There Was Once a Time When Jerry Springer Hosted a Serious Talk Show

When I learned of Jerry Springer's death from pancreatic cancer at the age of 79, I could not help but think what might have been. 

While Springer was the son of Holocaust survivors, an attorney, worked on Robert F. Kennedy's ill-fated presidential campaign, was a Cincinnati city councilor and mayor and a TV journalist, he would become most famous and most prosperous for hosting a TV talk show which regularly featured brawls in between salacious sex stories.

Yet people forget that when Jerry Springer launched into syndication in 1991 it was a serious, sober, thoughtful talk show which intelligently discussed the issues of the day. Springer resembled a younger Phil Donahue. The problem was that few people watched. Donahue's day had passed having been supplanted by Oprah Winfrey several years earlier.

By 1994, what sobriety that had existed on Jerry Springer was gone and never to return. Yet this says as much about us as it does Springer because this is what people were interested in watching. My Dad said that people (including himself) were interested in watching because the people who appeared on that show made us feel better about our own lot in life. While there might be a kernel of truth to that I think it also demonstrates how unserious we can be. Although Springer's politics were liberal, a case can be made that one can draw a straight line between Jerry Springer to America electing Donald Trump to be our President. Trump's presidency isn't possible without The Apprentice and The Apprentice isn't possible without Jerry Springer. 

I leave you with a brief excerpt of what Jerry Springer was like when it first aired. Assuming it would have been permitted to remain on the air, one can only wonder what the country be like today had the show remained serious and sober. R.I.P.