Television judge Judy Sheindlin, who presides over the long-running televised small claims court show Judge Judy, is to become the subject of a scripted drama. Her Honor will be based on Sheindlin's own life as a young New York judge who presides over a turbulent family court. The pilot is being developed for CBS Studios by Law & Order writer Michael Chernuchin; Sheindlin is credited as a story co-writer on the project. Though her earlier career as a serving judge was legendary, television has been generous to Sheindlin: the deal for her daily court show Judge Judy is worth more than $US50 million ($66 million) per year and is secured until 2020 under its present agreement. The 73-year-old Brooklyn-born Sheindlin has also written several books, including the memorably named Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining. (The sequel: Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever.)

Spin on music awards

In a dramatic demonstration of the shifting sands between traditional and streaming television, the MTV Video Music Awards posted a steep decline of roughly a third of their television audience. The music network spun the bad news to say the streaming numbers were up, but when coupled with audience declines for the Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes overall, it signals a weakening in the power of "live television events" – once billed as traditional TV's salvation – on the digital landscape. MTV roadblocked the telecast across 11 channels and drew just 6.5 million viewers; compare that with 2013 when, with just the one channel, they managed to pull 10.1 million viewers. The good news was all social media: trending on Twitter, record Facebook streams and almost all TV-specific social media posts while they were on air. Now someone just has to work out how to turn all that noise into money.

Top cast for ABC series

Claudia Karvan will headline a new Australian drama, Newton's Law. The series, from Every Cloud Productions, the company behind the ABC's hit series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, will also star Toby Schmitz, Georgina Naidu, Sean Keenan, Brett Tucker and Miranda Tapsell. Karvan will play Josephine Newton in the series, a "suburban solicitor with an over-developed sense of responsibility who attempts to return to her briefly glorious stint at the Bar." The series will be produced by two of Australia's best drama producers, Deb Cox and Fiona Eagger, whose collective credits include SeaChange, Crash/Burn, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, The Gods of Wheat Street and The Society Murders. Newton's Law will be filmed in Melbourne and will air on the ABC in 2017.

'Dreadful' remake

The BBC's remake of the iconic comedy Are You Being Served? has made its debut in the UK to scathing reviews. The remake was one of several one-offs commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of sitcom as a form, but even when the plan was announced last year it was met with some scepticism. The reboot was well cast – notably John Challis from Only Fools and Horses and Niky Wardley from The Catherine Tate Show – but that wasn't enough to save it. Fans of the original series piled on social media to voice their objections ("Unfunny, canned laughter, dreadful acting. Why do they think they can do it?" said one) and London's venerable Daily Telegraph newspaper punished it with two stars and said it was loaded with "mothball-worthy gags". Footnote: the BBC's comedy commissioner Shane Allen said the script was "a riot"; one imagines he didn't mean would literally provoke one.