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The Worst Episodes of Judging Amy

Every episode of Judging Amy ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Judging Amy!

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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 Brenneman and Tyne Daly. Its main character is a judge

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Judging Amy Season 1 Episode 2 - Short Calendar
    7.0/10(62 votes)

    S1:E2

    Short calendar day drops 54 cases on Amy's docket, and the long day stretches into night when she's forced to make a life and death decision about the fate of an abused child; Maxine decides to return to work; Amy's confrontation with Lauren's obnoxious new teacher leaves her with yet another responsibility in an already jam-packed calendar.

    Director:Jack Bender
    Writers:Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich

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  2. Judging Amy Season 1 Episode 5 - Last Tango in Hartford
    7.1/10(61 votes)

    S1:E5

    A death threat, coupled with Maxine's disapproval, puts a crimp in Amy's blossoming relationship with Tracy; Vincent begins to feel like he's Chris's pet project; Maxine rekindles an old friendship; Amy officiates at Donna's wedding to a convict; Maxine helps a second generation foster teenager keep her infant son out of the system.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writers:Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich

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  3. Judging Amy Season 6 Episode 19 - Revolutions Per Minute
    7.1/10(32 votes)

    S6:E19

    Lauren announces to the family that she has decided to become a vegetarian. Amy has a confrontation with Lauren's spiked-haired friend Reagan about the issue when Reagan and her brother stop by to take Lauren to school. Amy hears a case in which a teenage boy is accused of assaulting his mother and locking her in the basement. The boy admits that his mother beat his pit bull to death and also used to leave him home alone when he was a small child. Maxine investigates a child abuse allegation involving an autistic child. The child was screaming a lot because he missed his mom's boyfriend. Peter becomes concerned about what Gillian did during their separation. They decide to drop the issue and make up.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Judging Amy Season 3 Episode 7 - Imbroglio
    7.2/10(35 votes)

    S3:E7

    Amy asks Bruce to set her up with his friend, but it doesn't go quite the way she planned; Amy hears cases involving a woman who breastfeeds her 6 year old son and a couple who can't decide whether to send their ""mute"" daughter to therapy; Maxine goes to bat for an unhappy spelling bee champ; Gillian obsesses about getting Ned into an exclusive preschool.

    Director:Daniel Sackheim
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Judging Amy Season 4 Episode 18 - Looking For Quarters
    7.2/10(40 votes)

    S4:E18

    Maxine unwittingly provides Amy with the information she needs to decide whether promoters are responsible for the death of a teenager who died from an ecstasy overdose during one of their raves; Maxine and Sean join forces to persuade a couple to take back their former foster child after she's released from work camp; Amy and Maxine disagree about Amy's being overprotective of Lauren; Sean lets Maxine know he's angry about her judgemental attitude toward Eric; after conferring with Martin, Kyle decides to pursue a romance with Heather; Kyle goes off the wagon when he and Heather throw a party to celebrate their successful evaluations; after Lily sees them kissing at the party, she decides not to reveal that a random drug test is being conducted the next day, and Heather is fired; Bruce distances himself from Amy in an effort to convince Zola that there's nothing going on between them.

    Director:James Hayman
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Judging Amy Season 5 Episode 23 - Sex, Lies and Expedia.com
    7.2/10(35 votes)

    S5:E23

    Unwilling to let a poor client go to extremes to get prompt medical attention for her daughter, Maxine finds a way to get D.C.F. to cover the surgery the girl needs; David declares his love for Amy; Maxine gets shocking news about Ignacio and breaks off their relationship; Amy tragically miscalculates a teenager's propensity for violence; increasingly jealous over Peter's involvement with Shelby, Gillian confronts him about the future of their marriage, and doesn't like the response she gets; with the help of Buck and a little gunfire, Kyle finally finds a career path he can get excited about; the Grays receive a very unexpected, and very welcome, visitor.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writers:Karen Hall, Lyla Oliver

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  7. Judging Amy Season 2 Episode 19 - Between the Wanting and the Getting
    7.3/10(45 votes)

    S2:E19

    Jonathan Ashworth joins the Sanctuary House team and manages to ruffle everyone's feathers; Amy tries unsuccessfully to displace some doubts about her relationship with Rob onto Maxine, but is finally forced to confront reality; Bruce quarrels with Winnie over their mother's move; Maxine is displeased at the methods Jonathan uses to engineer the arrest and conviction of the Roseland pedophile; Amy hears the case of a boy with gender identity disorder whose parents are charged with educational neglect for keeping him out of school after he's harassed by his classmates.

    Director:Unknown
    Writers:Joseph Dougherty, Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich

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  8. Judging Amy Season 1 Episode 9 - The Persistence of Tectonics
    7.4/10(44 votes)

    S1:E9

    Amy juggles preparing Thanksgiving dinner, being on call, and coping with a surprise announcement from Michael; Gillian asks Maxine for help in financing another in-vitro procedure; Amy presides over an adoption in which the biological father shows up at the last minute to claim his child; Hillary tries to settle the score with Vincent during a Thanksgiving party at Alan's; Amy sentences two boys convicted of animal cruelty.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Judging Amy Season 2 Episode 12 - 8 1/2 Narrow
    7.4/10(49 votes)

    S2:E12

    Amy finds herself fending off Nick's advances and agonizes over whether she should tell Lolly; Maxine assists a detective in tracking down an undocumented Cambodian boy's parents; Amy rules on a case involving a teenager who refuses to attend school after the principal discontinues the gay pride club on campus.

    Director:Helen Shaver
    Writer:Joseph Dougherty

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  10. Judging Amy Season 3 Episode 15 - Can They Do That With Vegetables?
    7.4/10(35 votes)

    S3:E15

    Maxine reluctantly allows Eric to stay at her house when she's unable to find him the right placement; Amy makes a second date with Barry; Kyle helps a former drug addict who goes to extremes to find an apartment; Amy hears the case of a teen who is suing a tobacco company for causing his emphysema; Gillian's effort to expand her knowledge of black culture doesn't go so well.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Judging Amy Season 6 Episode 17 - The New Normal
    7.4/10(34 votes)

    S6:E17

    No description available

    Director:Helen Shaver
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Judging Amy Season 1 Episode 15 - Culture Clash
    7.5/10(42 votes)

    S1:E15

    Amy is assigned to a Judicial Conduct Commission panel which will decide the fate of a judge accused of demanding sexual favors from a prostitute in exchange for a reduced sentence; Maxine faces a culture clash when she tries to help a Yemeni teenager who was stabbed after being accused of dishonoring her family; Amy presides over the case of a woman who fears that her ex-husband may have abducted their children; Vincent's book is published and reviewed by The New York Times; Evie moves in temporarily with Maxine and Amy, and proves to be quite a handful; Michael's parents come to visit Lauren, and rebuff Amy's attempts to discuss the divorce.

    Director:Jack Bender
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Judging Amy Season 2 Episode 3 - Instincts
    7.5/10(38 votes)

    S2:E3

    Vincent returns to work; Gillian nervously agrees to allow Donna to babysit for Ned so that she and Peter can have a romantic wedding anniversary celebration; Amy takes an instant dislike to Lolly's husband when she accepts an invitation to dinner; after Russell's mother begs him to recall her son's last moments, Vincent pores over the police tapes, struggling to remember; Amy decides the fate of a teenager found guilty of accidentally killing a classmate; Maxine incurs Sean's displeasure when she hands out a condom during the birth control class she volunteers to teach on her own time; Amy is distraught when she realizes that she was greatly mistaken in dismissing a stalking claim as frivolous.

    Director:Martin Davidson
    Writer:Lyla Oliver

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  14. Judging Amy Season 2 Episode 11 - The Claw is Our Master
    7.5/10(47 votes)

    S2:E11

    Amy finds herself in the middle of a love triangle when she considers giving Tom Gillette a second chance while she continues to date Rob; Maxine investigates the case of a boy from a seemingly perfect family who is going deaf; Amy tries to adopt a dog.

    Director:Arvin Brown
    Writer:Karen Hall

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  15. Judging Amy Season 3 Episode 12 - Who Shot Dick?
    7.5/10(38 votes)

    S3:E12

    After her brother Richard arrives in town looking for his son, Maxine initially refuses to put him in touch with Kyle, but later relents; in the process of helping Donna with her estate planning, Peter and Gillian agree to become Ariadne's guardian should something happen to Donna; as Maxine quarrels with Richard about the event that caused them not to speak for twelve years, it becomes apparent that Maxine blames her brother for Edward's early death; Bruce and Andrea hit it off during a play date for their daughters, and later go out on a date; Kyle refuses his father's offer to bail him out of his troubles; Maxine works to help a father regain visitation rights to his teenaged son; Kyle and Amy continue their discussion about the events that caused a rift in their relationship and find that they share responsibility and guilt for the events of that night; a young surrogate mother pregnant with twins who has no interest in keeping the babies comes before Amy in the middle of a custody

    Director:Nancy Malone
    Writer:Barbara Hall

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  16. Judging Amy Season 3 Episode 13 - The Cook of the Money Pot
    7.5/10(34 votes)

    S3:E13

    Amy hears the case of a disturbed teenager who successfully impersonated a police officer at a high school for several months, carrying a loaded gun, and who was only discovered after being arrested for severely beating a student he suspected of being a drug dealer; while Maxine is deciding whether a mother who is being released from prison for killing one of her children should be returned to her family, Kyle helps her uncover some medical information that may give credence to the woman's claim of innocence; Kyle and Brian have a run-in over Kyle's way with Teen Harbor's clients, and Kyle learns an expensive lesson about street kids; as Amy is about to rule in the matter of two teenagers accused of stealing a stop sign and contributing to an accident which seriously injured a man and left him in a coma, she receives word in open court that the man has died, prompting a startling admission from one of the accused; after Lauren walks in on Kyle having sex, Gillian volunteers to help hi

    Director:James Hayman
    Writer:Lyla Oliver

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  17. Judging Amy Season 6 Episode 11 - 10,000 Steps
    7.5/10(37 votes)

    S6:E11

    When Amy tells Lauren about being pregnant, her reaction is not exactly what Amy would have liked; While working at the outreach office for teenage runaways, Vincent uses his flair for writing to encourage a teenage runaway to write a better essay about himself so that he will be accepted in a half-way house; Amy presides over a case involving parents who want to terminate their custody over their adopted child due to his short temper and destructive behavior; Maxine deals with a case involving a boy who uses his eight year old foster brother as a drug mule; Peter fears for his relationship with Gillian when all she wants to do is have sex; Amy and David become engaged.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Constance M. Burge

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  18. Judging Amy Season 1 Episode 3 - Trial By Jury
    7.6/10(60 votes)

    S1:E3

    Sitting in for a friend who's undergoing chemotherapy, Amy presides over her first jury trial and clashes with a former law school classmate who represents the parents of a murdered girl who are suing the parents of her teenaged killer; Maxine shops for a new car for the first time in her life; Vincent feels that Maxine doesn't take his writing seriously after she interrupts his work to ask him to babysit the six rambunctious first graders attending Lauren's sleepover party.

    Director:James Hayman
    Writer:Natalie Chaidez

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  19. Judging Amy Season 2 Episode 10 - Adoption Day
    7.6/10(45 votes)

    S2:E10

    Evie walks back into Ned's life just as Peter and Gillian are set to adopt him; Maxine deals with a young girl who wants to be adopted before her 18th birthday, and a 12-year-old boy who refuses to be adopted because he believes his birth mother will come back one day.

    Director:James Hayman
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Judging Amy Season 5 Episode 10 - Sex and the Single Mother
    7.6/10(38 votes)

    S5:E10

    Amy presides over the custody case of a young boy whose mother thinks he is being harmed by the Neanderthal on-air posturings of his shock-jock father; Maxine discovers that becoming a therapist in lieu of becoming a patient doesn't work out for anyone involved; Kyle mends his fences with Heather and helps her bring some solace to her dying father; Gillian begins to doubt her feelings for Peter as she strikes up a friendship with the father of one of Ned's playmates; Amy becomes flustered when David doesn't seem to be interested in a relationship, and makes a fool of herself in confronting him with a complete misinterpretation of his reasons.

    Director:Karen Arthur
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Judging Amy Season 6 Episode 7 - Early Winter
    7.6/10(34 votes)

    S6:E7

    Frantic with worry, the Gray siblings quarrel like two year olds, and Sean is wracked with guilt, as Maxine lies in an ICU bed recovering from a heart attack; Amy finally gets a new clerk, whose ability to speak Spanish is an invaluable aid in the sentencing hearing of a teenager charged with burglary and assault; Ignacio gives Vincent some wise insight into Maxine; reminiscing about the beginning of their relationship brings Gillian and Peter back together; after Maxine hallucinates about her mother's death in the same hospital, she checks herself out and returns home despite her doctor's recommendation that she undergo bypass surgery.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writers:Matthew Federman, Stephen Scaia

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  22. Judging Amy Season 6 Episode 13 - Dream a Little Dream
    7.6/10(40 votes)

    S6:E13

    Amy oversees an emotional case involving a 13-year-old boy with a history of violent behavior who shot and killed his grandfather who was suffering from terminal lung cancer; Maxine uncovers a human smuggling operation while following up on a report of a young boy being beaten numerous times; Vincent witnesses the gunning down of a prostitute by her pimp; Meanwhile, Amy and David search for the perfect house to start their life together in.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writer:Adam Belanoff

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  23. Judging Amy Season 1 Episode 18 - Human Touch
    7.7/10(46 votes)

    S1:E18

    Amy presides over a custody case between a young girl's stepfather and her biological father, whose severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder may interfere with his parenting ability; after an unsuccessful experiment with day trading puts holes in her financial situation, Maxine has difficulty fixing the holes in her roof; the court reporter from hell, who is also Donna's nemesis, is assigned to Amy's courtroom; Maxine uncovers systematic fraud at D.C.F. that leads directly to Susie's desk; Amy realizes that she needs to assume more of the financial burden at home after she and Peter quarrel over their mother's monetary predicament; Vincent and Lisa work through their relationship fears; Amy orders D.C.F. to cut through the bureaucracy and the paperwork so that Croatian refugees can find a home and be reunited with their son.

    Director:Martha Mitchell
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Judging Amy Season 1 Episode 22 - Not With a Whimper
    7.7/10(48 votes)

    S1:E22

    After going on the date from hell with a Yale professor, Amy has one last fling with Michael the day their divorce becomes final; Maxine returns a stowaway boy to his mother; when Donna and Vincent persuade a reluctant Evie to deliver her baby in the hospital instead of home, she insists that they, instead of Gillian and Peter, act as her birthing coaches; Amy assigns a unique condition of probation to a bright and feisty teenager; Maxine fears that she's contracted Alzheimer's after suffering cognitive lapses, and is relieved to discover that it's only a concussion sustained when she bumped her head on a piece of furniture; Evie's son is born, surprising the family with his interracial heritage.

    Director:David Platt
    Writers:Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich

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  25. Judging Amy Season 2 Episode 15 - The Treachery of Compromise
    7.7/10(43 votes)

    S2:E15

    Representing the governor, Stuart Collins offers Amy a chance to apply for an appellate court appointment if she'll rule against two women who both want to be named as the mother on their baby's birth certificate; Maxine's friend Vivian gets to see social work in action when her girls-day-out with Maxine gets derailed by a struggling and overworked farmer who believes that his kids should be at home working on the family dairy farm rather than at school; a mourning Gillian finds solace from an online support group when Peter offers her none; Vincent becomes concerned about his finances when he learns that Carole has quite a nest egg; Amy apologizes to Rob, and they reconcile.

    Director:Andrew Robinson
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Short Calendar" is the worst rated episode of "Judging Amy". It scored 7/10 based on 62 votes. Directed by Jack Bender and written by Nicole Yorkin, Dawn Prestwich, it aired on 9/21/1999. This episode scored 0.1 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Last Tango in Hartford".