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Judge Maria Lopez

US television program

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ6302593
Source-derived summary

Judge Maria Lopez is an American arbitration-based reality court show, presided over by Maria Lopez. On the show, guests themselves presented and argued small claims civil actions before the judge. The half-hour series, produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Television, debuted in the United States and Canada on September 11, 2006. It was Sony Pictures' second court show. The show was taped at the Metropolis Studios in New York City. Prior to joining the series, Lopez was a judge in the Massachusetts Superior Court.

International viewing

Judge Maria Lopez debuted in the same week as another syndicated courtroom show featuring a Latina judge, Cristina's Court. In January 2007, SPT renewed the series for a second season despite being the lowest rated court show of the 2006–07 season, averaging a 0.9 rating. However, in February 2008 reports indicated that due to two seasons of low ratings, Sony Pictures Television was cancelling the series and the show ended on May 23, 2008, along with Judge Hatchett.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Judge Maria Lopez” as uS television program. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2006, 2007, 2008—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Judge, Maria and Lopez can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as uS television program. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6302593. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Judge Maria Lopez”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Judge Maria Lopez primary sources, Judge Maria Lopez archive and Judge research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Judge Maria Lopez”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Judge Maria Lopez” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.