Coming in the autumn of 2005 - Judge Alex! This new syndicated small-claims courtroom show, produced by Twentieth Television, features Judge Alex Ferrer.

The Cuban-American Ferrer was a Florida circuit court judge before being lured into television. He was the youngest officer on the Miami police force before becoming the youngest judge in the county, and at age 44 had just been nominated for the Florida Court of Appeals before making the transition into the realm of "he gave me $500 as a gift, not a loan."

Some articles for your perusal:

Hispanic Magazine profile

Variety article about the show

Google-cached article from the Orlando Sun-Sentinel

Judge Alex debuts on September 12, and the last report I found said it would be available in 65% of the markets. I don't know if the whole "smiling enforcer" thing is being promoted in other markets, but that's how he's being trumpeted here...

Thanks, coastcat!

Here's the official website (that doesn't berate you when you fill out the email form) that describes the show as:

Hrm. His head is strangely oblong.

I already don't like him because of his head ...and really let's face it we already have a great cuban-american judge.

Who am I kidding, I watch all the court shows. How can I look up when it's on near me?

What the hell! I'm in!

And what's wrong with an interestingly shaped noggin....?...?

I'm mesmerized by his expression, with that one-sided smile. What does it mean? Is he business on the left, party on the right? (that would go along nicely with the mullets that are bound to be plentiful on his show)

Note that his show is taped in Houston rather than NYC or LA. The production company responsible also brought us Texas Justice.

Oh HEE! Now I'm looking forward to this!

I hope this guy is less hokey that Larry Jo and William. Although I rarely equate hokey with Cuban.

anyone see LJ on Anna Nicole? They went shopping (!!) and he let her sit on his lap behind the bench. I don't think Will was involved. I think I remember it this way.....

Just a reminder... the debut season of Judge Alex starts tomorrow. Will it be a joyful snarkfest in the tradition of Judge Judy, or will it be obviously staged and therefore dull like Divorce Court?

Does any one know what channel it's airing on in LA? I went to the official website and it's down.... Not that they had much info in the first place.

ETA Nevermind, UPN 13 at 3pm if you're in LA and useless like me.

He was just on Good Day Live. He was OK. Very serious, he seems like a real judge. I hope I like the show. That smile reminds me of something from the simpsons.

Thank goodness Judge Alex has replaced Texas Justice in my market. I saw the first couple of cases today and I like! He seems pretty tough and no-nonsense; he's much less annoying than Judge Hatchett or the Texas Justice judge.

And you can totally tell that he used to be a cop.

I actually like Texas Justice, but from my first impression of Judge Alex, I really like him too! He's stern and doesn't seem to take crap, yet he's kind of funny..."You're dating a wookie?"

And wow, danely, you really nailed the Simpsons smile! It's the stern substitute teacher guy that calls them all freaks. Heee.

I definitely like Judge Alex - he seems to have a good BS detector. Unlike most of the other TV judges, he also maintains firm control over his courtroom at all times. I also get the feeling that his litigants have been ordered to dress appropriately for the courtroom. Yeah, he is most emphatically a former cop.

Hee! Loved the very first case, with the woman who was so frightened of a black man who owned a Mercedes that she had to call both her husband and her boyfriend to reassure her suspended-licensed ass.

I could do without the audience applauding at every caustic remark from the judge.

Me too coastcat. I could just picture the guy with the "applause" cue card right off screen.

I dunno .. his "tough judge" act seems a bit "forced" to me...

When I was watching the previews/intro and he was talking about throwing someone out so fast their head wouldn't stop spinning for a month (or something like that) it was like when Judge Milian says "I wouldn't believe you if your tongue came notarized" ....

He does NOT have control of the court room - like JJ or Milian. I watched the cases yesterday (Monday) and the litigants spent a lot of time yelling at eachother ...

I hope he was "breaking in" and once he sees himself on tv will loosen up a bit ..


Does he look like the guy who played Herman Munster to anyone else ???

Hmm, maybe it's a relative thing. I watched Judge Alex after watching Judge Joe Brown, and JA's courtroom was decidedly more controlled. I love JJB, but damn, he lets everyone scream all they want until it's time to render a verdict. (Judge Mathis is worse, I can't even watch it anymore)

Yup. He also reminds me of someone else, but for the life of me I can't pinpoint who...

It feels a bit forced to me, too, like he's playing the room. He does seem to step in to control the litigants more, but I feel like part of the reason they are acting up is because he isn't judgelike in the first place, saying things like "shut up." Also I don't like all the text and that stupid "ruling in __ minutes" thing on the screen. Where I live he's up against Judge Mathis and I'll probably switch back and forth because they both are sort of meh court shows, but I sure wouldn't pick JA over Judges Milian or Judy.

He kinda reminds me of what the child of Fred Gwynne (aka, Herman Munster) and Senator Rick Santorum would look like. You know, if that sort of thing could happen and all.

Eh. The show's OK. He's no Judge-Judy-in-man-form, but not terrible like Judge "Oh, you mean I have to participate sometimes, too?" Joe Brown.

I've decided that he looks like he's made of plastic. I stand by my simpson's comment. He just looks like he's not real. He looks robotlike. He doesn't move or talk robotically but there's something unreal about it. Like he looks like a wax figure.

I don't like the ruling countdown either.

Remember Herman Munster in My Cousin Vinny as the judge? Judge Alex certainly is a dead ringer, down to the monotone voice. But I will continue to watch as I am a judge show bitch.

Watched Judge Alex for the first time today. The first thing that got to me and probably soured me for the rest of the show was the show's opening. It looks like he's just sitting there reading the lines that they include in the opening. They totally don't seem like they're from actual cases, and that just annoys me cuz it sounds so fake.

The countdown clock I kind of liked. It's nice to be able to decide if you're gonna wait around til the verdict. But the show really shouldn't need one. If it's compelling like Judge Judy, the viewer shouldn't need to look forward to the end.

The audience sounds like they were imported from The Ricki Lake Show, with the clapping and all. Sounded like he was saying stuff just to get the audience to applaud like "Marry eachother so you don't ruin two other people's lives."

All in all, there's really nothing that sets this apart from other courtoom shows like Joe and Peoples Court IMO.

At least one line, "You owe it. You pay it." is from a case that's already aired. Oh, and so is, "The only thing missing from your story is 'Once upon a time'." Based on that, I'd say they're all from cases. Now, that's not to say that he doesn't have a Judge's List o' Handy One-Liners up there, but they weren't just taped for the opening.

Crap, so much for that theory. Then he just has boring delivery.

I am really trying to get into this show.. really. Mostly based on the fact that, I too, am a court show bitch.

I think it's his monotone "Bueller.. Bueller" voice that does it for me.. that, and the fact that like someone else said, he looks plastic.

I'm not sure if I'll keep watching - he's up against Mathis here (although this week I've set the 'ol Tivo to record both Mathis and Alex - just like JJ and Milian - since they're all on against each other) - I find myself FF'ding thru his show.

I'm giving it a go, but I'm still peeved that I lost Judge Larry Joe for this and yet Mablean (and her really horrendous hair/wig) is still around. I was hoping his "former cop" persona would show up more, but he is kind of...dull. Hope he settles in quickly.

In my market I get Mablean 3 times a day. It is so fabricated it drives me nuts. I am sick of Divorce Court. We get Judge Joe twice, 1 Hatchett, 2 Alex, 3 Judy. I sit at work, and listen to these shows after my morning radio program goes off the air. I am a big fan of a judge show, and wish Mathis came on the channel I can get in.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the judge shows, too, much to my retired-cop dad's dismay. In our market we get two Alex, two Joe Brown, two Hatchett, two Mablean, two Judy, one Marilyn (an hour), and two Mathis. I think that's everything. We used to get a repeat of People's Court but that's changed. I saw a listing for it at 7 pm as a repeat but I'm not sure whether that's a typoo. Have to check it out tonight. I do miss Larry Joe, though. As long as he didn't let the music acts perform his show was a lot of fun.

Oh I get Marilyn, but she comes on at 4 when I am already home from work, so I get to "view" her. All the rest I just listen to, unless of course, there is someone acting a fool and I just have to look.

Hee, I'm loving all these people coming out of the woodwork addicted to the court shows like me. I lost Larry Joe as well, dunvegan948 but in my part of the country he switched to the UPN and is on twice in the evening. I'll take that!

Alex is kind of on the dull side compared with especially Milian and Judy. I'll still watch but he's about even with Hatchett at this point (she seems alright but meh).

You know, I'm going to give JA a couple more weeks to get into the groove, and then try watching again. Maybe he'll loosen up a little after the initial settling-in period. And maybe the audience will stop applauding every three minutes. (ugh)

I keep trying but even though today had a case that I wanted to follow I fell asleep. That doesn't bode well, does it?

Falling asleep usually isn't a good sign.

I was just looking at the show's ratings, while they aren't high (it's the sixth highest rated courtroom show out of the total seven shows), however it is the highest rated new syndicated show - that list includes Tyra Banks, Martha, Bernie Mac and a few others.

The thing I really hate about Judge Alex is that there are so. many. commercials! Maybe it's just my imagination, but it seems like every couple of minutes there are commercials. That keeps me from even getting into the cases, especially if there are two in an episode.

I like him more than I initially did which is good, but he is a little straight for my TV tastes. Bring back Texas Jusice!

Hell, yeah! I miss Judge Larry Joe, and William too! I never fell asleep during Texas Justice...

Well, I'm not amused. Word to the My Cousin Vinny character!

MORE FREAKS!!

MORE LOSERS!!

MORE SMACKDOWNS!!

that is all.

ITA. I wrote down the times for three different shows. (Yes, I have no life.) Excluding the main title, the bumpers, and the preview of next episode, and including the credits (which I guess should "count"), each episode of Judge Alex contains 18 minutes of content. 5 minutes + 4 minutes, for the first case, then 4 minutes + 5 minutes for the last case. The show follows this format consistently.

And they're already running repeats!! Look, it's RacoonMan. For the THIRD FREAKIN' TIME!!

Alex, dear, you're sucking pretty bad.

eta: he looks as if he even bores himself.......

I haven't seen this show yet & doubt that I will based on the times that it comes on in my market & that I just don't have the desire to see it, but what irritates me is his website. Does the person who posts the day's cases ever hit that spellcheck button? One woman is named "Cynthis" and another case is about the "Heath Department." You're professionals here, people. Gawd. & if I spelled "spellcheck" wrong, I am truly sorry for I have no idea how that one is supposed to be spelled.

I'm kind of "meh" about the show. Although I did like Judge Alex telling a litigant that it's stupid to interrupt the judge when he's making your case for you.

What is it with the reruns already? The show is already dull, how can you cause what few viewers it may have to abandon it, by already showing reruns? Crazy!!

Brace yourselves: The channel carrying this locally is touting is as "the highest rated new daytime show this season" or some such thing. Sounds like it might stick around a while. Longer, at least, than Tyra Banks' talk show. I hope.

"Highest rated new daytime show"? How many *new* daytime shows are there? Everything else seems to have been around forever.

That's the thing about qualifiers, isn't it? Let's see. "Martha" is new this season, as is the aforementioned Tyra Banks talker. "A Current Affair" might count, but that's not necessarily a daytime show and I'm not sure it's new this year. Whether it "counts" or not, there's not much new, it's true, but there is something to be said for beating "Martha".

Egads. I haven't been watching Judge Alex much lately, but I caught an episode today while at the gym. Dad sued daughter for rent and damages, in revenge for her suing him because he messed up her credit by buying a steam cleaner using her identity and forging her signature. Daughter should be grateful daddy hasn't been in her life much since she was 5, because this guy was a shifty-eyed jerkwad. I got the impression that Judge Alex wanted to whack this guy a few times with his gavel. Now that would have been good television.

It's a bit sad that the whole time, I was daydreaming about how Judge Judy would have handled this...

And what was up with his weird hairline, coastcat? It was like the left side was receding faster than the right side.

I know what you mean with the hair, SnowDog. It's almost like the hair was trying to comb itself over or something. Wierd.

Didn't you love how he said his suit wasn't "in revenge" for her filing against him, but that it was to "teach her a lesson" for filing? Cracked me up. Even my kids don't play their semantics games that close.

That man was just so vile, especially in the way he addressed his letter to his "dead daughter." She was lucky that he wasn't in her life for so long. Could you imagine what that jerkwad would've done to a child who didn't do what he wanted?

Wow, this poor thread was waaay down on like page 7. Is no one watching this show anymore?

I noticed they trimmed down the opening title to about half its original length. I was hoping they might be making room for more program content, but sadly, it appears that it was just to make room for another commercial.

I watched a couple of recent epis, and it appears that JA hasn't changed his ways much. He's a nice guy and has a couple of zingers every now and then ... but other than that, his show is no different from any other court show out there, except JJ of course. Yelling in the courtroom, arguing amongst the players, .... Too bad, really.

I agree, WBBell, JA hasn't improved at all. 'Course now our local station is touting him as "the best new judge on TV". Do they really think we're so stupid that we don't realize he's the only new judge on TV? Apparently. Eh. What do you expect from FOX?

I think I'm developing a bizarre crush on Judge Alex. He's boring, but cute, in a weird way.

Loved the clueless wonders being sued for their filthy vacation rental house in Puerto Rico. Who didn't realize that making a remark about how Puerto Ricans and other Caribbeans have a lower standard of cleanliness than Americans and would rather go to the beach than clean isn't a good idea when you're presenting your case to a Cuban-American judge. Or that reaffirming that remark after the judge has called you on it also isn't smart.

I just came here to post the same thing, only more severe. I think he's smokin' hot and he has become must-see TV every morning in my house. Unfortunately, I do (really) tend to fall asleep before the half-hour is up. But, damn, what a pretty, pretty man Judge Alex is.

Yeah I agree, I was one who thought he had a weird shaped head, etc. when the show first started and yeah that's still true, but he's oddly hot. I like the way he runs his courtroom, but the commercial breaks still kill me. I just can't get into what's going on when they break every 3 minutes. Good show though.