It has been a minute since Netflix has dropped a shocking documentary – but they are delivering this January.
A two-parter exposing the on and off screen scandals of America’s most controversial talk show, The Jerry Springer Show, has landed on the streamer.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action will go behind the scenes of the long-running programme to show ‘a murkier picture of the destruction it caused’ after it came to prominence in the 90s.
Reminiscent of The Jeremy Kyle Show and described as the ‘anti-Oprah’, the tabloid-style programme sparked backlash for its outrageous personal drama, which included swearing and nudity.
It was presented by Springer, who died from pancreatic cancer in April 2023 aged 79, since its premiere in 1991 until it was cancelled in 2018.
During its run, The Jerry Springer Show attracted criticism for pitting warring families against each other for entertainment and was proclaimed ‘the worst TV show of all time’ by TV Guide magazine in 2002.
Springer later admitted his TV show had been a ‘circus’ and ‘nuts’ but he also defended its more extreme content.
‘In any population of 50,000 people you are going to have some people who are mean, some people that are crazy, some people that are racist, some people that beat their spouse,’ he said at the Edinburgh TV Festival in 2019.
‘You can have all kinds of people.’
Its most memorable episodes tackled issues including infidelity and incest and featured titles such as I Married a Horse and I’m Happy I Cut Off My Legs.
However, the show had started life as a relatively traditional format, dealing with political issues including homelessness and gun ownership, before being transformed in early 1994 when Springer and his new producer, Richard Dominick, revamped the format in a bid to boost ratings.
In the trailer for the documentary, Springer can be heard saying: ‘I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise for everything I’ve ever done, I have ruined the culture.’
A voiceover adds: ‘The bigger that show got, it raised questions about what really went on backstage.’
During the trailer, former guests say producers were ‘coaching us on what to say and how to act’ and claim they ‘weren’t interested in what kind of impact it was going to have on you.’
Other insiders can be heard saying: ‘Teeth were knocked out. It really was the modern version of the Roman Colosseum.’
On YouTube, viewers, including @aaronsheen271, have declared the Jerry Spring documentary a ‘must watch’ after watching the trailer.
Others shared their memories of tuning in to The Jerry Springer Show with @lovelylipbonesouwwwwwwwolv2198 recalling: ‘I remember watching this after I came home from school.’
@stuartb3609 commented: ‘I will always remember the title of one show “Hillbilly Love Triangles”. I was obviously hooked for that hour of madness.’
@Heathennation1976 added: ‘I don’t care what anybody says most of us.Watched this daily drama. Of a show every day and it was great while it lasted.Even though you knew it was mostly fake it was fun and entertaining.’
After the end of the Jerry Springer Show, he started a new programme with NBCUniversal called Judge Jerry.
He remained a regular on TV, appearing on the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? tracing the Springer family through the Holocaust to the small town of Neustettin, now in Poland.
In October 2022 he was unmasked on The Masked Singer, as a Beetle, in the US reality series which sees celebrities secretly compete as singers in outlandish costumes.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action is available to stream on Netflix.
This article was first published on December 30, 2024.
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