As a ‘90s kid, I was practically reared on talk shows. Phil Donahue taught me how to listen, while Montel Williams taught me how to care.
However, if I were to rank the best '90s talk shows, I would definitely say that The Jerry Springer Show was my absolute favorite.
So, when I saw that there was a Netflix documentary called Jerry Springer: Fights, Cameras, Action, I just had to watch it. Here are some of the things that I learned about my favorite talk show.
Richard Dominick Was The Real Maestro To The Madness
As somebody who watched Jerry Springer religiously, I never thought about the people behind the scenes, since Springer was always front and center.
So, it was always interesting to me that the show was such a circus, since the host seemed like such a standup guy (RIP, Mr. Springer).
Enter Richard Dominick, who was the show’s Executive Producer. This documentary taught me who he was, because I had never heard of him before. But, apparently, he was the maestro behind the madness.
That said, while I had never heard of him, I definitely knew his work, since he reported for the Weekly World News, and Sun, which I read voraciously as a kid.
Stories concerning Elvis still being alive or Bat Boy being found in West Virginia were important parts of my childhood, so it makes sense that Dominick would transition from the tabloids to Springer. He was also really good (and terrifying, apparently) at his job. Especially when it came to greenlighting certain stories. Speaking of which…
The Infamous KKK Episode Was The One That Really Changed The Show Forever
I recently wrote an article about movies that explore race and social justice, and I was happy to work on it. That’s because I think it’s really important to inform people about movies that focus on race and identity, since they are always relevant.
So, even though I’m adamantly against the KKK and the institution of slavery (which is why a movie like Django Unchained, where the slave owners get their comeuppance, is so satisfying for me), I also think it’s sometimes important to give evil a platform.
Because honestly, evil is always among us, and we either ignore it, or we aren’t aware of it.
That’s why the episode, “Klanfrontation” which I vividly remember, was so important for me. In the segment, Klan members, in full regalia, gave the Nazi salute while the audience booed. But, in true Springer fashion, the Jewish Defence League (JDL) were also brought on the show, and an all-out brawl ensued.
According to the documentary, this was a turning point for the show, as people liked watching them fight. This was the episode that apparently made fights a regular occurrence there. I had no idea that this episode was the catalyst for the almost daily donnybrooks we would see. Oh, and speaking of fights…
The Fights Were Staged...Sort Of
Okay, so one thing that my friends and I used to debate endlessly about was whether the fights on The Jerry Springer Show were real, or scripted a la professional wrestling, like on Monday Night Raw.
I always thought they were real, but most of my friends thought they were fake. Well, this documentary fills us in on the truth, and the answer is…it was a little of both.
You see, the producers would often rile up the guests backstage and even “teach” them how to respond. And, if the guests weren’t angry enough, the producers would give them explicit instructions on why they should be angry.
Not only that, but the producers would often encourage drug use and drinking the night before so that the guests would come onto the set tired and ornery the next day.
So, were the fights real? Yes…but not without a little coercion from the people in back.
The Producers Would Also Use Tactics To Make Sure That Guests Wouldn't Just Walk Out
One thing that truly shocked me was that the producers would actually withhold bus or plane tickets home to guests who were not responsive to how they wanted the show to go.
For example, there was one guest who felt that she was lied to by the producers, and instead of fighting the other guest like we’d typically see, she casually replied that if so–in-so wanted her husband, then she could have him. She then walked off the set in an anticlimactic fashion.
Well, true to their word, the producers didn’t give her a ticket back home, so a good samaritan ended up buying her a ticket when he saw her crying at a bus stop.
And, look, I get it. The producers had a job to make sure the show was entertaining. But, to bring a woman into Chicago, and then just strand her there with no way home. That’s pretty heinous.
Jerry Springer Actually Got Caught Sleeping With Guests From The Show
Did you know that Jerry Springer actually got caught sleeping with his guests? Because I sure didn’t!
I mean, as mentioned in the documentary, if this had happened TODAY, Springer would have been cancelled immediately. Sleeping with guests would have been the front page story on every website in the country.
And yet, it slipped right by me in the ‘90s, which is insane when you think about it from a modern perspective.
There were pretty much no ramifications whatsoever. I mean, it took a Netflix documentary for me to even know that this happened, which floors me.
Most Of The Guests Came From Only Three States
I know it’s not nice to pick on any one state. That said, it’s kind of funny that almost all of the guests on Springer came from Tennessee, Ohio, and Georgia.
Known as The Springer Triangle, a vast majority of the guests who wanted to be on the show were apparently from these three states.
Yes, there were guests from other states, but it became such a known phenomenon in the office, that when potential guests called in from outside the Triangle, they were often viewed with suspicion.
Such was the case in one such incident where people came in from Boston and then supposedly faked their fight on the show.
The producer who talked about this story in the documentary revealed that she was fired since she didn’t vet the guests well enough, and it was an embarrassment to the show. In other words, in Triangle we trust!
There Was Actually A Murder Case That Might Have Resulted From One Of The Episodes
Another thing that blew my mind was that a murder case perhaps resulted from incidents on the show.
In the case, a man was sleeping with both his wife and another woman, and when the show ended, they all went back home again peacefully.
Or at least, so the showrunners thought. Instead, two of the guests were suspected of murder, and the victim’s son is even in the documentary explaining how he blames the show for the death of his mom.
What’s interesting is that the producers also have their say in the crime, with one of them even admitting that he thinks they weren’t subpoenaed because everybody tied to the show had left the country for one of its destination episodes.
It’s just another new thing that I learned from this riveting two-episode special.
The Documentary Makes It Seem Like Springer Regretted His Impact On The Culture
Lastly, there are clips shown toward the end that make it seem like the talk show host regretted his place in American culture.
In one clip, he even says that he’ll likely go to Hell for hosting the show, and that if there’s one show that he wished he never watched, it was his own.
And, if he felt this way, fine, but I think he was being too hard on himself.
Millions of people loved The Jerry Springer Show, and a lot of us miss him.
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