Alfonse D'Amato shoots reality show pilot as judge

Alfonse D'Amato shoots reality show pilot as judge

BY ANNE BRATSKEIR

Special to Newsday

June 10, 2008

Former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, 70, is heading to the bench.

He'll be in Los Angeles Friday to shoot the pilot for a new courtroom-based reality show. If picked up, "Judge D'Amato" will be filmed in New York and ready for fall '09 syndication on the Fox Network.

Why Al? "He's got that extroverted personality. He's feisty, he has strong opinions and a strong point of view," says Bill Thompson, senior vice president of Rebel Entertainment, the agency that packaged and sold the show. "He's funny when he needs to be funny and serious when he needs to be serious. We knew the minute we met him he was right."

The ex-senator, er, his honor, says he is "very excited ... It's an opportunity for people to see my persona unfiltered - not through the eyes of a reporter or someone with a political objective who will characterize my actions and statements. Nobody puts words in your mouth. It's just you."

The former senator has been as productive out of office as he was in it. He and second wife Katuria welcomed Alfonso Marcello D'Amato Jr. into the world in February, and the senator still is growing his Manhattan-based consulting firm, Park Strategies.

As for Judge Judy-like shtick ("Do I have stupid written on my forehead?"), D'Amato has a number of his own pet sayings up his sleeve. "Undoubtedly, 'You're a whack job' will find it's way into the series," he says. And, suggesting there might be a bit of an Italian flavor to his judgeship, he says, "There are a number of names my mother called me over the years I may just have to use."

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