Lauren Lake's Paternity Court is a syndicated Reality Court Show in which family lawyer and legal analyst Lauren Lake hears and rules on paternity cases and renders DNA test results. The show is produced by 79th & York Entertainment and the re-launched Orion Television, and is distributed by MGM Domestic Television Distribution. Paternity Court is executive produced by David Armour. According to John Bryan, president of MGM Domestic Television Distribution, the series is MGM's first first-run syndication series to come to the market in years. Reports of the series first emerged in December 2012. As early as December 2012, the court show was already sold in 75% of the country. Stations acquired the show on an all-barter basis with 3½ minutes of local and 3½ minutes of national advertising time in every episode. By August 2013, the show was sold in 92% of the country. Paternity Court premiered on Monday, September 23, 2013. The court show's first day of taping was on June 13, 2013. On January 28, 2014, Paternity Court was renewed for a second season, which added Lake's name directly to the title as Lauren Lake's Paternity Court. Production also moved from Los Angeles to the Georgia Public Broadcasting studios in Atlanta previously utilized by Swift Justice with Nancy Grace in the 2010-11 season; as with many Atlanta-based productions it also receives tax credits from the Georgia Film Office for producing the show in Georgia, and the GFO has an end credit for their support. In 2019, the show received its first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program.
Conception
An article in Broadcasting & Cable talking about the conception of the show listed the paternity test-focused episodes of the daytime talk showMaury as a direct inspiration for Paternity Court, as Bryan said in the article that the high ratings for Maury among women 25-54 and the popularity of the court show genre made fusing the two concepts possible. Weigel Broadcasting president Neal Sabin, whose station group was among the first to take the program, thought it was a natural fit for the court show-heavy lineup on his stations, saying it was 'a little bit Maury and a little bit court-y'. Producers of the series have argued at the same time that Paternity Court and Maury do contrast, as Paternity Court does not focus on the narrative of Maury in building tabloid drama solely from the "who's your daddy?" question posed by paternity tests and the issues of multiple partners possibly being so with only bare follow-ups by that show's staff, but instead uses the tests on their show to build long-term relationships in a healthy manner once those results are revealed. As reported in late 2012, court programming is the second highest-rated genre on daytime television. Bryan has stated the goal of Paternity Court is to reinvigorate the court show genre.
Format
Paternity Court is a half-hour hybrid of a talk show using the court show plaintiff/defendant format. Lake talks to the show's litigants and decides cases based upon the results of DNA tests. While the show's title is Paternity Court, it also looks into other situations using DNA verification, such as probate disputes over wills, which are litigated under a binding arbitration arrangement. In late January 2013, creator David Armour revealed several details of the MGM conflict-resolution strip with Lauren Lake: Unlike most present-day court shows which typically have two cases in each episode, Paternity Court only focuses on one case per episode, though a second case can make an uncommon appearance. Lake takes time before and after the results to speak with her litigants.
Location
Original plans for Paternity Court were to film the series from a real-life courtroom, though this later changed to a traditional studio setting. The first season of the show was taped from Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles, next to the Judge Judy set, leasing over the space previously used for Big Ticket Television's Judge Joe Brown until its 2013 cancellation. Production moved to Atlanta beginning with season 2 as detailed above.
Spin-offs
Paternity Court has launched two spin-offs: Couples Court, which is hosted by Keith and Dana Cutler and follows a similar approach of using evidence and testing to prove or disprove infidelity; and Personal Injury Court, which is hosted by Gino Brogdon and presides over personal injury cases.
