“I know you’ve been sworn in, and I have read your complaints.” Thus opened pretty much every episode of The People’s Court, with Doug Llewelyn, Rusty the Bailiff, and of course the Very Honorable Judge Joseph Wapner. The Big W placed a lot of emphasis on have, as if the complainants would have a reasonable expectation that nobody gives a damn about their pidly issues. Judge Wapner was the man who would patiently listen to people’s lame excuse for a case, and then hand down a sensible verdict that didn’t matter anyway because the show paid for damages and court expenses regardless of the outcome.
I just want to say, where have all the heroes gone? Where is the new generation’s knight in black robes? Who will dispense justice to current residents of trailer parks where landlords fail to provide necessary repairs, users of laundrmats where machines eat your quarters, and law-abiding homeowners whose neighbor’s dog craps in their yard?
Nowhere, that’s where. Judge Wapner has retired, and nobody can replace him. Judge Judy tried and failed, and now there’s a gaping void in daytime television. Who will bring meaning to the periods between ads for drunk-driving defense attorneys, lawyers who will get you every dollar you have coming for your pain and suffering, medicare-reimbursable appliances and vehicles, second rate automobile services, and of course ITT Technical Institute?
I realize this may read like an obituary, but I believe The Big W is still with us. He should be about 87 years old now. He probably roams around an apartment in a Miami retirement community, carrying his gavel and yelling for Rusty to bring him the evidence. My heart goes out.
¶ 11:31 AM 
