''Kids' Court'' is a children's television/ nontraditional court show aired by

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

. First airing on September 10, 1988 and ending in 1989, it was hosted by actor Paul Provenza. It was created and executive produced by

Alan Goodman Alan Goodman runs branding and communications for, and is a founder of, TESTD Inc., a company that builds health and wellness data management products for providers, individuals, enterprises, and municipalities. He is a former American media e ...

Albie Hecht Albie Hecht is a film and television producer and media executive. In 1997, Hecht was the president of film and TV entertainment for Nickelodeon before becoming president of the television channel Spike TV in 2003. In 2005, he founded and was C ...

, and

Fred Seibert Frederick (Fred) Seibert (born September 15, 1951) is an American television producer, co-founder of MTV and the CEO of FredFilms, an animation production company based in Burbank, California. His official biography states he has led five (working ...

; produced by Chauncey Street Productions, a division of Fred/Alan, Inc., in

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. It claimed to utilize grievances made by children mailed to the studio -- each side of a grievance would be represented by a child in the audience, and at the end of their argument, children in the audience would cheer. The "Judge-o-meter", a cardboard rendering of an English judge (with wig) with peak meters for "eyes", would measure the decibels of the screaming, cheering children, and the side that generated the most screaming and cheering would win the argument. The "Judge-o-meter" system would also be used to "sentence" the guilty party -- sentences would be suggested by children in the audience. The show also had two courtroom sketch artists during the course of the show (1 appearing at a time), Nobi Nakanishi and Asha Canalos. During commercial breaks, the show would have quick quiz questions for children, about the legal system. ''Kids' Court'' was part of Nickelodeon's "

Cable in the Classroom Cable in the Classroom was an American division of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association that assisted the cable television industry in providing educational content to schools. The organization was founded in 1989. A Canadian organ ...

" promotion. At the closing credits, host Provenza would ask the child audience to "sound off" about what they thought was unfair. He would ask the audience "Fair or Unfair?", wherein the audience would almost always shout "Unfair!" in unison.

External links

* 1988 American television series debuts 1989 American television series endings 1980s Nickelodeon original programming 1980s American children's television series American children's education television series Court shows Television series about children {{US-child-tv-prog-stub