Jerry Springer had that Certain Something!
It seems that each of my boys discovered The Jerry Springer Show at one time or another, and I remember changing the channel when they were too young to decide everything that was proper viewing for themselves. If you ever watched the show, you probably understand what I just related. If you never viewed the show ever, you need to find some old “reruns” and take in three or six just so you will not have missed out on some “American culture” of earlier television productions.
JERRY SPRINGER has been known as a News Anchor, a Mayor, a Television “Circus” Director, a Reporter, a Lawyer, a Talk Show Host, a City Councilman, a Presidential Campaign Director, a Subject of a Vice Probe. Put all of these together, and you have the picture of a man who was able to touch in one way or another the hearts of all types of folks—he knew the keys to connecting!
THE JERRY SPRINGER SHOW had a very successful span of nearly 30 years, during which it was maybe one of America’s favorite daytime television talk shows. I have read that it at times topped Oprah Winfrey, and that is really “saying something.”
Some people took Mr. Springer seriously, but my more raucous viewing buddies and I knew the real story—he featured “dysfunctional” guests, who fought and cursed and sometimes took off a little too much clothing—and Jerry was just giving so many “every-day” viewers what they wanted for an hour or two…..ESCAPIST VIEWING. (I hope my English students recall the definition of “escape literature.”) Though there were “bleeped-out” arguments and responses and sometimes “fights that appeared real and dangerous,” many, many, many people considered this show an “American guilty vice or pleasure” sort of like that extra bowl of ice cream after a meal that had already violated the doctor’s advised calorie count for the whole day!
Gerald Norman Springer, born in 1944 (to German Jewish parents, who escaped to England during the Holocaust) in an underground railway station bomb shelter, arrived in New York with his parents at age 5 and was a lifelong Yankees fan. He earned a law degree from Northwestern University and at one time ran for Congress (unsuccessfully). Among some of the other accomplishments mentioned in this article, he and co-anchor, Norma Rashid, helped build WLWT-Television’s broadcast into Cincinnati’s top-rated (legitimate) news show.
Jene Galvin (family friend upon news of the death) said it so well in his statement about Jerry Springer. “He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart, and humor will live on.” He passed recently from this life peacefully in Chicago after a brief illness.
Another quote about Mr. Springer said, “He connected equally with both the powerful and the man on the street.”
A Springer “tongue-incheek” quote, used often, was the following: “May you never be on my show.” So, if you have never watched The Jerry Springer Show, I again say that you might want to look for the “free re-runs” and settle back for some “guilty pleasure” if your impressionable children have gone to bed. You can call it, “watching American history.”
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.