When you’re retired, you can smugly tell people, "EVERY day’s a Sunday of a three-day weekend for me. Which means that I didn’t have to work yesterday, I have the day off today, and I don’t have to work tomorrow." (Which, by the way, always goes over really well with people.) But it’s really not true, because there’s work and then there’s work, because we are, after all, industrious creatures. But I digress.
I started watching "The People’s Court" when the show was resurrected, originally with the former mayor of New York, Ed Koch, followed by Judge Judy’s husband, Jerry Sheindlin and now Marilyn Milian. Of the three, Judge Milian is probably the most engaging.
It seems that there are a bunch of court shows on TV at the moment, and I’m guessing that it’s because they’re fairly inexpensive to produce. There’s Judges Mathis, Hackett, Joe Brown, and Judy, then there’s "Texas Justice" and "Divorce Court." And those are just the ones on free television, I imagine there’s a few on subscription TV, too. I came to the conclusion awhile back that one is plenty for me to follow, and since "People’s Court" is on at a fairly convenient time for me to watch, it became my compulsory "One Court Show."
I used to watch "Judge Judy" until her time slot and channel got changed, but then after watching Judge Milian, I came to realize that Judy has one mood, and it’s always predictably crabby. Judge Judy runs the gamut of emotions from A to B (to quote Dorothy Parker, originally referring to Katherine Hepburn in her early career). Which is what I like about Judge Milian. She can be amused, curious, fascinated, insulted, sarcastic, indignant, angry, and compassionate, all in the same hour show sometimes.
Another reason I like "People’s Court" is that you really don’t have to catch the entire show, since there are an average of about three cases per episode, and you can jump in at practically any time. I also like the fact that you do learn a little bit about the law, but also it’s one of those programs that doesn’t require your undivided attention, because you really only need to listen to it and can therefore multi-task and load the dishwasher or something while taking in the program. Like I said, there’s work and then there’s work.
But what I really enjoy about Judge Milian is that she has a pretty cute sense of humor and for the most part keeps everything on a light note. I like the one line that she uses occasionally when she has caught a litigant in a lie, or for some other reason does not believe them. She’ll say, "I wouldn’t believe you now if your TONGUE came notarized."
She also quotes her Cuban grandmother from time to time, and she’ll repeat these wise pearls of wisdom quickly in Spanish first before translating into English. "The cheap comes out very expensive" is one translated quote I recall. Another one I remember went something like, "Where you’re headed I’ve already been, sat down, had a Coke and come back."
I’d write more this month, but for now I’m a little pressed for time because for me every day’s a Tuesday. Which means that I had to work yesterday, I’m working today, I have to work tomorrow, and in fact still have the whole FREAKING work week ahead of me and beyond. I know, I know I just said I was retired and that every day’s a Sunday of a three-day weekend. But you see, we have a vacancy in our rental, and there’s a couple of decades of inhabitancy to try and erase somewhat. Not so smug now, am I?
On top of that, my plum tree is just now done raining plums down on me, and I’ll have to deal with the gallons upon gallons of frozen plum pulp destined to ultimately become plum wine. I’m also hand raising four baby African Grey parrots until they’re old enough to find homes for.
In addition, while they’re out of town for nearly a month, I’m taking care of my neighbors’ menagerie, the likes of which makes mine pale in comparison. I could tell you about the cock fight I had to break up the other day, and how it looked like the smaller one was whuppin’ some serious ass on the much larger one, but sadly that tale is for another time. (Technique, baby, it’s all about technique.)
The moral of the story is that my plate is pretty full right now, and TV watching is pretty low on my list of priorities. After we get our new tenants all tucked in and put to bed, then we can go back to the every day being a Sunday thing and watching television to our heart’s desire. But for the present and for probably the next couple of months or so, EVERY day’s a Tuesday. What a drag.