After this, I'm never talking about this ******* show ever again.
Announcer: Jerry Springer!
[audience cheering]
[intense music playing]
Man 1: I don't think anybody knew how crazy this show was gonna be. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for everything I've ever done. I have ruined the culture.
[intense music continues]
Man 2: At the beginning of 1992, Jerry Springer was coming to Chicago to launch a talk show.
Man 1: We were this little band of crazy people just trying to survive the week. All I had to do was convince him, “Let's make it wild.” A variety show and a weekly magazine compare the fights to pro wrestling.
Man 1: Teeth were knocked out.
Woman: It really was the modern version of the Roman Colosseum.
Reporter: Springer’s the first talk show host ever to knock Oprah Winfrey off her throne as the queen of daytime talk. He became a cultural icon. I want the show to demonstrate outrageousness, yes.
Man 3: The bigger that show got, it raised questions about what really went on backstage.
[audience chanting] Jerry! The producers were coaching us on what to say and how to act. They weren't interested in what kind of impact it was gonna have on you.
[audience chanting] Jerry!
Man 4: I don't think my mother had any idea what she was walking into.
Man 1: Some stories went too far.
[audience chanting] Jerry! A man who married his horse and wants to come on the show. This kind of trash television will not be tolerated.
Man 4: I just wish I could go back and say to her, “Don't do it.”
[audience chanting] Jerry!
Man 2: This was the most vile and grotesque freak show that's ever been on television.
[audience] Jerry!
Man 1: We just started pushing the needle towards red.
Let's see how far we can push it.
[siren blaring]
[audience chanting] Jerry! Jerry!
Councilman: I would hope that you would feel some sense of responsibility.
Springer: It's a television show. It's a television show. We will all survive it.
[audience chanting] Jerry!
[TV static buzzing]