Jerry Springer once said that his talk show was unlike anything ever seen on television.
The controversial TV host, whose death was announced on Thursday at age 79, defended “The Jerry Springer Show” while speaking with Pvnew last year.
“There was a democratic quality to it, you know, and it wasn’t intended as such,” he told us via Zoom in March 2022.
“When I look back at it, before our show came on [in] ’91, American television was basically all upper-middle-class white. And whether it was, you know, in terms of entertainment, ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘Frasier,’ ‘Friends,’ it was always well-scrubbed looking, upper-middle-class people. And that was it.”
He added, “And all of a sudden, my show comes on.”
The raucous talk show, which debuted in September 1991, was originally a politically oriented talk show featuring guests including Jesse Jackson and Oliver North.
A new producer came on board in 1994 and together he and Springer drastically revamped the format.
Guests were everyday people, who were confronted on stage by family members who revealed shocking secrets including adultery, sex work, hate group membership and being gay. These confrontations often descended into cartoonish violence and mayhem.
Ratings soared and the show bested Oprah Winfrey in many cities, reaching over six million viewers. The final episode aired in 2018.
The former politician continued to defend his show while speaking to Pvnew, arguing that he was introducing America to segments of the population “that had never really been on television before.”
“It’s not as if the people on our show displayed behavior that was unknown to any adult in America or in the world,” he explained. “You know, none of it is surprising. We just had never seen it on television before.”
The “Ringmaster!“ author also noted that in today’s world with social media his show wouldn’t be controversial if it was still on the air.
“Nowadays, considering social media … there’s nothing outrageous about it anymore,” he shared. “But that’s just the movement of the culture and it’s the democratization of our society.”
As previously reported, Springer’s family announced Thursday that he died peacefully at his home in Chicago.
He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several months ago and sadly his health took a turn for the worse this week.
“Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word,” said Jene Galvin, a lifelong friend and spokesman for the family.
