Jerry Springer has died

What stands out to me are the comparisons to Donahue, as if he were some serious sort of journalist that Springer made a mockery of. And while Donahue did sometimes try to be serious, sweeps month for Donahue could seem much like Springer ended up becoming, in kind if not degree.

Emphasis on "some" since most of what was on display was manipulated, fake, coached, or just plain written for TV.

It was. Just about twenty years early…

To be honest, it's extremely common wherever the impoverished are located in the U.S. I've witnessed so much chaos from inner-city venturing, to growing up with some households that absolutely belonged on that show.

While these shows in the 90s were the beginning of the scripted reality TV genre, these talk shows were an interesting blend of scripted situations concocted by the producers and real world situations that were greatly exaggerated for drama purposes. People were encouraged to call in with their situations (whether they were real or not on your end was up to you) and producers would work with you to get the best angle for maximum drama.

> and thought that this was depicting typical average American life

The show was very bizarre. It invariably selected for the lunatic fringe of America. These people and their wild stories were all edge cases and definitely atypical.

Haha What if he did a cameo in Star Wars lol

wasn't that more maury povitch?

This is actually a borderline case. One could imagine a good HN thread sharing memories about Springer and thoughts about his impact on the culture. IIRC, he himself was more interesting than those prime-time bloodbaths implied.

On the other hand, there are stories where it's to HN's advantage not to cover it, because it provides a marker about what kind of site this isn't. "That what we not do", as my son said when he was 2. That's your argument too (obviously) and I appreciate your standing up for the site guidelines!

We decided for the latter rather than the former, but I'll stick up enough for Jerry to say that it wasn't an obvious call.

I mean, honestly yes. His show was shocking because it was so surprising how people behaved. In truth, it was a foreshadowing. The momentum had already began back then.

So maybe OP should check every region has access before posting. How would they do that?

Don’t blame the poster, blame the publisher.

Talks shows and COPS largely preyed on the post-industrial American working class, bereft of opportunity, and gave the mass of socially conservative, a band that crosses party lines, an anchor for their anxiety of the growing plurality of identity.

All these media websites chasing engagement metrics, chasing TV ratings is the 90s equivalent, and the Jerry Springer show is what you get.

> Ivy League, wealthy throne

Jerry Springer was born during WWII in London subway station that had been converted to a bomb shelter, to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazis in Poland. He claimed 27 members of his family were killed by Nazis.

Your opinion of his show and his contributions to the culture are yours, and are valid. But to group him into some ivory tower, privileged, "insider" class is disingenuous. His start was about as difficult as any -- fleeing the real, 6-million-Jews-killed Nazis (not today's tv-news "these people we don't like are Nazis"), no wealth or connections, immigrating to a new country. His success (and downfall) in politics was purely his own. Further success in news and then his TV show were again, his own making. He attended good colleges, indeed, but not any Ivy League schools, and certainly not because he had alumni connections or big donations.

You're allowed to not like him, even despise him if you wish. But don't lie about his circumstances.

What does this sentence mean?

Ah crap, my bad. It was either link to the local Cincinnati news station owned by a conglomerate, or TMZ