Joseph Wapner

Joseph Albert Wapner was an American judge and television personality. He is best known as the first presiding judge of the reality court show The People's Court. The show's first run in syndication, with Judge Wapner presiding as judge, ran from 1981 to 1993, for 12 seasons and 2,340 episodes. Although the show's second run was presided over by multiple judges, Wapner was the sole judge to preside during the show's first incarnation. His tenure on the program made him the first jurist of arbitration-based reality court shows, which evolved into the most popular trend in the judicial genre and continues to be to the present.