The Jerry Springer Show
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The Jerry Springer Show (first aired September 30, 1991) is a television talk show, hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician. It is videotaped at the NBC Tower studios of WMAQ-TV in Chicago and is distributed by NBC Universal, although it does not currently air on any NBC-owned stations. A popular show, it has aired during the morning and afternoon hours of many syndicated TV stations since the early 1990s.
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Overview
The Jerry Springer Show is ostensibly a show where troubled (or dysfunctional) families come to talk about their problems before a studio audience so that the audience or host can offer suggestions on what can be done to resolve their situations. In actuality, the show has come to epitomize the so-called "trash TV talk show," as each episode of the show focuses on a lurid topic that usually involves sex, racism, marital jealousy, the Ku Klux Klan, and other prurient subjects. Typical topics of discussion on the show include unusual extra-marital affairs, vicious rivalries between families, rebellious and promiscuous teenagers, strippers and adult movie stars, and the like. Possibly one of the strangest confessions was when a man admitted that he had married his horse. The show proudly boasts that it was once voted the worst TV show ever.
The "discussion" of each episode's subject usually involves an insult-laden verbal exchange between members of the studio audience and the featured "guests" on the show, who trade barbs throughout the length of the episode. Springer wraps up each show with a moralizing sermon on the subject entitled "Jerry's Final Thought," often finishing his speech with "Take care of yourselves and each other."
History
The Jerry Springer Show debuted on September 30, 1991, with journalist Sally Jessy Raphael as its first guest. It started as a politically-oriented talk show, a longer version of the commentary Springer had gained local fame for giving as reporter and anchor. Guests early on included Oliver North and Jesse Jackson, and the topics included homelessness and gun politics. Low ratings led it to be picked up by a new producer. The search for higher ratings led Springer towards tawdry and provocative topics, becoming more and more successful as the show turned more and more lowbrow (although even then it successfully focused on more sensitive and less sensational issues). It became, through Springer's own admittance, a "freak show" where guests seek their 15 minutes of fame through discussion and demonstrations of deviant behavior. Its extraordinary success has led it to be broadcast in dozens of countries.
In 1999, the Chicago City Council suggested that if the fist fights and chair-throwing were real, then the guests should be arrested for committing acts of violence in the city. When asked whether the fights were genuine, Springer said, "They look real to me." He then criticized council members for not distinguishing between "violence on the streets of their city" and "rough-housing in our studios." Ultimately, the city council chose not to pursue the matter.
In its heyday (the late 1990s) the show was quite popular (and controversial), so much so that it caused contemporaries like Jenny Jones, Maury Povich, and Ricki Lake to "revamp" their own shows in order to improve ratings. Incidentally, the popularity of the "trash TV" talk shows led to a decline in the number of game shows that had traditionally been broadcast on weekday mornings.
With the increasingly ridiculous nature of his guests' dilemmas (for example, stories such as "Daddy, will you marry me?"), the authenticity of Springer's guests has been brought into question. Nonetheless, Springer swears on his life that all his guests are real.
In reality, the show flies groups of guests in from around the country based on phone conversations after retrieving messages from the show's phone line, 1-800-96-JERRY. Guests are usually not paid for their appearances on the show, but they do receive complimentary meals and hotel accommodations. A basic script is written for each show, which is sometimes loosely based on actual events in the lives of the guests, albeit usually embellished, or sometimes completely fabricated. Producers rehearse the script with guests prior to the show. Strippers and midgets are sometimes called upon to be guests on the show, and instead of being paid, the businesses they work for are given free mention in the credits at the end of the show. During taping season, six shows are taped per week.
Beginning in 2002, audience members were rewarded for flashing with a set of plastic beads commonly called "Jerry Beads." Around this time numerous sound effects were added such as a "fight bell" and a cow mooing.
In 2003 a stripper named Angie and a pole were added, however the stripper was dropped by the end of the season, replaced at the pole by audience members. This is notable in the show titled "Two Fat Men on a Pole."
Starting with the 2005 season, director of security Steve Wilkos has occasionally hosted the show claiming that Jerry is sick although the opening bit for these shows depicts Jerry with a pair of girls as part of an excuse for time away from his hosting duties. These shows usually feature Steve ripping lowdown men to shreds.
On January 16, 2006, it was announced that Springer signed a "multi year" contract with NBC Universal, renewing the show until at least the 2007-2008 syndicated season.
The show in popular culture
- In an episode of Married with Children ("No Ma'am" - 1993 Season 8, Ep 9) Jerry Springer makes an appearance by playing himself and hosting an "episode" of the Jerry Springer Show, where he is bound and gagged by Al Bundy and his misogynistic friends. In the episode Springer is known as "Jerry Springer the Masculine Feminist."
- In a 1996 episode from the 9th and final season of Roseanne (entitled "What a Day for a Daydream"), recent lottery winner Roseanne daydreams and sees her and the family on an "episode" of The Jerry Springer Show. The segment includes all the typical chaos of most any real episode of the talk show, including Dan attempting to fight an audience member to defend his wife from being insulted.
- In the 1996 dark comedy The Cable Guy, Jim Carrey's character quotes one of Springer's "Final Thoughts."
- The 1999 comedy Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me featured the show in its opening scene (the reunion of Dr. Evil and his son Scott) and closing credits (Scott's discovery that his mother is Frau Farbissina).
- In 1998, Jerry Springer starred in a fictionalized version of the show in the movie Ringmaster, which flopped at the box office and with critics and Springer fans alike.
- In 1999, the first of the three-episode series finale for Home Improvement aired. Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) mentioned that his show Tool Time, a show within Home Improvement in-which Tim hosted, had turned into a shock TV Show "like Jerry Springer."
- In 1999, "Weird Al" Yankovic released his album Running With Scissors, which included the song "Jerry Springer," a parody of "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies. The song lists various outrageous people and acts watched on the show.
- In a Halloween-themed episode of The Simpsons, the family appear on the show upon discovering that an alien character is really the father of Maggie Simpson.
- The Canadian sketch comedy History Bites parodied the Jerry Springer Show in an episode called "Queen takes Queen, Checkmate" which centered around the rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I.
- Springer parodied the "Final Thoughts" portion of his show in the VH1 series of specials I Love the 90s, appearing at the end of each year's segment to summarize the events that had taken place.
See also
- Jerry Springer - The Opera - A British opera based on the show.