Editing Reality television (section)

==== Court shows ====
{{Main|Court show}}
Originally, court shows were all dramatized and staged programs, with actors playing the litigants, witnesses and lawyers. The cases were either reenactments of real-life cases or cases that were fictionalized altogether. Among examples of staged courtroom dramas are ''[[Famous Jury Trials]]'', ''[[Your Witness (TV series)|Your Witness]]'', and the first two eras of ''[[Divorce Court]]''. ''[[The People's Court]]'' revolutionized the genre by introducing the [[Court show#Arbitration-based reality court show|arbitration-based "reality"]] format in 1981, later adopted by the vast majority of court shows. The genre experienced a lull in programming after ''The People's Court'' was canceled in 1993, but then soared after the emergence of ''[[Judge Judy]]'' in 1996. This led to a slew of other reality court shows, such as ''[[Judge Mathis]]'', ''[[Judge Joe Brown]]'', ''[[Judge Alex]]'', ''[[Judge Mills Lane]]'' and ''[[Judge Hatchett]]''.

Though the litigants are legitimate, the "judges" in such shows are actually arbitrators, as these pseudo-judges are not actually presiding in a [[court of law]]. Typically, however, they are retired judges or at least individuals who have had some legal experience.

Courtroom programs are typically [[daytime television]] shows that air on weekdays.