Sarah Palin Court Show Picking Up Steam

As you might expect, Sarah Palin is gung-ho about the idea of becoming a TV court-show judge, said a source involved in developing the idea.

“She is very committed to this, thinks it’s a terrific idea [and] wants it to succeed,” the source said. “She’s incredibly engaged with this. Not only [does she] personally want this to succeed, but [she] really thinks that she would be great at it.”

The news first broke Tuesday afternoon: A Montana-based TV producer has signed Palin, 52 – the former governor of Alaska, one-time candidate for vice president of the United States and conservative firebrand – to a production deal for a syndicated court show that would premiere in September 2017. The story was first reported on People magazine’s Web site.

According to sources interviewed by TVNewsCheck on Wednesday – none of whom wished to be quoted by name – this proposed court show is in the very early stages of its development, although the idea has apparently been germinating since at least last November.

The show has no title. A pilot has not yet been shot, although that will likely happen “in the next few months.” The show has no home base or studio yet, although it won’t be filmed in Montana or in Alaska. No decision has yet been made on whether to cast a bailiff sidekick or any other on-air personnel such as an announcer, host or hallway interviewer.

The news of this show was apparently so fresh that major station-group programmers had no inkling that this show was in the works. None of them have been formally pitched yet, according to multiple sources.

The show does have a syndication team in place, however. Distribution are being handled by Barry Wallach (NBCU Domestic Television Distribution) and Lee Villas (formerly of CBS TV Distribution). The Montana production company that appears to have come up with the idea (although the specific source of the idea of turning Sarah Palin into a TV judge could not be confirmed) is is Warm Springs Productions, based in Missoula.

A look at the company’s TV shows on its Web site indicates that they have never worked before with Palin, who has had at least two TV shows of her own so far – Sarah Palin’s Alaska, which aired on TLC in 2010, and Amazing America with Sarah Palin on the Sportsman Channel.

Warm Springs Productions was founded in 2000 by Chris Richardson and Marc Pierce. The company’s lineup of shows consists generally of rustic fare such as HGTV’s Log Cabin Living and History Channel’s Mountain Men.

For this Sarah Palin court show project, however, Warm Springs has recruited a veteran of TV court-show production – Larry Lyttle, who is credited with helping to launch Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown. Lyttle was unavailable for comment. Palin herself was unavailable also.

Plans for the show call for Palin, who is not a lawyer and has no experience as a judge, to preside over a TV court room that would hear civil cases like the ones seen on shows such as Judge Judy and Judge Mathis. There will be no specializing in single issues such as paternity cases or family issues, one source said.

“It’s hard to know if it’s a good or bad idea,” said Bill Carroll, vice president of content strategy for Katz Television Group. “I think it’s an interesting idea. What you have is a well-known personality going into a genre that has been pretty much a staple of daytime. You’re not going to have to introduce someone new that the audience doesn’t know. Because she is well-known and because she is outspoken, she will definitely draw an audience initially.”