CBS CANCELS JUDGE JOE BROWN TO AVOID $20 MILLION A YEAR SALARY

JUDGE JOE BROWN

CBS has canned Judge Joe Brown, the longest-running courtroom TV series featuring a black judge.

The popular series helmed by outspoken real-life judge Joe Brown was cancelled after salary negotiations broke down, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“We would like to thank Joe for 15 great years, as well as executive producer John Terenzio and the entire staff for all their hard work and dedication to the show,” CBS Television Distribution said in a statement on Tuesday.

Brown reportedly earned $20 million a year, but CTD wanted to cut his salary due to declining ratings of the show.

‘Judge Joe Brown’ was down 17 percent in the February sweeps, THR reports.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

To be fair, all of the court shows have seen declines of as much as 20 percent this season — with the exception of Judge Judy who remains number one by a wide margin. She averaged a 7.5 household rating in February, about 10.5 million viewers a day.

Judge Brown has been second to Judge Judy in the ratings for the past 739 weeks, and both are distributed by CTD. But the decline in his ratings have hurt what they can charge for advertising, so CTD wanted to pare his salary, says sources.