Editing Judge Mathis (section)

==Veteran court show status and honors==
===Outlasting other court shows and TV judges===
By the 2014–15 television season, ''Judge Mathis'' made it to its 16th season, making Mathis the longest-serving [[African Americans|African American]] and [[Black people|Black]] court show arbitrator, surpassing [[Joe Brown (judge)|Joe Brown]] (''[[Judge Joe Brown]]''), whose program lasted 15 seasons. Moreover, Mathis held the record for second-longest serving court show arbitrator ever, just behind [[Judy Sheindlin|Judge Judy Sheindlin]], the presiding judge of the court show ''[[Judge Judy]]'' and its spin-off series ''[[Judy Justice]]''.<ref name="ChicagoTribuneArticle"/>

''Judge Mathis'' entered its milestone 20th season on Monday, September 3, 2018, and the 24th season of the program was its last. (2022–23).<ref name="ChicagoTribune">{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-ent-judge-mathis-season-20-0903-story.html|title=Judge Mathis recalls highlights from his Chicago-filmed TV show ahead of Season 20 premiere |website=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=30 August 2018 |access-date=2 September 2018}}</ref> The success of ''Judge Mathis'' was particularly noteworthy in that, generally speaking, [[court show]] programming had a very limited [[shelf life]]. The programs in this genre [[Court show#List of present-day traditional court shows|are lucky to make it past a few seasons]]. ''Judge Mathis'' was the fourth longest-running courtroom series behind ''Judge Judy'', ''[[The People's Court]]'' (2nd longest running), and ''[[Divorce Court]]'' (longest running). Though both ''Divorce Court'' and ''The People's Court'' have experienced a series of cancellations/revival reincarnations and shifting arbitrators, ''Judge Mathis'' had not. Consequently, of the court shows with a single production life, ''Judge Mathis'' was the second longest-running (second only to ''Judge Judy'' by three seasons).

During its final 2 seasons, it reigned as one of the longest running court shows (having premiered in 1999) with only 2 other programs: ''Divorce Court'' (1957) and ''The People's Court'' (1981). Of these three court shows, only ''Judge Mathis'' had not suffered temporary cancellations amid its series run. Also of the three, Mathis was the only arbitrator to have hosted his program for the entirety of its series run.

===Court show success vs. congressional run opportunity===
From 2017 into early 2018 during the program's 19th season, Mathis considered ending his courtroom series as he was heavily encouraged by his hometown community to run for [[Member of Congress|congressman]] of [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. Due to the successful direction and longevity of his television series, Mathis eventually opted against the congressional opportunity in favor of carrying on the ''Judge Mathis'' program. Mathis stated he would like to do his court show for as long as he can. In Mathis's words, “It’s really not up to me. It’s up to the viewers. I enjoy what we do, particularly the last several years, when we were able to focus a lot more and put more resources, thanks to Warner Brothers and Telepictures, toward changing lives." Mathis expressed value in his court show's influence on drug and alcohol addicts to enroll in rehabilitation, its offering of paternity test results to litigators and providing counseling to troubled parties.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/12/greg-mathis-running-congress/109390528/|title=Judge Mathis decides against Congress run|date=January 12, 2018|access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref><ref name="chicagotribune.com"/>

===20th season anniversary===
Mathis had stated that from the beginning, he only expected his court show to last 3 seasons. ''Judge Mathis'' was one of the longest-running, successful programs in the court show genre. Since the 2018–19 television season, it was one of two courtroom programs to have existed for two decades under one arbitrator. As of fall 2021 with the departure of ''Judge Judy'', ''Judge Mathis'' was the only program currently still in production to have existed for over two decades under one arbitrator.<ref name="chicagotribune.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-ent-judge-mathis-season-20-0903-story.html|title=Judge Mathis recalls highlights from his Chicago-filmed TV show ahead of Season 20 premiere|website=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=30 August 2018|access-date=5 July 2021}}</ref>

===Awards===
Judge Greg Mathis's "inspirational and positive messages to young people" won the court show a [[Entertainment Industries Council|PRISM Commendation]] in May 2002. The court show went on to win an ''[[NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News/Information – Series or Special|NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News/Information – Series]]'' in 2004. In April 2018, the court show won a [[Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program]], just ahead of making its milestone 20th season.<ref name="judgemathistv.warnerbros.com"/>

When ''Judge Mathis'' was crowned the winner of the Daytime Emmy Award in 2018, it became the first courtroom series with an [[African American]] jurist to win the award. In his acceptance speech for his first-ever Emmy win, he credited his diverse staff of females and minorities:

:''We are very proud and honored to have been awarded this Emmy. And after 20 years, I'm so happy for my staff in particular and the diversity that they represent. The majority of our staff are females and minorities. And in this day of the [[Me Too movement]], I think this shows that if you hire more women and have a more diverse staff, you'll win.''<ref name="globalnews.ca">{{cite web |url=https://globalnews.ca/video/4176631/judge-mathis-credits-diverse-staff-for-emmy-win |title=Judge Mathis Credits Diverse Staff For Emmy Win |publisher=Globalnews.ca |date=30 April 2018 |access-date=21 May 2018 |archive-date=May 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521200733/https://globalnews.ca/video/4176631/judge-mathis-credits-diverse-staff-for-emmy-win |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On May 4, 2022, Mathis was honored with a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]].<ref name="Variety">{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2022/tv/features/judge-mathis-hollywood-walk-of-fame-1235257327/|title=How Greg Mathis Created His Own Path as a TV Judge|access-date=May 11, 2022|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|last=Friedlander|first=Whitney|date=May 4, 2022|location=United States}}</ref>