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