Posted by chicagomedia.org on January 20, 2009 at 12:17:50:
Have gavel, will travel
TELEVISION | To tape court show, New York lawyer flies to Chicago
January 20, 2009
BY BILL ZWECKER Sun-Times Columnist
TV's Judge Jeanine Pirro may be a native New Yorker, but the former prosecutor, county judge and candidate for both the U.S. Senate and New York attorney general says, ''I totally get Chicago.''
Pirro is a part-time Chicagoan, flying into town for three to four days each week to tape her nationally syndicated court show (airing weekdays at 3 p.m. on WGN-Channel 9).
''I love this city," she said. "It's beautiful, it's clean, the people are nice and they are so polite.
"Even the winter hasn't bothered me. I'm from upstate New York, so I'm used to the cold weather. I'm used to it being cold on Halloween. I could never wear my costume as a kid without wearing a coat over it. That always made Halloween miserable for me,'' said Pirro with that big laugh she often exhibits in her faux courtroom.
And those cases she oversees often showcase people with problems that entertain, because they seem so ridiculous.
''Yet, while many of the people I see seem completely without any common sense, I often am very troubled by the underlying issues,'' said Pirro over lunch near her series' set in the NBC Tower.
Coming from a background as a groundbreaking prosecutor and judge who helped enact laws to protect women and children, Pirro says she has ''a sixth sense'' when it comes to detecting issues of abuse or domestic violence.
The day Pirro opened up her courtroom to the Sun-Times, one of the cases involved a musclebound fellow and his ''former'' girlfriend, who proceeded to sleep with the fellow after having sought a restraining order against him.
''Those cases really bother me. I know he is a very violent guy, capable of killing her. But she won't stop seeing him.
''[The show's producers] are offering them counseling and sincerely hope they take advantage of it, or else they will soon end up in a real courtroom.''
Of course, Pirro's isn't the only court show on TV or even the only one in Chicago -- "Judge Mathis" tapes here, too. How does Pirro differentiate herself from the dozen-odd others?
''We just try to present interesting cases with issues many people can relate to in their own life. I also try not to interupt too much -- though sometimes that's a challenge! -- or come on too strong.
''More often than not, I try to use humor to reveal how silly some of these people are acting.''
Since searching for the truth can be challenging in these TV cases, what's Pirro's secret?
''I think within a few minutes I can tell -- and I wager the audience in the studio and at home has figured out -- which party is telling the truth or lying.
''Of course, in a lot of cases, there's lying on both sides. ... But then, that's my job: to figure out who is more right than wrong!''