Life is really a Jerry Springer Show.

[Nine Crocodile]

No doubt. Many of the talk shows that were around when Springer was just getting started were already either shallow fluff or flirting with sensationalism. It just so happened that Jerry's show decided to drop the pretense and openly embrace vulgarity. But it's not like the audience for what he was selling didn't already exist. Stuff like Weekly World Reports and other tabloids had been published for decades.

True. IIRC, Springer's show started off with a more standard format and changed to how it's remembered because the ratings were poor. But the audience didn't just exist, it was already being fed in the form of Morton Downey Jr's show. It wasn't around long, but people forget how huge it was at the time.

[ed2962]

True. IIRC, Springer's show started off with a more standard format and changed to how it's remembered because the ratings were poor. But the audience didn't just exist, it was already being fed in the form of Morton Downey Jr's show. It wasn't around long, but people forget how huge it was at the time.

Good point about Morton Downey Jr! I'm pretty sure what ended his career was him faking getting attacked by neo-nazis ( ala Jussie Smollet).

[SUPERECWFAN1]

True. IIRC, Springer's show started off with a more standard format and changed to how it's remembered because the ratings were poor. But the audience didn't just exist, it was already being fed in the form of Morton Downey Jr's show. It wasn't around long, but people forget how huge it was at the time.

Richard Dominick is the guy who changed the show. Its been said that Springer was given a season to turn things around or the series would be cancelled. He rebooted the series. Here was the show back in 1991...

[MyriVerse]

Pretty sure reality TV has fueled a lot of social media, as well.