Randy Douthit was born in Newberg, Oregon, and people know him for producing Judge Judy for 25 years in Los Angeles, California. His early career was in Portland, Oregon. At 23, he was mowing the grass and filling in for directors at the TV station KGW. He was a director of a children’s show, How Come. He was eventually a producer of Seattle Today. His next job was with CNN in its early years. His first show on CNN was Crossfire in 1982. He became its executive producer. He produced Larry King Live and Capital Gang for CNN as well. A few other shows he was a producer on later in his career include Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Judge Joe Brown and Jenny Jones.
Judge Judy was on for 25 years, from 1996 to July 23, 2021. Randy Douthit produced and directed the show from the beginning. Judge Judy has a reputation for being tough but fair. After the show ended, they both went to work on a new show, Judy Justice. Judge Judy was on CBS for 25 years, but they were ready to move into the future with a new streaming show. The height of the pandemic complicated the move, but they produced and directed 120 episodes in three months. Douthit believes in getting the job done right the first time and working fast. Amazon confirmed season 2 of Judy Justice for their Freevee streaming channel.
Randy Douthit is the executive producer and director of Judy Justice as well. Amazon ordered 120 episodes, which was the biggest first-season order ever. Amazon picked up the show in November 2020 during the pandemic. Amazon gave them three months to film the episodes during the pandemic. The producers and Judge Judy made it work and eventually finished the first season. Pandemic issues threatened production. Everyone needed vaccinations before going to the set and regularly had checks, which added hours to production. They were careful and kept filming, but costs still went up due to the circumstances. Douthit has never strayed far from his news experience but feels the industry is much different from where it was in the 1980s.