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]