Love and Marriage in Prime Time

Divorce Court: The Best Fight On TV
When it began in 1957, Divorce Court was a standard-issue TV trial drama. Actors played out the details of divorce cases, celebrating the sensational when at all possible. But when the show reappeared on television in 1999, real couples replaced the actors, turning the program into a Jerry Springer–meets–Law and Order reality spectacular. Couples approached the bench looking for marital counseling, conflict resolution and 15 minutes of daytime-television fame. Because bad ideas seem to flock to reality TV, Divorce Court began attracting B-list broken hearts like 1980s sitcom star Gary Coleman, who visited the show in 2008 with his then wife Shannon Price.

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