Day in Court
{{Short description|American TV court series}}
{{for|the legal term sometimes referred to as "day in court"|due process}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image =
| caption =
| alt_name =
| genre = Dramatized court show
| creator =
| writer = Kenneth M. Rosen
| director = Paul Nickell
| creative_director =
| developer =
| presenter =
| starring = Edgar Allan Jones, Jr.
William Gwinn
| voices =
| narrated =
| theme_music_composer =
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| composer =
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 7
| num_episodes =
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer =
| producer = Gene Banks
| editor =
| location = Los Angeles, U.S.
| cinematography =
| runtime = 30 minutes
| channel = ABC
| first_aired = {{Start date|1958|10|13}}
| last_aired = {{End date|1965|2}}
| related = {{Plainlist|
- Accused
Morning Court - Divorce Court
Traffic Court
}}
}}
Day in Court was an American dramatized court show that ran on ABC Daytime starting on October 13, 1958 until its cancellation in February 1965.Terrace, Vincent (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2007 (Volume 1). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3305-6}}.
Background and Overview
In the summer of 1957, ABC owned-and-operated Los Angeles affiliate KABC began broadcasting a show entitled Traffic Court. The series presented re-enactments of traffic court cases and arraignments.{{cite web|url=http://www.metnews.com/articles/reminiscing050803.htm|title=TV Courtroom Shows Proliferate in the Late 1950s|publisher=www.metnews.com|access-date=January 19, 2015}} First the series aired locally but became part of ABC's national daytime schedule. It was soon followed by Divorce Court which premiered on, then, local Los Angeles independent station KTTV, (now a Fox owned-and-operated television station), in 1957. The show became nationally syndicated in 1958.{{Citation needed |date=December 2023}}
Day in Court premiered on October 13, 1958 as part of ABC's daytime schedule. The program aired five days a week in the afternoon. The program provided viewers with as realistic a look as possible at how real trials are conducted and decided. Re-enactments of actual cases were used, with real attorneys making their arguments in front of real judges. Only the defendants and witnesses were actors.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Da6nJoa_9nQC&dq=revival+Divorce+Court+People%27s+Court&pg=PA151 |title=New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader – Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Thomas Keenan, PH. |isbn=9780203643839 |access-date=December 11, 2012|last1=Chun |first1=Wendy Hui Kyong |last2=Keenan |first2=Thomas |date=June 2004 |publisher=Taylor & Francis }}
Edgar Allan Jones, Jr. and William Gwinn played the judge on alternating days. Jones had a law degree from the University of Virginia, was a member of the UCLA law faculty and a labor arbitrator.{{cite web|url=http://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/all-faculty-profiles/emeritiprofessors/Pages/edgar-a-jones-jr.aspx|title=UCLA School of Law Faculty Profiles|publisher=www.law.ucla.edu|access-date=January 19, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509203922/http://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/all-faculty-profiles/emeritiprofessors/Pages/edgar-a-jones-jr.aspx|archive-date=May 9, 2012}} Gwinn was an actor.
Jones quits
By 1964, Day in Court was daytime TV's top-ranked program, with 20 million viewers. But when it slipped to second behind the daytime soap General Hospital, ABC decided to turn its courtroom hit into a soap opera. Jones quit in October 1964, and the series was cancelled four months later in February 1965.{{cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/13/local/la-me-edgar-allan-jones-20130514|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516002053/http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/13/local/la-me-edgar-allan-jones-20130514|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 16, 2013|title= Edgar Allan Jones Jr. dies at 92; law professor played judge on TV courtroom shows|publisher=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 19, 2015}}
Spin-offs
References
{{Reflist}}