Technically, “The Jerry Springer Show” was a TV talk show, but that’s not a fair description of a TV show that has been accused of destroying American society.
Jerry Springer was a politician who was elected to the Cincinnati City Council in 1971, but resigned in 1974 after admitting he solicited a prostitute. But Jerry came back and won a landslide victory in 1975 and was re-elected in 1977 and 1979. In 1977, Springer was chosen by the Cincinnati City Council to run for Cincinnati’s top job - he served as mayor for 1 year. In 1981, Springer stepped down to run for governor of the state, but he lost the election.
Springer’s political career was sketchy, and his colorful background as a lawyer, radio host, city councilman, and mayor of Cincinnati gave Jerry the varied background that it would take to host a TV talk show.
In 1991, The Jerry Springer Show was launched, but the ratings were not outstanding, and neither was the show. The Jerry Springer Show began as a politically-oriented talk show and remained such until a new producer, Richard Dominick, took over the show and to deal with sagging ratings, he changed the format and the approach of the show.
Dominick wanted the show to be wild and bizarre and The Jerry Springer Show soon became known as a “modern version of the Roman Colosseum,” with outrageous guests and storylines. Soon Jerry Springer became known as the “King of Trash TV.”
I watched the show over the years and many episodes were memorable, but one that really stands out to me was the episode during which Jerry interviewed a young couple who got off on throwing up on each other during sex. At the time, that seemed so bizarre to me. A couple was sexually aroused by the vile act of throwing up on each other! But today, I have heard about groups that are bizarre beyond belief and that type of depravity is more common today than it was when I saw a couple throw up on each other. That was truly disgusting.
Adultery was a common theme. Often someone who was admitting on camera to cheating on their husband with the man sitting next to her on stage was suddenly confronted with her husband who was backstage waiting for the moment she admitted to cheating on him. It was typical for the husband to come out and scream and curse out his wife and her boyfriend and often chairs were thrown, along with fists.
There were shows involving nudity, vital parts blurred out for TV, and interspecies relationships. In 2004, a man named Mark from Missouri, confessed that he had married his pony and was having sex with it.
In 2012, Springer did a show on a dominatrix duo - a mother and daughter who sexually dominated a man. Without his knowledge the man’s wife was backstage and she came out and shamed her husband on stage. These two show titles were self-explanatory: “Married to Your Dad But Want You Back” and “You Slept With My Stripper Sister.” That was The Jerry Springer Show.
But did Jerry Springer ruin American society?
Jerry wasn’t the first person on TV to have bizarre shows. Between 1987 and 1989, The Morton Downey, Jr. Show was pushing boundaries on TV. Downey was a loud and abrasive radio talk show host who landed a syndicated TV talk show. Downey was a right-wing radical and he was completely condescending and outrageous with every topic. Downey had strippers and freaks on his show. David Letterman once commented, “I’m always amazed at what people will fall for. We see this every ten or twelve years, and attempt at this, and I guess from that standpoint I don’t quite understand why everybody’s falling over backwards over the guy.”
Downey’s TV talk show was constantly pushing the envelope of good taste and FCC regulations. Finally, after running afoul with the FCC for giving out the home phone number of a disc jockey and insulting his wife, Downey was forced to retire.
Downey was entertaining because as I watched, I just couldn’t believe the stuff that I saw was actually on TV, but like with so many things that push limits, the show was fast to rise and fast to burn.
Jerry Springer's reign as the “King of Trash TV” was longer than Downey, and Jerry developed a loyal audience that was big enough to keep him on the air from 1991 to 2018. But with all of its outrageousness - did Jerry Springer ruin American culture?
No, the Jerry Springer Show did not ruin American culture. The Jerry Springer Show gave American culture what it wanted. The trashier the show became - the better the ratings. It was American society that made the show successful. No one was forced to watch the show, but people watched because they liked what they saw.
Over the years in my business, I have heard many people argue that something on TV was destroying American society. In the early years of television, TV was referred to as the “boob tube.” Now, in those days that was not a reference to female anatomy - it was a reference to mindless waste.
In my years of studying the relationship between mass media and society I have come to believe that TV, radio, or any medium is more that reflection of society than it is the dictator of behavior.
The Jerry Springer Show was successful because people watched it and people watched it because it was beyond outrageous - it was unbelievable - it put on display the lives of people that made us all feel like our lives weren’t so bad.
But the bottom line is that The Jerry Springer Show did not ruin American society. I have used this analogy before and it’s fitting here. To blame The Jerry Springer Show for ruining American society is the same as criticizing a mirror for the way you look. The Jerry Springer Show - like the mirror - is only a reflection of that which is looking into it. You may not like the reflection you see - but whether it’s a TV show or a mirror - you are seeing a reflection of yourself or in the case of TV - a reflection of American society.
A documentary about The Jerry Springer Show titled: “Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action” will premiere Jan. 7 on Netflix.
