“The gold standard of trashy daytime television”: Dark Secret About The Jerry Springer Show Revealed in New Netflix Documentary
- Jerry Springer earned a huge reputation as the host of his eponymous TV show.
- The producers went to great length to make sure the guests stayed till the end of the show.
- Springer's perspective of his show was largely different from others.
Jerry Springer practiced a lot of professions and had only been retired for a year before his tragic demise in 2023. He was most widely known for his eponymous controversial tabloid talk show, which he hosted for almost three decades. Soon after premiering in 1991, the show became a cultural phenomenon in the ’90s and was a huge commercial success for those involved.
The success of Springer’s show came at the expense of people’s emotions and Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action, the new Netflix documentary, reveals exactly that. According to the documentary, there were no limits that the producers hesitated to cross to make sure that they were getting the desired viewership, even if it meant threatening the guests.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action reveals producers threatened guests to stay for the complete run of the episode
Jerry Springer studied to become a lawyer and worked for Robert Kennedy’s political campaign. He served as the 56th Mayor of Cincinnati from 1977 to 1978. Post this, he began working as a local news anchor. Then came The Jerry Springer Show which earned the reputation of the worst TV show of all time owing to the largely negative critical response to it.
The show dealt with all kinds of controversial topics such as incest, adultery, physical fights, heckling, and other such things. It was far from a family show and yet worked well enough for it to continue airing until 2018. The guests often turned emotional during their squabbles with one another which frequently resulted in physical fights and profanities.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action is a two-part docuseries that takes the audience behind the scenes on how this show achieved the success it had. Among the many other surprising revelations, Variety has also reported that when guests wanted to quit and leave, the producers would threaten to not fly them home. At the risk of ending up stranded in Chicago, the guests had no option other than complying.
Fans still appreciate the show and some even want it back. Here is what some of them had to say on X:
The gold standard of trashy daytime television
— ＺＡＣＨ (@ZachBowders) January 8, 2025
Bring back the Jerry Springer Show.
— Ants (@TheAntzNest) January 8, 2025
JERRY JERRY JERRY
Most of what you hate about modern society was first glorified and promoted by Jerry Springer. He was the definition of trash.
— J. Padgett (@SoulFire77) January 8, 2025
The good old days! Classic show during a time of poor morals and no care 😂
— ᗯᗩKᑌᗯᗩKᑌ (@WaKuWaKu_Sol) January 8, 2025
Many other such jaw-dropping details are revealed in the documentary that premiered on Netflix recently. Some of those things are beyond people’s imagination, but it has to be said that Springer certainly wanted people to express their emotions and opinions, no matter how strange they were.
Jerry Springer’s perspective of his talk show was different
While most people think that the controversial talk show was trash TV and that there was no need for the show to have guests behave the way they did, Springer had a very different outlook on the whole thing and it is worth giving a thought. He viewed the show as a place to “demonstrate outrageousness”.
In an interview shown in the series, the child of Holocaust survivors, Springer believed that all opinions deserved to be heard (via TIME).
“In a free society, the media should reflect all elements of that society, not just the mainstream. On our show, for example, we have Klansmen on, we have neo-Nazis on—they killed my family. I hate these people. I hate what they stand for. I may hate what you say, but I’ll fight to the death for your right to say it.
As a former politician, journalist, and lawyer, Springer maintained integrity and respected everyone’s opinions, regardless of their background or identity.
