Court’s back in session for Mathis as he signs deal with Allen Media Group for new show
New show however, will not be produced in Chicago as city loses second show in a week with the cancellation of HBO Max’s South Side
In the “that was quick” department, Judge Greg Mathis has found a new home mere days after his Warner Bros. show was canceled as Byron Allen swooped in and snagged the free agent and announced Tuesday they were launching a new court show featuring him.
The newly named Mathis Court with Judge Mathis (yes, his name is in the title twice) is being distributed not only to local TV stations, but also to Allen’s JusticeCentral.tv, a cable network seen in 50 million homes via Comcast, DirecTV, Verizon FIOS, and others. However, the new Mathis Court will be produced in Los Angeles instead of the NBC Tower where Judge Mathis was shot. Home to NBC-owned WMAQ-TV, the building once housed nationally syndicated talk shows hosted by Jenny Jones, Jerry Springer, and Steve Wilkos.
No station clearances were announced as of yet, but it is possible the new Mathis Court could wind up on the same stations who carried his old show, including WCIU who carried Mathis for his entire run. Late Friday, Warner Bros. canceled both Judge Mathis and The People’s Court after 20+ seasons on the air.
“We at Allen Media Group are proud to add Mathis Court with Judge Mathis to our amazing portfolio of court shows,” said Byron Allen, founder-chairman-CEO of Allen Media Group, formerly known as Entertainment Studios. “Judge Greg Mathis is an outstanding, charismatic, and iconic television host, and we are extremely confident that our eighth and newest court series with Judge Mathis will be very successful for years to come as he joins our outstanding roster of talent.”
“For years I’ve proudly watched Byron Allen build a first-class global media empire”, said Mathis. “After 24 years on the air, I can’t think of a better company to work with to create my next great chapter. Byron and I are both from Detroit and it’s exciting to see him build the Motown of court programming by bringing together all of my fellow judges from his eight court shows — who are the best of the best.”
A former judge of Michigan’s 36th District Court, Mathis has been presiding over Judge Mathis since 1999 and is also a 2018 Daytime Emmy winner for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom program and won an NAACP Image Award.
Mathis joins other judges whose shows were canceled after their syndicators decided to get out of the business of producing court shows, including Christina Perez, Karen Mills-Francis, Glenda Hatchett, and most recently, Lauren Lake whose Paternity Court is still rerun in syndication. Allen now has a total of eight court shows in his stable, including Eboni K. Williams’ new show, who debuts this fall. All are produced in L.A.
The move of Mathis to California is another blow to Chicago’s production community. On the same day Mathis announced his return to television, HBO Max canceled single-camera comedy South Side after three seasons. The critically acclaimed sitcom was based in the city’s South Side and filmed in and around Englewood. Both Mathis’ old show and HBO Max are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who has announced numerous cost-cutting moves since the merger of the two companies, although South Side was produced by MTV Entertainment, whose parent company is Paramount Global. South Side spent its first season at PG’s Comedy Central, when the conglomerate was known as ViacomCBS.
Despite the departures, Chicago is still home to several filmed-in-town shows, including Dick Wolf’s Chicago hat trick of dramas, Showtime’s The Chi, and FX’s critically acclaimed The Bear, among others. Two weeks ago, ground broke on the new $100 million, 380,000 square foot Regal Mile Studios, located on the western edge of the South Side’s South Shore neighborhood, which could bring more television and movie production into town.