Reality TV show host the late Jerry Springer was the face of his raunchy television series for 27 seasons. Although the show always managed to maintain a sizable audience, Springer himself once confided his complete shock at the show’s longevity.
The Jerry Springer Show became a mega-hit during the mid-to-late 1990s thanks to its focus on controversy and live drama. But the show wasn’t always as wild as most of its fans remember it as. The show was much tamer during its original run in the early 1990s, leaning more towards politics and real world issues.
With the show’s declining ratings back then, The Jerry Springer Show went in a much more unpredictable direction to help improve the show’s standing. The formula worked, allowing the hit television show to last for decades in its current incarnation. Springer himself felt he contributed very little to the show’s success, which he credited to the series’ revolving door of zany characters.
“The person who is out there first usually has the most staying power,” Springer once told the Los Angeles Times. “It clearly has nothing to do with me. It’s the craziness of the guests and the format that seems to work.”
However, Springer understood what the show truly was and the type of audiences it catered to.
“It’s just a silly little show that has a niche. People enjoy it and it has absolutely no redeeming social value whatsoever, other than escapist entertainment,” he said.
But there was a point where he felt he had to apologize for the show’s massive staying power. If only because there were certain times where even he criticized the program for going a bit too far.
“We’ve been doing this show for 19 years now and I’m really sorry for that. No one had any idea that it would last all these years,” he once said according to Contact Music.
Looking back on it, Springer couldn’t help cringe at the show’s first episode. But he asserted the show hadn’t changed much since then.
“That was pretty pathetic but it’s not as if it’s got any better, it’s still awful,” he said.
Jerry Springer wanted to change the direction of ‘The Jerry Springer Show’
Although The Jerry Springer Show remained rowdy during the majority of its run, Springer once felt it had gotten too over the top. Even by the show’s standards.
“Last year we got into doing a real circus, with circus acts,” Springer once told Chicagoist.
He felt the show was straying too far away from what it originally was. And for all of its craziness, Springer thought the show still needed a level of depth for its audiences to hold onto.
“Crazy, but compelling,” Springer said. “The stories have to have some substance, even if the guests were over the top. So we’ve been doing that, and so far it looks like people are liking it. There’s a growth every day. So I’m really happy with that. That’s one thing about this business, you can tell day to day what people like, what your audience likes. Because you test it every day.”
However, he shared that he was never going to take the show back to its much earlier days where they tackled serious issues.
“We’re not allowed to. I mean, Universal bought us [so we’re] only allowed to do crazy. So if you call us with a warm uplifting story, we’re required to send you to another show. They won’t air it if we do that, we were told. There are strict rules. So we have no choice in that,” he said.
Still, he reassured at the time that the craziness of The Jerry Springer Show wouldn’t be compromised.
“It’s still really crazy, the only difference is we don’t do the circus acts any more. In terms of the substance, it’s as crazy as ever, because that’s what the show is about,” Springer said.
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