9.2/1095 votesLoading...#1 - My Name is Amy Gray...
Season 6 Episode 22 - Aired 5/3/2005
Amy says her final goodbyes to Graciela. Maxine realizes that she made a mistake in pushing Ignacio away and tries to reach out to him but Ignacio rebuffs her because he doesn't want to be her yo-yo, jerked around on Maxine's whims. Bruce is still absent on Amy's last day in the courtroom. Holbrook tries to raise awareness about the bill before Congress that will effectively kill the juvenille justice system. Donna is amazed that Amy refuses to support the cause and brings several of the kids whose lives Amy has changed during her time on the bench in an effort to change her mind. Amy, frustrated by her limitations as a judge, runs into Marty Levine, who again tries to convince her to give the speech in Washington and run for Senate. Amy runs the idea by Lauren who at first refuses to give a straight answer but later supports her mom when Maxine attacks the decision. That same night, Maxine must rush to save a young girl from being pimped out by her prostitute mother. Amy receive
Director: Helen Shaver
Writer: N/A
8.5/1045 votesLoading...#2 - Kilt Trip
Season 5 Episode 7 - Aired 11/4/2003
Forced to substitute for an ailing colleague just two days before her wedding, Amy presides over a felony murder case involving a 14 year old boy and makes a controversial decision to overturn the jury's verdict; Stu's groomsmen are less than thrilled when they realize that they'll be wearing kilts instead of tuxes at the wedding; Kyle hatches a plan to surprise the rest of the family with Vincent's presence at the wedding, and gets a surprise himself when he walks in on Vincent and Heather making out; Amy forgets to get a sub as the judge on call, and ends up signing one warrant after another for David; Maxine's search for an apartment goes poorly, and the attempts of a co-worker and Stu's mother to be helpful only make things worse; Amy's pre-wedding jitters turn into a full scale panic attack as the ceremony begins; realizing that she doesn't want to marry Stu, she calls the wedding off; later that evening, Vincent tells Amy that Carole has left him for her oncologist.
Director: Alan Myerson
Writer: Karen Hall
8.4/1075 votesLoading...#3 - An Impartial Bias
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/2/1999
Maxine fights to keep a deaf boy in the care of his teenage brother after they are orphaned; Bruce disagrees with Amy's decision in an interracial adoption case; Vincent gets a job teaching writing; Donna seeks Amy's assistance in getting a conjugal visit with Oscar; Vincent learns something surprising about his father.
Director: James Hayman
Writer: David W. Zucker
8.4/1039 votesLoading...#4 - The Bottle Show
Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 4/9/2002
Maxine is saddened when Jared fails to call her upon his return from China, so Sean arranges a casino night fund raiser to cheer her up; a born-again teenager charges her mother with parental neglect for working as a stripper, and Amy must decide whether to place the girl in foster care; Donna confronts Kyle after she finds a syringe and morphine in his room drawers and is relieved to hear that he keeps it as a reminder that he is capable of making the choice to stay clean every day; after his daughter tells him about her ill-timed encounter with Bruce, David Solomon files a complaint against Andrea, who immediately ends her relationship with Bruce for fear of losing custody; responding to a message from Bruce attempting to explain the situation, Solomon shows up at the courthouse and threatens, taunts and insults Bruce, who is arrested and jailed after he knocks Solomon to the ground with a punch.
Director: Andrew Robinson
Writer: Barry O'Brien
8.4/1036 votesLoading...#5 - Roses and Truth
Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 11/5/2002
Amy must decide if a student raped his teacher or was seduced by her; Kyle is unhappy about his nonmedical duties at St. Michael's; Maxine tries to locate the mother of an abandoned newborn; after Jason menaces Amy while she's driving Lauren and Eric home, Bruce suggests getting a restraining order; fearing the worst about her health, Gillian gets the diagnosis she's dreamed of for years.
Director: Kevin Dowling
Writer: Lyla Oliver
8.3/1047 votesLoading...#6 - Lost in the System
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 10/1/2002
Amy and Michael agree to work out Lauren's custody with a mediator; Maxine and Kimberly clash over a child lost in the system; Jared returns from China to get an answer from Maxine; Lauren fears that their apartment is haunted and Amy begins to agree with her; appearing before Amy in court as the caseworker for a teenaged mother, Maxine gives an impassioned plea which provides Amy with food for thought about not only the girl, but Amy's relationships with Maxine and Lauren; Bruce runs into Amy and spurns her offer of friendship, but later relents most emphatically.
Director: James Frawley
Writer: Barbara Hall
8.3/1038 votesLoading...#7 - Damage Control
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/2002
Amy hears the case of a young boy charged with obstruction of justice for not revealing the name of the man who took pornographic pictures of him; Maxine contends with a woman who allows her abusive husband to violate a restraining order; Peter and Charles negotiate a prenuptial agreement for their parents; Jason Lobdel eludes Amy's police protection as he continues to stalk her; everyone walks on eggshells as Gillian suffers through ugly hormonal mood swings; Jared gives Maxine the diner; Amy's plan to censure an attorney backfires.
Director: James Frawley
Writer: N/A
8.3/1039 votesLoading...#8 - A Pretty Good Day
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 11/19/2002
Amy's ruling in the case of a teenager who called in a bomb scare to avoid a test is complicated by the arrival of an I.N.S. agent who's ready to deport the boy to Afghanistan, and almost certain death, if he's found guilty; Eric saves Lauren from being kidnapped by Jason; Gillian's raging hormones leave Peter exhausted as she goes into overdrive about the plans for Maxine's wedding; Kimberly blackmails Sean into getting her job back in exchange for helping Maxine find an endangered teenager who's aged out of the system; Kyle defies hospital protocol to give a dying woman her last wish; Eric ends Jason's stalking with tragic finality.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1036 votesLoading...#9 - The Best Interests of the Child
Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 1/21/2003
Amy and Michael face off in court, and the resolution of their custody battle reveals yet another unsavory aspect of Michael's character; Kyle counsels a mother who struggles over a DNR order for her critically ill son; after Amy and Sean each confront her about Eric, Maxine visits him in jail to hear his story of the night Jason died.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1042 votesLoading...#10 - Shock and Awe
Season 4 Episode 24 - Aired 5/13/2003
A stressed out public defender goes ballistic in Amy's courtroom; Maxine tries to figure out why a woman who lost her son wants to give up her foster child; Kyle tells Lily how he feels, but it doesn't go as he hoped; Amy is confused about whether or not Stu actually proposed marriage; Gillian goes into labor with unexpected and seemingly tragic results.
Director: James Frawley
Writer: N/A
8.2/1043 votesLoading...#11 - Unnecessary Roughness
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 11/21/2000
Amy seeks to have Lauren qualified as a ""gifted"" student; Maxine agrees to take a anger management class after going too far in insulting a coworker and accosting the boy who vandalized the Gray home; Amy dates a detective who's ""out of her league""; Vincent agrees to be Donna's birthing partner; Amy presides at the sentencing hearing for a teenager who intentionally maimed a rival player during a hockey game.
Director: David Platt
Writer: Hart Hanson
8.2/1041 votesLoading...#12 - Grounded
Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 5/8/2001
Felled by the flu, Amy collapses in court, but not before presiding over a custody hearing for a cow; long-buried feelings erupt between Gillian and Peter when Evie offers to return Ned; Amy's caseload has more of an effect on her temporary replacement than he expected; after Sean grounds her to desk duty for taking wannabee gangbangers on an unauthorized field trip to the local I.C.U. which draws outcries from their parents, Maxine decides not to ask him for a few days off to accompany Jared on a business trip to China; Carole accepts a job offer in San Francisco and asks Vincent to come with her; Sean supports Maxine when Jared's plane is reported missing; the Gray family rejoices when both Ned and Jared are returned to them safely.
Director: James Hayman
Writer: N/A
8.2/1040 votesLoading...#13 - Rights of Passage
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/2001
Donna stumbles as she subs for Bruce as Amy's C.S.O. while he attempts to convince the probation officer of a teenager that Amy assigned to a diversionary program to keep the boy out of prison after a fight with members of his former gang; Maxine's nephew Kyle comes back into the family fold, much to Amy's displeasure; Amy must decide whether to commit a young boy who stole a rifle and slaughtered a yak as part of a coming-of-age ritual to a locked psychiatric facility, or turn him over to the sentencing circle of his Native American tribe; Kyle's medical knowledge helps Maxine solve the mystery of why five boys from an exemplary foster home have severe abrasions on their arms.
Director: Andrew Robinson
Writer: N/A
8.2/1037 votesLoading...#14 - Tidal Wave
Season 3 Episode 21 - Aired 4/23/2002
Maxine works more tirelessly than ever on the Pamela Taylor investigation as she assists an attorney in finding other abused teens who are willing to join in the Taylors' class action suit against Buckley Hills; when a social worker in a child abuse case appears in her courtroom with an attitude, and without any of the periodic reports she was ordered to file with the court, Amy cites her for contempt and has her arrested when she discovers that the social worker is unaware of the child's present whereabouts; later that evening at the dinner table, Maxine takes vociferous objection to Amy's ruling and accuses her of displacing her fears and frustration about Maxine's health onto a good social worker who is overworked and overwhelmed; realizing that her mother is right, Amy has the social worker released from jail; when Donna discovers how much Kyle regrets not completing his medical training, she prods him into resuming his studies; Amy presides at the sentencing hearing for two young
Director: Kevin Dowling
Writer: Lyla Oliver
8.2/1042 votesLoading...#15 - Boys to Men
Season 4 Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/2002
Maxine and Jared move up their wedding date, to the consternation of their children; Peter's plans for a classy bachelor party go awry, but the men manage to have a good time at a less highbrow establishment as they convince a greatly under-the-influence Bruce to call Zola and ask her for a date; Maxine's hen party is much more sedate, but Maxine manages to work out an escape plan nonetheless; Amy presides over a hearing to determine if four teenage boys accused of drugging and raping a teenage girl should be tried as adults; after Charles announces that he's quit his job, Jared is forced to return to China and reschedule the wedding, and Amy lets Charles know that it's not in his best interest to interfere with Maxine's happiness; Maxine's efforts to keep Eric's case in juvenile court are successful.
Director: Helen Shaver
Writer: Barbara Hall
8.2/1036 votesLoading...#16 - Wild Card
Season 4 Episode 14 - Aired 2/4/2003
Maxine and Sean battle a sleazy attorney with a penchant for blackmail when they attempt to remove a child from her negligent parents; Amy presides over the case of a deadbeat dad who is willing to go to extreme measures to avoid paying child support when he learns that his son's paternity may be at issue; Maxine is ""filled with existential dread"" at the prospect of the wedding ceremony Gillian is planning for her; Kyle experiences a sleepless night discovering why the parents of a handicapped man who appears to be healthy insist that he be hospitalized overnight.
Director: Alan Myerson
Writer: Matt Witten
8.2/1053 votesLoading...#17 - Judging Eric
Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 2/25/2003
Amy, Bruce, Lauren, Sean and Maxine rally around Eric as he goes on trial before an eccentric but wise judge; Maxine takes issue with Eric on a question of ethics about his testimony which colors her reaction to his verdict; after Zola breaks up with her boyfriend, she unsuccessfully resists Bruce's efforts to woo her; Kyle is faced with a medical and ethical dilemma when his patient's routine problem takes an inexplicable and tragic turn; Eric tells Maxine about a new person in his life; Heather and Kyle grow closer.
Director: Donna Deitch
Writer: Hart Hanson
8.2/1036 votesLoading...#18 - Roadhouse Blues
Season 5 Episode 14 - Aired 2/10/2004
Despite their protests, Maxine and Amy fail to convince anyone that that dinners out with Ignacio and David don't constitute dating; Amy is asked to decide if a man in the Witness Protection Program can regain custody of his eleven year old son after the boy's mother dies; Lauren and Victor are unhappy when they discover that their parents are dating; Maxine races against time to prevent the participants in a suicide pact at a local high school from carrying out their plans; Shelby's band gets a gig at a local bar, and Peter's invitation to his mother and sister to hear him play provides the opportunity for the relationships between Amy and David, Maxine and Ignacio, and Peter and Shelby to grow and intensify on the dance floor and stage.
Director: Helen Shaver
Writer: Barry O'Brien
8.1/1049 votesLoading...#19 - Presumed Innocent
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/14/1999
Amy takes it personally when Stuart appeals her decision to overturn the jury's verdict; Maxine arrives at a creative solution in placing an extremely gifted teenager who chronically runs away from his foster placements; Donna becomes Vincent's new roommate; Amy must decide whether to remove a child from the care of a mother suspected of suffering from Munchausen by Proxy syndrome; after her verdict is upheld, Stuart asks Amy out on a date, and she royally disses him as she turns him down flat.
Director: James Hayman
Writer: Natalie Chaidez
8.1/1050 votesLoading...#20 - The Beginning, the End, and the Murky Middle
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 2/13/2001
As Peter and Gillian prepare for Ned's christening, Evie returns to claim her son; Amy and Tom decide to make their relationship public; Carole has trouble dealing with Vincent's relationship with Donna; Maxine moves forward with her plans for Sanctuary House; Amy looks for signs of remorse from a teenage boy accused of killing his sister.
Director: Elodie Keene
Writer: Thad Mumford
8.1/1041 votesLoading...#21 - One For the Road
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 2/20/2001
Peter and Gillian lose custody of Ned to Evie; Peter tries to drown his grief in alcohol and is arrested for drunk driving; Gillian fixates on Peter's drinking to avoid dealing with her loss; Amy must rule on the future of an unborn baby after learning that the mother is under investigation for the disappearance of her first child; Maxine and Sadie investigate the strange case of a woman who thinks she's a holly bush; Vincent and Carol attend her parents' 30th wedding anniversary party; Bruce loses his cool when he mediates a dispute over a teenager's plastic surgery.
Director: Brad Silberling
Writer: Lyla Oliver
8.1/1036 votesLoading...#22 - Hold on Tight
Season 2 Episode 22 - Aired 5/22/2001
Maxine reunites a couple with their kidnapped baby; Vincent is upset when Carole usurps his prerogative to tell his family about their move in his own way and time by blurting out the news over family dinner, while Amy is downright angry at her brother's decision; when she learns that he's been granted an appeal, Donna can't face serving Oscar with divorce papers herself; Amy watches helplessly as a mother whose custody petition she denied takes drastic measures to protest Amy's decision.
Director: Kenneth Zunder
Writer: Barbara Hall
8.1/1040 votesLoading...#23 - The Justice League of America
Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 3/26/2002
When a teenager whom neither parent wanted and Amy placed in a locked facility escapes and comes into D.C.F. with bruises she says were caused by abuse at the facility, Maxine's decision to have her returned to the facility leads to tragedy; Amy attends the tenth reunion of her Harvard Law School class and is disheartened by how petty, mean-spirited, and sleazy her former law school best friends have become, until Barry shows up unexpectedly as her white knight and saves the day; Michael makes it obvious that he is still attracted to Amy, and expresses regret over their divorce and his marriage to Leisha; Maxine scoffs when Sean has all the files computerized, but changes her tune when he swiftly downloads information which helps them identify and locate a suicidal teenager.
Director: Martha Mitchell
Writer: Hart Hanson
8.1/1036 votesLoading...#24 - Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition
Season 3 Episode 23 - Aired 5/14/2002
Amy, Maxine and Lauren have trouble adjusting to their new living arrangements; Vincent returns for a visit to smooth over the waters between his mother and sister and persuade them to live together again; after Lauren tearfully calls Michael about the move, he suggests to Amy that Lauren come to live with him; Amy presides over a custody dispute involving a father who refuses to take a paternity test; Donna dates one of Amy's law school classmates; Amy ends her relationship with Barry.
Director: Elodie Keene
Writer: Hart Hanson
8.1/1040 votesLoading...#25 - People of the Lie
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 12/10/2002
Amy must decide if a little girl in the middle of a bitter custody dispute is being molested by her father; doing research for a paper, Donna shadows Maxine during a day in which she deals with the neglected children of a severely depressed mother who refuses treatment; Kyle receives an unwelcome visit from his mother and sister; after employing a private investigator to follow Amy for over a year, Michael sues for full custody of Lauren; the decorator that Amy hires to redo the kitchen disparages Maxine's taste.
Director: Andrew Robinson
Writer: Karen Hall
The Best Episodes of Judging Amy
Every episode of Judging Amy ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Judging Amy!
Judging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy...
Genre:Drama
Network:CBS
Best Episodes Summary
"My Name is Amy Gray..." is the best rated episode of "Judging Amy". It scored 9.2/10 based on 95 votes. Directed by Helen Shaver and written by N/A, it aired on 5/3/2005. This episode scored 0.7 points higher than the second highest rated, "Kilt Trip".