The People's Court is an American arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. Within the court show genre, it is the first of all arbitration-based reality-style programs, which has overwhelmingly become the convention of the genre. The original series ran from 1981 to 1993, and the current revival debuted in 1997. Both versions have run in first-run syndication. The show ranks as the longest-running traditional court show and second-longest-running court show in general, having a total of 38 overall seasons as of the 2022-23 television year, behind only niche court show Divorce Court by 2 seasons. The first version of The People's Court was presided over solely by former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Wapner. The current incarnation of the show has had different presiding judges: former New York City Mayor Ed Koch (1997–1999), former New York Supreme Court Judge Jerry Sheindlin (1999–2001), and former Florida State Circuit Court Judge Marilyn Milian (2001–present). Milian is the show's longest-reigning arbiter, having made it to 20 years of presiding over the series by spring 2021. The program is the third highest rated of court shows after only Judge Judy reruns (ended the original run in July 2021) and Hot Bench (produced by Judy Sheindlin), respectively. With Judge Judys end at 25 seasons in 2021, The People's Courts revival now boasts the genre's longest single production continuance having entered its 26th season in the 2022-23 television year (albeit having gone through 3 arbitrators). In June 2021, The People's Court won its 4th Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program, which officially gives it the most Daytime Emmy wins in the court show genre. In February 2023, it was confirmed that the 26th season of the revival would be its last. Conception When John Masterson devised the original camera-in-court concept in 1975, he first pitched it to Monty Hall, the producer and host of the game show Let's Make a Deal, and his partner, producer-writer Stefan Hatos. They put a young associate, Stu Billett, in charge of selling it, but the networks were not interested. Billett later went out on his own and refined the concept into a show shot in a studio rather than a real courtroom. Small-claims court participants agreed to drop their court cases and accept binding arbitration in a simulated courtroom. The networks expressed interest, but still did not