By michael vivar
If you've spent any time in front of a television in the last 30 years, you're likely already aware of The Jerry Springer Show.
It's seen as an initial foray into reality television where guests aired their issues including infidelity, incest and questionable paternity with yelling and scuffles.
Springer himself began as an idealistic local liberal politician whose peers likened him to a Kennedy. Extracurricular personal peccadilloes derailed his public service career.
The show first aired in 1991. Springer intended it to be reminiscent of Oprah and Phil Donahue but with a focus on politics. Guests included Jesse Jackson.
By 1994, salacious episodes supplanted the original format with titles like, "I Married a Horse," "She's a He!" and "A Racist Family." This attracted a younger audience.
The sheer outrageousness and avalanche of content which totaled nearly 5,000 hours over 28 seasons left people asking if any of it was real.
Netflix has just dropped a new documentary, Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action. It provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the iconic show.
Producers divulged that, while they encouraged heightened drama, there was never any casting call, and no action scripted. This makes it more genuine than most current reality TV.
The show's cancellation in 2018 was partially due to market saturation with imitators like Maury. The same content could also increasingly be found on social media.
Jerry Springer died in 2023 with a net worth of $60 million. Whatever opinions exist(ed) of the man or the show, both were successful and left an indelible mark on TV's landscape.