Trivia / Judge Joe Brown

• Cast the Expert:
  • Judge Joe Brown was a sitting judge on the State Criminal Court of Shelby County, Tennessee prior to, and during, the first two seasons of the show, and was specifically sought out by Big Ticket Entertainment for a court show in which the arbitrator was still an active judge. This resulted in critics calling out Brown for profiting off his elected title as judge, and Brown ultimately resigned from the State Criminal Court in 2000 after numerous complaints from defendants who had their cases delayed because he was too busy taping episodes of the show in L.A.
  • Holly Evans and Sonia Montejano were both actual court bailiffs prior to joining the show, a fact that Brown occasionally mentioned whenever litigants appeared to underestimate their physical strength.
  • The later seasons occasionally featured “expert witnesses”, third parties with no relation to the litigants who analyzed the subject matter of the case using their own experiences in the field, in order to aid Brown with his ruling (e.g. a forensic document examiner determining whether or not a signature was forged, a hair replacement specialist determining whether or not a wig was installed properly).

• He Also Did:
  • Rolonda Watts, The Announcer from 2005 to 2013, is also known for her daytime talk show from The '90s, as well as announcing on Temptation (2007) and recent seasons of Divorce Court.
  • Sonia Montejano, who served as bailiff from 2006 to 2013, is better known nowadays for serving as the bailiff on Hot Bench.
  • Jeanne Zelasko, who served as court reporter from 2010 to 2013, is a famous sportscaster who has been seen on FOX Sports, MLB Network, and ESPN.

• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Unlike its sister show Judge Judy, CBS Television Distribution decided not to syndicate reruns of Judge Joe Brown after its cancellation, and consequently, most of the run hasn't been seen since then. Nevertheless, Judge Joe Brown has come out better than most court shows in this regard:
  • A large number of episodes from 2008 to 2013 have made their way onto YouTube, albeit usually in lackluster quality.
  • Bounce TV aired reruns of the 2004-2005 season from 2018 to 2021.
  • UK channel CBS Reality is currently airing reruns of the 2001-2002 season.
  • In 2021, most of the first season (plus a few episodes from the second season) was uploaded to Pluto TV and roughly 150 episodes spanning mid-2008 through the end of the run were uploaded to The Roku Channel. Pluto removed their episodes in late 2022; The Roku Channel's episodes are still up for the time being.
• Technology Marches On: Jacque’s commentary during the court proceedings was originally presented solely by her holding a handheld microphone, but partway through the 2003-2004 season, it changed to a newscast-esque presentation style that remained for the rest of the run.