“Justice will be served spicy” on a new television courtroom drama hosted by former Massachusetts Superior Court judge and Boston University School of Law graduate Maria Lopez.
The Judge Maria Lopez Show, modeled after Judge Judy-style court programs, made its premiere Monday, Sept. 11 in all 50 states and airs in Boston weekdays on WSBK (Channel 38) at 1 p.m. Lopez resigned from the Massachusetts Superior Court, the first Latina to ever hold the position, and obtained a starring role in the new series.
Lopez resigned while standing behind the controversial 2000 sentencing of transvestite sex offender in 2000 who received five years probation and one year of house arrest.
“It’s like post-menopause,” Lopez said of her new job. “I’m having a whole new experience.”
In a show filmed Wednesday in New York City, two men argued in great detail about the economics of their antiquing business.
“This is a silly case,” Lopez said bluntly, to the laughter of the studio audience.
“She’s very sharp,” audience member Michelle Swan of New York said. “After five minutes of them opening [the case], she knows how she’s going to rule, it seems like.”
Lopez said the offer to perform on a show “came out of nowhere.”
“I got a call from an entertainment lawyer,” she said. “Next thing I knew, I did a pilot, and then another pilot . . . and I showed up for the show. I feel very lucky about it.”
According to BU spokesman Colin Riley, Lopez is one of many BU graduates involved in television.
“One of our most notable alums is David Kelly, who produces all those successful legal shows,” Riley said. “We have a lot of multitalented alums who make their mark in many ways.”
Kelly, a 1983 LAW graduate, was the creator of Boston Legal, The Practice, Boston Public and Ally McBeal.
Law School Dean Maureen O’Rourke said she does not know whether Lopez’s show will affect BU’s publicity.
“It is hard to say — I don’t know, for example, where Judge Judy or Judge Brown went to school, so I doubt that the viewing public would make a connection between Judge Lopez and BU, unless she alludes to it on the show,” she said.
At Wednesday’s filming, many audience members, including Swan, said they had heard about the show through an advertisement on Craigslist.com. New Jersey resident Dean Kalousis found the opportunity through a friend he made while working as an extra on television drama Law and Order.
Kalousis said several of the cases were “kind of outrageous.”
“It was a real cast of characters,” he said.
Lopez’s case titles ranged from “The Phlebotomy Fiasco” to “Porn Again Christian.” Lopez said her most humorous case on the show involved a stuffed-900-pound bull named Blue, who was flown into the studio to help with the judicial process. Lopez said the bull’s owner was “being sued by a taxidermist for stuffing the bull improperly.”
“It was amusing to see how they were arguing about what bulls should look like,” she said.
Despite the show’s comical nature, Lopez’s judicial skills were apparent to studio audience members interested in the legal system.
“It’s kind of thrilling to see actual cases and what steps she takes to see whether [the plaintiffs] won or lost,” Queens, N.Y. native Uche Williams said. “I graduated pre-law, and I love everything about law.”
At the end of Wednesday’s filming, a team of hair and makeup artists rushed onstage to prepare Lopez for her show’s promotions. Lopez smiled, showing off freshly glossed lips as she read the advertisements from a cue card.
“Free to be,” Lopez enunciated. “Free to be together.”
She paused for a moment and grinned at her attentive studio audience.
“What am I advertising here, should I ask?” Lopez said.
Lopez’s family resided in Cuba until she was 8-years-old. They fled to the United States to escape the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.
“My dad was a doctor, and they weren’t letting out technical people,” Lopez said.
Her father told the Cuban government he was traveling to America to attend a conference and simply remained in the country.
At age 8, Lopez learned English in three months. She said she continues to visit Cuba and often attends exchange programs in her birth country