Did Jerry Springer’s talk show ruin pop culture? The 78-year-old seems to think so. After 28 seasons of his now-defunct show, which ran from 1991 to 2018, Jerry recently sat down for an interview with David Yontef’s “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast, where he shared his thoughts about the three-decade-long influence he’s had on pop culture.
For those who remember the self-titled program, nothing was ever off limits as far as topics were concerned, as Jerry tackled everything from incest relationships to married men sleeping with their wife’s best friend (who happened to be a man). Not to mention the chaos that would ensue when these guests were put on stage together, which usually resulted in physical fights, verbal abuse, while the studio audience cheered on.
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— The Jerry Springer Show (@SpringerTV) November 9, 2022
Asked whether he would consider himself the “granddaddy of reality TV,” Jerry responded, “No, I just apologize. I’m so sorry. What have I done? I’ve ruined the culture. I just hope hell isn’t that hot because I burn real easy. I’m very light-complected, and that kind of worries me.” Despite his successful TV career, Jerry says he was “just a schlub” who got lucky because working in entertainment was never an interest of his prior to making it big.
Jerry didn’t start his career in television. In fact, his career beginnings started when he worked for Senator Robert F. Kennedy before moving over to a Cincinnati law firm where he would spend several years before finding himself elected to the city council in 1971. Jerry would later become the mayor of Cincinnati in 1977, which opened the doors for him to work as an anchor on an NBC-affiliated station.
The father of one decided to take the offer and went on to spend 10 years working in television, which he described as quite a transition, given that his background was more focused on politics than news reporting.
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— Jason Tartick (@Jason_Tartick) November 8, 2022
Little did Jerry know that working as an anchor would later open the doors for him to front his own talk show.
“The company that owned the station where I did the news owned talk shows. So they owned Phil Donahue, Sally Jessy Raphael,” he shared. “Well, Phil was retiring, and so the CEO took me to lunch one day and said, ‘Phil’s retiring. We’re starting a new talk show, you’re the host.’ So I was assigned to it as an employee.”