Eye for an Eye

***Eye for an Eye*** is a fictitious court show, that was "presided" over by former prosecutor Akim Anastopoulo. Anastopoulo is known on the court show by nickname Judge "Extreme Akim". The nickname was meant to characterize the "judge's" severe and eccentric sentences dispensed to guilty parties on the program, known as "paybacks".

Being that it was a pseudo-court show in an era in which most court programming used an arbitration-based reality format, *Eye for an Eye* was a nontraditional series within the judicial genre. This, however, was only one of many reasons as to why the highly unconventional series was considered a nontraditional court show, the program having adopted many maneuvers that were atypical to the traditional present court shows.

Taped at a studio in Dallas, Texas, the courtroom series aired daily and ran in first-run syndication from 2003 through 2009. The court show had a total of 5 seasons. In 2016, Buena Vista announced that they've purchased the rights to the program, with plans of relaunching the series, with both "Extreme Akem" and the bailiff resuming their roles on the program.

## Judge Extreme Akim

*Eye For an Eye* was "presided" over by zany, outlandish, and harshly teasing Judge Extreme Akim. Judge Extreme Akim's was notorious for his draconian punishments. He literally attempted to make "paybacks" fit the crime. As his paybacks were exceedingly harsh and out of the ordinary, however, they often went beyond fitting the crime.

As examples of the unusual rulings issued by Judge Akim, a man who impregnated a girl was ordered to wear a fatsuit for a month; a landlord whose apartments were not suitable for living was ordered to write a new policy while sitting in a truck filled with cow manure; etc. At the end of each hearing, Extreme Akim says "Now THAT'S justice."

Judge Akim entered the "courtroom" carrying his baseball bat of justice and used the ball bat as a gavel throughout the hearings.

## Show format

The program was unusual among courtroom shows for its crudeness and lack of courtroom decorum: When Big Sugar Ray Phillips instructed the audience to rise for Judge Akim's entrance, the audience rose all awhile cheering and chanting "Extreme Akim" repeatedly. They were frequently heard in a state of frenzy throughout the course of the hearings, blurting out remarks in unison.

Not one to restore order in his courtroom, Extreme Akim's hearings were tumultuous, chaotic, and uncontrolled with the litigants, the audience, as well as the judge himself all hooting and hollering at the same time, giving the show a Richard Bey-like feel. While Extreme Akim tended to allow courtroom misconduct, interruptions, and disrespect from seemingly everyone before him, he did occasionally attempt to bring the parties to order, especially if they were the party he perceived as guilty. This was usually done in an albeit only teasing, still harsh manner. For example, when Extreme Akim attempted to restore order into the court, he frantically banged his ball bat against the bench repeatedly. Plaintiffs and defendants presented their testimonies in ring-shaped "cages" that had microphones attached inside. Witnesses were instructed to enter the cages if they wished to speak.

The end of each hearing featured the payback segment, the show following its litigants as they served their sentence. As result, the courtroom was not the only setting of the program. According to the show, the reason for the extreme nature of the sentencing was because the America's justice system was hopeless and unfair. For this reason, the series followed the "eye for an eye" system.

Despite the program's name though, the disputes were limited to the general civil property and tenant disputes of the genre with the litigants giving up their rights to the show using the binding arbitration format, and the show did not take cases where physical violence took place between the litigants, nor were verdicts involving physical violence against a subject rendered.

### Supporting roles

The bailiff on the series was former boxer Big Sugar Ray Phillips. The series was formerly hosted by *Cheaters* host Tommy Habeeb and Kato Kaelin. As a part of the relaunch of the series, Kato Kaelin will be resuming the hosting duties.