Was ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ Really The Worst Show Ever?

Former lawyer for Robert Kennedy, disgraced ex-mayor of Cincinnati, and the eponymous host of the infamous Jerry Springer Show, Gerald Norman Springer passed away today after a battle with pancreatic cancer. I come not to praise Caesar, but to bury him.

For Australians unfamiliar with the televised chaos of incest, adultery, surprise LGBTQI+ conversions, and wanton violence; the Jerry Springer Show dominated TV ratings in the 90s even as critics scathingly condemned it as the worst TV show to ever exist. Far from being dissuaded, Springer accepted the criticism by gleefully introducing the program as “the worst television show of all time” in his prelude to each hour of problematic action.

Dubbed “the millennial babysitter” in a tribute by Los Angeles Times, the show was a rich reward for sick Australian school kids stuck at home channel surfing day-time television. For teenagers, it was symbolic of the highest illicit heights that television could offer, akin to staying up all night watching SBS on a sleepover in the hopes of witnessing full-frontal nudity. But while SBS might have incidentally fostered a love of French cinema amongst millennials, the cumulative effects of The Jerry Springer Show are questionable.

Take the 2009 episode “I Had A Threesome With My Sister”, where a young mother is distraught to learn her friend has slept with her husband in reprisal for an earlier cheating incident. After the pair clash, barely restrained by the show’s signature roster of ex-police officers posing as security guards, the friend reveals the incident was actually a ménage à trois which included her sister. Boos from the audience suddenly switch to pleas for the group to “get on the pole”, as the horniest Greek Chorus ever leads the women to victoriously twerk on an adjacent stripper pole.

But to the show’s credit, it was brave enough to willingly facilitate violence against white supremacists long before liberalism could question the “ethics” of punching Nazis in the face. Maybe this stance was purely opportunistic, or maybe it was born from the harrowing experience Springer’s parents had escaping the Holocaust. Either way, muscle-clad security guard Steve Wilkos appears to do even less than usual as KKK members get the snot kicked out of them.

Is any of the violence actually real? Should we really be interpreting it as a biting satire? You could ask the same questions of The Eric Andre Show, a sketch comedy show that sees interviews with celebrities like Lauren Conrad spiral into absurd violence in a manner entirely relatable to Jerry Springer. (Perhaps as a tribute to Springer, host Eric Andre also introduces his absurd CGI sketch ‘Bird Up!’ as “the worst show on television“.)

Speaking to Reuters in 2000, Springer revealed his true feelings about his life-defining work:

“I would never watch my show,” he said. “I’m not interested in it. It’s not aimed towards me. This is just a silly show.”