman, and his neurotic wife frequently drop by.

* DoubleStandard: Averted in the season 4 episode "Roses & Truth", where Amy has a case of a high school student who slept with his teacher and got her pregnant. At first the boy was charged with rape, as the teacher alleged he forced himself on her. The boy's defense, however, showed that the teacher was the sexual predator by bringing in another victim to discuss his relationship with the teacher. It was treated with the seriousness it deserved [[spoiler:and even the teacher's husband looked at her with disgust when he heard the second victim's claims]].

%% * WeddingDay: [[spoiler:Amy and Stu]]'s wedding episode... which ends heart-wrenchingly.

After her divorce, attorney Amy Gray and her young daughter move back into her mother's house in Hartford, Connecticut, and Amy becomes a family court judge. Amy's mother Maxine is a social worker who holds herself, as well as everyone else -- especially Amy -- to her perfectionist standards. Since Amy is a family court judge and Maxine is a social worker, they occasionally cross paths professionally, sometimes creating discord that spills over into their personal relationship. Amy and Maxine are both single and interested in romance. Amy's introspective, younger brother is a writer, while her older brother, an insurance salesman, and his neurotic wife frequently drop by. This show is about as complex as it gets without being a MindScrew...

* AbusiveParents: A huge part of Maxine's job, and these pop up in Amy's courtroom.
* {{Adorkable}}: Maxine and Amy when they're flustered by the attention of the opposite sex... which leads Amy once to declare that she is done with men. ...it doesn't stick.

* BirthdayHater: Maxine.
* BlackBestFriend: Bruce.
* ByronicHero: David [=MacClaren=] carries shades of this at first, with the tragedy of his wife's death and the whole TallDarkAndHandsome thing.
* CourtroomDrama
* DefrostingIceQueen: Dr. Lily Redekker.

* EpunymousTitle
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Lily and Kyle.
* ExactWords: In "Roses & Truth" the prosecution is objecting to a surprise witness the defense showed up with feeling they deliberately withheld the name to prevent possible discrediting. Amy gets the prosecution to agree that it was the act of possibly hiding the witness he didn't like rather than hearing from the witness that angers him, giving her no objection to hearing the witness on the stand.
* GeniusDitz: Donna
* GoodIsNotNice: Maxine, at times.
* HypercompetentSidekick (Donna, then Holbrook in season 6)
* ImportantHaircut: Maxine has one of these.
* ItRunsInTheFamily: That perfectionist streak.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Maxine ''really'' comes across as this, at times, as do her boss, Sean, and her nephew, Kyle.

* KidsAreCruel: Invoked often with Lauren's classmates.
* LongRunner
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Oh, ''Kyle''...
* NotSoDifferent: Amy and Maxine seem often to be at war with each other, but...

-->'''Amy''': [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller Thought you'd be shorter]]...and a guy.
* PowerTrio: Amy as TheKirk, Bruce as TheSpock, and Donna as TheMcCoy.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Amy as a judge. Maxine once encourages a lawyer to stick with Amy rather than seek out another judge as she will be sure to rule a fair verdict.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Amy employs these regularly in putting down unruly lawyers and the like in court.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Vincent explains to Kyle that he's made him that for the Gray women.
* ParentsAsPeople: Maxine and Amy, full stop.
* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Wow... take your pick. Maxine vs. Kimberly, however, probably takes the cake.
* ScreamingBirth: Donna.

* SnarkToSnarkCombat: The Gray family is good at this.
* [[SociallyAwkwardHero Socially Awkward Heroine]]: Amy, as lampshaded jokingly by David: "No, it's because you're crazy."
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute (Vincent, then Kyle, then Vincent again).
* TallDarkAndSnarky: Bruce.
* TheResenter: Gillian gets definite shades of this.

* TraumaticCSection: Gillian undergoes this.
* TheUnfavorite: Several cases of Amy's deal with this. In the Gray family, however, Peter seems to fill the role.
* WeddingDay: [[spoiler:Amy and Stu]]'s wedding episode... which ends heart-wrenchingly.

* DisproportionateRetribution: In one episode, a boy was brought in to Amy's court after calling in a bomb threat at school. However, his father was a soldier and he was born in Afghanistan. Since citizenship is passed through the mother, he is officially an illegal Afghani immigrant and could be deported if convicted of a felony. Later, in a LoopholeAbuse filled conversation about a theoretical boy from "Sweden," she is told that if he is deported back to "Sweden" with no family or support system, he'll likely be placed in the military. All because he wanted to get out of a test. Amy takes a third option by sentencing to probation for 36'''4''' days, since only sentences of over a year are required to be reported.
* DoubleStandard: Averted in the season 4 episode "Roses & Truth" where Amy has a case of a high school student who slept with his teacher and got her pregnant. At first the boy was charged with rape as the teacher alleged he forced himself on her. The boy's defense, however, showed that the teacher was the sexual predator by bringing in another victim to discuss his relationship with the teacher. It was treated with the seriousness it deserved [[spoiler:and even the teacher's husband looked at her with disgust when he heard the second victim's claims]].

* ByronicHero: David MacClaren carries shades of this at first, with the tragedy of his wife's death and the whole TallDarkAndHandsome thing.

This page is in serious need of WikiMagic.

** When Vincent is at home sick one day, he watches ''SoylentGreen''.

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** Amy rents ''TheSoundOfMusic'' for Lauren's sleepover and ends up discussing one scene and watching it with Maxine.

* ActorSharedBackground: Sort of; Amy Brenneman's mother and father were a Connecticut Superior Court judge and a lawyer, respectively.

* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: When Richard Crenna, who played Maxine's on-again, off-again boyfriend Jared, died of cancer, his character was written off by having him die of a heart attack in the episode "Requiem".

* TheDanza: Amy Brenneman as Amy Gray.

* DisproportionateRetribution: In one episode, a boy was brought in to Amy's court after calling in a bomb threat at school. However, his father was a soldier and he was born in Afghanistan. Since citizenship is passed through the mother, he is officially an illegal Afghani immigrant and could be deported if convicted of a felony. Later, in a LoopholeAbuse filled conversation about a theoretical boy from "Sweden," she is told that if he is deported back to "Sweden" country with no family or support system, he'll likely be placed in the military. All because he wanted to get out of a test. Amy takes a third option by sentencing to probation for 36'''4''' days, since only sentences of over a year are required to be reported.