OT: RIP Jerry Springer

Submitted by WindyCityBlue on April 27th, 2023 at 12:11 PM

Not much to say, but I did ditch a day of high school to go to one of his shows a long time ago.  It was quite entertaining.

brose

April 27th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^

While at Michigan, I bought the Springer "Too Hot for TV" VHS tape - it was on regular rotation in my shit hole apartment.  RIP Jerry, Jerry, Jerry! 

NittanyFan

April 27th, 2023 at 12:19 PM ^

I would see him quite a bit when I worked in downtown Cincinnati - chatted w/ him a few times.  He struck me as a very smart, warm and genuine guy.

He had a heck of an interesting life.  The story of him getting in trouble for paying a Covington, KY prostitute with a check (a check that bounced, no less!!!), and then rebounding from that to being elected Cincinnati mayor just 3 years later --- it's not all he will be remembered for, but it's a colorful part of his story.

ChiBlueBoy

April 27th, 2023 at 12:24 PM ^

I was friends with a woman who helped care for his daughter, who is learning impaired. We happened to run into him at a restaurant, and he was one of the warmest, most friendly people I've ever met. His intelligence was clear even from his shows. My friend said it was very real--he was incredibly kind and patient with his daughter and everyone around him.

I'm not crazy about where TV and media in general have gone of late, and you could point to his show as being part of it becoming more crass. On the other hand, he pointed a spotlight on our society and parts of it that we didn't previously acknowledge. Mixed feelings abound, but I will send a metta meditation and any extra merit his direction.

Cam

April 27th, 2023 at 12:43 PM ^

Springer was an objectively awful human. His life’s work was exploiting poor people and encouraging violence for personal profit. Good riddance.

MeanJoe07

April 27th, 2023 at 12:54 PM ^

It was basically just another version of fake wrestling for entertainment. All for show and mostly fake. I'm sure those people were paid and did it voluntarily. It may not have been entertaining for some but it was definitely engrained in popular culture and referenced a lot.

Hotel Putingrad

April 27th, 2023 at 1:03 PM ^

It was scripted entertainment. Maybe save some of your venom for those genuinely awful people in public life who do the same?

In spite of his show’s reputation as “trash TV,” which sparked competitors including Maury Povich and Steve Wilkos, Springer often expressed empathy and compassion for the people who filled his set with the kind of drama that lead to ratings gold. 

"Know this," he said during a 2015 episode. "There's never been a moment in the 25 years of doing this show that I ever thought I was better than the people who appear on our stage. I'm not better. Only luckier."

Cruzcontrol75

April 28th, 2023 at 4:29 AM ^

Springer didn’t ambush people by setting them up for real world problems, he gave them a check for acting.  My best friend does voice acting for these fake morning radio dramas, ie war of the roses.  Not everything aired is real.  OP should save that hate for Jenny Jones.  For all that were too young to remember: https://allthatsinteresting.com/jonathan-schmitz

MeanJoe07

April 27th, 2023 at 2:14 PM ^

Yeah, but it was our "trash". It was wholesome "trash" compared to the abject trash on social media today.  There is literal porn on Twitter. I'm not being prude and just talking about the ass pics and almost naked woman on Instagram. I mean some lady getting jackhammered by the pizza guy type of porn. Back in my day the worst you could do was Jerry Springer, a JC Penning Catalog and that one night when Cinemax had a free trial. Jerry Springer's show was Dora the Explorer compared to what we have now.

Wendyk5

April 27th, 2023 at 11:52 PM ^

A good friend of mine was his editor for 22 years. He started with him in Chicago and then moved to Connecticut when the show moved there. His accounting of him is a very nice, smart, personable guy who treated everyone who worked on the show like family. I'm going to take him at his word. 

S.G. Rice

April 27th, 2023 at 2:40 PM ^

Claymation Jerry Springer:  "What about my final thought?"

Opponent:  "YOU JUST HAD YOUR FINAL THOUGHT!"

/disemboweling ensues

 

I wasn't a huge Celebrity Deathmatch fan but that one always stuck with me.

RIP Jerry.

drjaws

April 27th, 2023 at 4:58 PM ^

He saved a lot of dudes from unnecessarily paying child support.

He also proved that a lot of dudes should be paying child support.

by all accounts a very nice and generous man in person. RIP 

mert

April 27th, 2023 at 5:40 PM ^

He was a deeply cynical man who amplified the worst voices in our culture and pushed society that much closer to idiocracy.  And he made a ton of money doing it.  I’m not mourning his death.