Jerry Springer, politician-turned-TV ringmaster, dies at 79

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

CINCINNATI (AP) — Jerry Springer, the onetime mayor and news anchor whose namesake TV show featured a three-ring circus of dysfunctional families willing to bare all on weekday afternoons including brawls, obscenities and blurred images of nudity, died Thursday at 79.

At its peak, “The Jerry Springer Show” was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with lurid drama. Known for chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments, the daytime talk show was a favorite American guilty pleasure over its 27-year run, at one point topping Oprah Winfrey’s show. Springer called it “escapist entertainment,” while others saw the show as contributing to a dumbing-down decline in American social values.

“Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word,” said Jene Galvin, a family spokesperson and friend of Springer’s since 1970, in a statement. “He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart and humor will live on.”

Springer died peacefully at home in suburban Chicago after a brief illness, the statement said

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/jerry-springer-dies-1430502c51d9d4603e786b2afc04581e

[snowybirdie]

1. Seems sort of fitting

With his acolyte, Tucker, gone. Perhaps the times they are a changin?

[MarineCombatEngineer]

4. Huh?

Not understanding your post, you do know that he was a solid liberal don't you?

He had a damn good show on Air America.

[snowybirdie]

6. He was a crazy person on tv

Couldn't stand him. Just like Tuckums. No matter what political persuasion, they both lowered the bar on television discourse. Made the MAGAs "normalized"

[MarineCombatEngineer]

9. He acted as a crazy person on tv,

it was acting, he actually wasn't crazy, he was a pretty decent person in real life and his show was one of the top rated shows on tv, even out pacing Oprah at one time.

To each their own, my late wife used to watch his tv show for the entertainment, which was what The Jerry Springer Show was all about, entertainment.

Jerry Springer was nothing like Fucker Carlson.

[Mosby]

16. Springers show was trash.

The idea he was "acting" just makes him even more unlikable. He stood for nothing.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

19. And yet his daytime show was one of the top rated shows at the time.

To each their own.

[Mosby]

21. Rush Limbaugh has the moat successful radio show in US history.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

22. Yeah, it was,

so what?
Are you comparing Jerry Springer to Rush Limbaugh?

Jerry Springer was nothing like Rush Limbaugh.
I've said my piece, have a great day.

[Cha]

34. Touche'

[Emile]

35. Have you ever heard of Charles Coughlin?

[JCMach1]

31. 0 correlation to Tucker Carlson ... Springer was a progressive before he

Was anything else

[NullTuples]

10. He inflicted decades of harm on trans & other marginalized people, so no. He was not a solid liberal

[MarineCombatEngineer]

14. No, he didn't,

everyone appearing on his show was there of their own volition, nobody forced them to make a spectacle of themselves on national television, but, what the hey, you're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

[Mosby]

18. He used people for money and rating.

Nothing empowering about that.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

20. Again,

everyone on his show were there of their own choosing, they knew what his show was all about and they chose to be there.

[NullTuples]

23. That doesn't absolve him of using them to harm entire populations for his profit

He took advantage of them, whether by paying them or appealing to their egos.

Every population, every group has a number of individuals who are susceptible to such manipulation and he used them freely for his own gain.

That in my book is immoral.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

24. Well, I've already stated my opinion, take it or leave it,

I don't care.
Have a great day.

[NullTuples]

25. Your opinion doesn't match objective reality

Last edited Thu Apr 27, 2023, 03:21 PM - Edit history (1)

You stated, "you do know that he was a solid liberal don't you?"

And I showed how he was in fact, not liberal.

So you don't want to change your mind; that's your prerogative. Just wanted you to know that the discrepancy existed, in case you cared.

[markpkessinger]

30. People who are in desperate situations will often allow themselves to be exploited . . .

. . . in hopes that the money will help them out of their situation. But morally, that doesn't excuse the person who does the exploiting!

[MissMillie]

15. And yet...

(I'm going to apologize up-front. I don't even know how I can begin to get Air America... so I don'[t know him from Air America.)

He did what got him ratings.

He would highlight infidelities involving all sorts of sensationalized relationships (including gay and trans people--and much of it completely fabricated) to boost his ratings.

For the record: His rating appear to rely on people being afraid of what the GOP wants us to be afraid of.

OPPORTUNIST

I'm okay mourning the loss of his life. RII['

I'm not convinced he's a some sort of liberal hero.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

17. You can't find Air America anymore,

it went belly up a number of years ago, something about an embezzlement scandal,
that said, everyone appearing on his show were there of their own choice, nobody forced them to appear, they knew in advance what the show was all about and they accepted it.

[markpkessinger]

27. Well, that "solid liberal" . . .

. . . paraded people, mostly poor, and usually in dire or even tragic circumstances, across a television stage so that their pain and humiliation could be a source of entertainment for others. "Solid liberal" my ass!

[MarineCombatEngineer]

28. I already stated my opinion numerous times,

if you don't agree with it, tough.

[ananda]

2. I used to say that my family could keep Jerry Springer in shows for year.

Until I met so many people whose lives and famllies were so much worse.

This is SUCH a dysfunctional society.

[walkingman]

29. That funny, I know the feeling. 😂

[Captain Stern]

43. Been there, done that too.

I thought my family had problems....till I found out about other families.

They did what?!?....damn...that's messed up. My Dad just gambled.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. I feel like smashing a folding chair over somebody's head in remembrance. NT

[SouthernDem4ever]

11. LOL

[gatomedianoche]

5. Cincinnati mayor

When he was mayor of Cincinnati, Jerry paid a prostitute with a personal check. A minor scandal ensued. I think Jerry was basically a decent man, and his show was a far cry from the crap we see on TV now

[MarineCombatEngineer]

7. He had a pretty good show on Air America. nt

[No Vested Interest]

37. Jerry Springer was mayor of Cincinnati after the check incident.

He was a young city councilman at the time when wrote the check.
He resigned from city council when the check became known.
He ran again for council and was re-elected and subsequently chosen as mayor.

After serving as mayor, he became a very popular newscaster on local radio, ending his newscasts with " Take care of yourself and each other."

Jerry Springer was very personable and quite well-liked in Cincinnati.

[Farmer-Rick]

8. Rest in peace

He was an interesting character. I always had a soft spot for him despite that weird show he was most noted for.

Some say he may have died of pancreatic cancer. Poor guy, he also caught COVID in 2021.

Glad he was able to have a peaceful death at home.

[SouthernDem4ever]

12. Thanks Jerry for you contribution to our Idiocracy.

[maxsolomon]

13. I was there for most of it.

Mayor when I was a teen, then the scandal (that seems so very quaint today), then he came back as the news anchor of the local NBC affiliate WLWT, then the Springer show (which I thought was absolute trash). It was bewildering.

RIP.

[ificandream]

26. His "Baggage" show on GSN is a guilty pleasure.

I watch it on Pluto TV all the time. I hate reality TV as a rule, except for this.

[jmowreader]

32. The strange thing is...

…several years after the three-ring circus show went off the air, Springer decided to cash in on the Judge Show craze and launched the Judge Jerry Show. It was probably the best of the judge shows. No yelling. No crazy shit. He behaved like an actual judge should, even though he was always on the other side of the bench when he practiced law. I mean, come on: you watched Judge Judy because you knew she was going to turn into Gunnery Sergeant Hartman at least once during the episode. Springer never did that.

[Behind the Aegis]

33. ...

Gerald Norman Springer was born Feb. 13, 1944, in a London underground railway station being used as a bomb shelter. His parents, Richard and Margot, were German Jews who fled to England during the Holocaust, in which other relatives were killed in Nazi gas chambers. They arrived in the United States when their son was 5 and settled in the Queens borough of New York City, where Springer got his first Yankees baseball gear on his way to becoming a lifelong fan.

[BumRushDaShow]

36. Heard that exact statement on the radio this afternoon

as part of the reporting. The rail station birth was a surprise and heartbreaking. Starting to see the WWII babies pass on now.

[LudwigPastorius]

38. His legacy:

https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/fwzfhk/some_highlights_of_the_banned_jerry_springer/

[SouthBayDem]

39. Springer was a lifelong Democrat who got his start as an aide for RFK.

That was during RFK's tragically shortened 1968 presidential run.

Springer then ran for a Cincinnati area US House seat in 1970, overperforming with 45% of the vote in a longtime Republican district. He then served in the Cincinnati city council in the '70s, including a term as mayor.

In 1982, Springer ran for Ohio governor, finishing third in the Democratic Party primary. That was the last time he would run for office - he considered but declined to run for US Senate in Ohio in 2000 and '04 and governor in 2018.

[Rhiannon12866]

41. Thanks so much for his history!

Most of us only heard about his TV show.

[Bengus81]

40. It was crazy,funny stupid fun

No one on that show were there as slaves,they weren't forced,they were adults and I would guess paid something to offset travel expenses.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

42. Yep.

That's what I tried to say and a few DUer's took exception to that.

Everyone on his show chose to be there on their own volition, nobody, but nobody forced them to be there, each and every one of them knew what the show was all about and they knowingly chose to participate.