TV

Judy Judge is hanging up her robe.

Nearly 30 years after Judy Sheindlin launched a career that made her TV’s most widely recognized judge — first on the syndicated small claims series “Judge Judy,” which premiered in 1996 and ran for 25 seasons; then on Amazon Prime’s streaming show “Judy Justice” starting in 2021 — she’s passing her gavel to a fitting successor: her son, Judge Adam Levy.

The 83-year-old Sheindlin told People magazine that when “Judy Justice” wraps in October, she’s moving away from on-camera work to focus on other endeavors, including afternoon naps and developing the animated series “Judyverse” based on the “Baby Judge Judy” videos circulating social media.

Created with AI, the videos feature a toddler version of Judge Judy overseeing cases with her signature New York accent and no-nonsense barbs.

“I don’t want to do hair and makeup anymore, but I still want my message to get out there,” she told the outlet.

Sheindlin will also produce her son’s syndicated court TV show, “Adam’s Law,” which debuts Monday.

“There aren’t a lot of people who can carry a half-hour on their own, unscripted,” Sheindlin continued, adding that Levy has what it takes.

The 58-year-old earned his law degree from Hofstra Law School in 1992. This isn’t his first foray into TV, as he joined a panel of judges on Prime’s “Tribunal Justice” in 2023. After three seasons, Sheindlin said he’s ready for his close-up.

On Sept. 22, CBS will air a 30th anniversary special looking back on Sheindlin’s career, “Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable.”

“I don’t think that I’ve ever been this content before,” she told People of entering the next era of her life. “I don’t have to prove anything else. I did it.”

After oohing and aahing over “The Odyssey,” it’s time for the hot summer splash to make way for an intriguing fall lineup.

At the movies, Alexander Skarsgård plays a sexy wicker husband. Tom Cruise, a bizarro oil man. Jenna Ortega, a robot friend, and Kendall Roy, ahem, Jeremy Strong, is Mark Zuckerberg. Then we revisit classics of various stripes on the small screen, from a further-future “Blade Runner” to “A Different World” relaunch to “East of Eden” to “Pride and Prejudice.”

For new books, it’s an Emily fest. Emily St. John Mandel’s “Exit Party,” based in Los Angeles, is being called her best work since “Station Eleven.” And Emily Wilson, “The Odyssey” translator who launched 1,000 hot takes, lets us inside her process. As for arts, directors steal the spotlight: the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens with 20 inaugural exhibitions and a collection of David Lynch’s L.A. photography fills a local gallery.

Bookmark this page and come back daily this week as we share even more of the best of fall. — Brittany Levine Beckman

Netflix said it is in the process of closing two of its gaming studios, as the division is making another round of organizational changes.

The Los Gatos, Calif., streamer said it closed the Hollywood-based gaming studio Night School, the maker of narrative games like “Oxenfree,” on Thursday and has proposed to close Helsinki, Finland-based gaming studio Moonloot. Night School was the first game developer Netflix purchased in 2021 as it expanded into gaming. At the time, the streamer was under pressure by investors to diversify its content to attract more customers, after experiencing two quarters of subscriber losses in 2022.

Night School viewed the acquisition at the time as “such a natural pairing” as the gaming studio wanted to stretch its narrative aspirations on original games and Netflix has a reputation of giving TV and film creators an “unprecedented canvas” to bring entertainment to millions of people, according to a blog post on its website.

In an email, a Netflix spokesperson said it is eliminating roles because the company believes it can operate more strategically and efficiently in its games business. The spokesperson declined to provide the number of workers affected.

Last year, the company shut down Boss Fight Entertainment, one of the gaming studios it acquired in 2022.

Games on Netflix have had mixed results. At the end of 2024, Epic Games executive Alain Tascan joined Netflix as president of the division and under his leadership, it has focused on key areas including kids, party games like “Netflix Minigolf,” narrative games and mainstream games like “FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition.” The company also removed games in part because they did not have high engagement from its library.

Last year, Netflix unveiled several party games including “Boggle Party” and “Pictionary: Game Night.”

In June, Netflix released a narrative game made by Night School called “Unhinged” about a woman who is trapped inside her apartment during a hurricane and is trying to find safety. Voice actors in the game include Zoë Kravitz and Sadie Sink.

In a July earnings presentation, Co-CEO Greg Peters reminded analysts of the market opportunity for games, with $150 billion in consumer spending not including ad revenue or markets in China and Russia. He said the streamer is seeing solid numbers from its cloud games such as FIFA and “Unhinged” and higher adoption and retention in the cloud games than mobile games. He also said there has been strong engagement and growth from kid games.

“We’re just getting started here,” Peters said. “We’re scratching the surface in terms of what we think the total potential of the space offers for us.”

The layoffs come as Netflix stock has declined 37% from a year ago. Investors are concerned about how much time people are spending on Netflix compared to rivals like YouTube. YouTube represents about 14% of streaming-watch time by U.S. viewers on TVs, compared to Netflix’s 8% in May, according to Nielsen.

In addition to games, Netflix has added other types of content to its streaming service over the years including live events like NFL football games and video podcasts.