44 | OCTOBER 28 • 2021

JUDGE JUDY AND INA
GARTEN RETURN + MORE
On Nov. 1, Judy Sheindlin,
78, better known as “Judge
Judy,” will return to the
“media bench” in a new
series called Judy Justice.
I say “media bench” and
not “TV bench” because
Judy Justice will be
streamed-only. It will not
be on broadcast TV. Long
story short: Even though
Judge Judy was one of the
highest-paid people on TV
(well over $1 million per
episode), she and CBS had
a falling-out.
Judy Justice will stream
on IMDB TV, which is
owned by Amazon. It is
a free app (with ads) that
you can download or add
to your Roku, AppleTV or
Amazon Fire app “line-
up.” A new episode will
stream every weekday. It’s
promised the new show
will be “jazzier,” but details
are scarce, save for the
“reveal” that Sheindlin
will wear a burgundy red
judge’s robe.
Judge Judy’s new law
clerk is Sarah Rose, her
granddaughter. Rose, who
is about 25, is now in law
school. I’ve checked a few
articles on the Judge’s
extended family, and I just

wasn’t able to find out if
Rose is the Judge’s bio-
logical granddaughter. No
scandal — it’s actually a
nice story.
Judge Judy had a son
and daughter with her first
husband, a Jewish lawyer.
Her second husband, the
late Judge Jerry Sheindlin,
had three children by his
first marriage and Judge
Judy helped to raise them.
Three of the now-grown
five are lawyers. Judge
Judy, to her credit, refers
to the children of all five of
her “kids” as her grandchil-
dren.

BAREFOOT CONTESSA
Another seasoned Jewish
superstar, Ina Garten, 71,
will host a new season of
her hit cooking show, The
Barefoot Contessa. The
premiere episode (Modern
Cooking) will stream
on Oct. 31 on the Food
Network. Also, last week,
Garten announced a “big
deal” with the Discovery+
channel. The Barefoot
Contessa program will con-
tinue on the Food Network,
but next year she’ll launch
a new program called Be
My Guest. An hour-long

version will stream on
Discovery+, with a half-
hour version on the Food
Network.

A MOUTHFUL OF AIR
Garten cites Martha Stewart
as a principal mentor and,
in a less than “six-degree”
way, Stewart is connected
to Amy Koppelman, 47, the
director and the writer of
the film A Mouthful of Air. It
has a limited theater open-
ing on Oct. 29. If you can’t
catch it in theaters, view it
when it begins streaming.
The film is based on
Koppelman’s 1997 novel
of the same name. The
central character is Julie
(played by Amanda
Seyfried), an upper-middle
class Jewish woman with a
“nice” Jewish husband.
As the novel/film opens,
she has a 1-year-old boy
and has been unable to
overcome a severe case
of post-partum depres-
sion. In recent interviews,
Koppelman notes that
post-partum depression
is often discussed today,
but back in 1997, she was
hard-pressed to find a ref-
erence to it on the internet.
She added that she, her-
self, had a long history of
depression that antedated
her first pregnancy. She
went off her “meds” while
pregnant, but quickly real-
ized she couldn’t function
if she stayed off them after
she gave birth.
Koppleman was born
Amy Levine and was raised
in New Jersey. In 1982, she
wed her husband Brian
Koppelman, now 55, at
the Central Synagogue in
Manhattan. Brian is now

best known as the co-cre-
ator and “showrunner” of
the hit Showtime series
Billions.
Brian’s father, Charles
Koppelman, 81, has held
big entertainment-related
jobs for decades. He was
head of the Martha Stewart
company (2005-2011).
I doubt it’s a coincidence
that Billions star Paul
Giamatti has a major role
in Mouthful of Air. By the
way, while Giamatti isn’t
Jewish, his only child is
being raised in his mother’s
Jewish faith.

MORE STUFF
The Motive, a hit Israeli
documentary series, will
begin streaming on Netflix
on Oct. 28. The Jerusalem
Post says: “It tells the gris-
ly and baffling story of a
14-year-old boy who mur-
dered his parents and two
sisters with his father’s rifle
in Jerusalem in 1986. The
boy said a green creature
entered his mind and told
him to kill his family.”
As I write this, the
Atlanta Braves and the L.A.
Dodgers are vying for the
National League title and
the Houston Astros are bat-
tling the Boston Red Sox
for the American League
title.
As previously noted, the
Braves have a star Jewish
pitcher, Max Fried, 27,
and Houston has a star
Jewish third baseman,
Alex Bregman, 27. Well,
add Braves’ outfielder,
Joc Pederson, 29, to the
“Jewish player watch list.”
He was traded to Atlanta
in July and has his bat has
greatly aided Atlanta.

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BAREFOOT CONTESSA

Ina
Garten

Judge Judy
Sheindlin

DAVID SHANKBONE VIA WIKIPEDIA