A court television show, where the judge (not surprisingly named Judy) somehow sees several cases in a half hour television block.

Judge Judy is quite possibly the most biased person in the world, and somehow I doubt the show is legally binding. Things are determined on no legal basis, and Judy yells about not believing people and how she doesn't like their attitude. It features an amusing amount of strange people and bad grammar.

WARNING: SHOW IS EXTREMELY BORING

It's one of a whole bunch of "real-life court case" shows, which have sprouted up ever since the popularity in the 80s of Judge Wapner's The People's Court. Judge Judy seems to have more of an attitude than most of those TV judges. Generally, on such shows, all participants are paid an appearance fee, to which amounts of judgments are added or subtracted as appropriate, so questions of legal bindingness needn't come up except with regard to whatever contract terms the participants may have to agree to prior to the appearance (of which I know nothing, having not actually seen their contract).

Judge Judy is legally binding, perhaps even moreso than if the case where to go into real court. The name for the process is binding arbitration, and there is no appealing the decision, and once bound by the ruling of the arbitrator, no recourse through regular legal channels.

In my experience, Judge Judy closely mimicks the United States small claims court proceedings. In small claims courts, cases are generally heard and decided in less than an hour.