Lewd, Crude and sometimes tattooed (Jerry Springer Show, The)

Member Name: SimonCook

Product:	Jerry Springer Show, The
Date:	27/08/01 (207 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Macarbre Entertainment

Disadvantages: Nudity, Foul Language

Mankind has always been macabre. From the earliest days where public hangings and beheadings were very popular to the present day where people attend car racing only really to see any crashes, man has an interest in his fellows suffering. Perhaps it is the fact that he is not suffering that makes it somehow compelling or maybe we all are just a little vindictive.

In a similar way we all look at car crashes, and yet we exclaim 'Ewwww' if we actually see any blood. This is the type of feeling we get when watching Springer. We don't really want to see anything gross, but we look anyway.

Whatever the reason, this has spawned a lot of reality TV, and Chat shows that cater for our sordid interest in this type of entertainment. The Chat shows vary from the very mild to the very outrageous. Jerry Springer fits into the latter category.

Weall look at car crashes, and yet we exclaim 'Ewwww' if we actually see any blood. This is the type of feeling we get when watching Springer. We don't really want to see anything gross, but we look anyway.


<The Jerry Springer Show>

This is perhaps the showcase of TV chat shows about human suffering. Perhaps one of the most interesting and varied of the chat shows Jerry Springer has bought the idiosyncrasies of man to the forefront of entertainment. Everyday people line up to be on the show (although some say tha many are simply paid actors and actresses hard up for work!)

The show is normally fairly simple. One person comes on and talks about their secret; the injured parties then come on stage and confront the secret holder. Normally some type of fight ensues and the crowd cheer.

Example: Mrs HonestImNotLying tells a story about having an affair with the twin brother of her husband. The husband comes on stage and argues with his wife, getting up, ranting and raving, and trying to hit her. The twin brother comes on stage to boos and the twins be
gin to shout and fight as well. Often there is a twist in the tale; in this case it may be that the twin brothers are also sleeping together. (Did I here you say 'Ewwwww')

As much as a plot like this seems unbelievable, this kind of theme often appears on the show. The people may vary, the story doesn't vary too much.

Jerry, rather than trying to calm down the people on stage often moves back and laughs with the rest of the crowd. His 'body guards' who are supposed to stop any fighting normally arrive on stage late and finally restore calm.

The onstage action is often very verbal and offensive with much head to head confrontation. It is the type of action you can often see at a nightclub between rowdy teenagers. The difference is that most of the people who appear on the show are far older and should know better.

The show essentially finds the dregs of society and airs their dirty laundry for all to see.

The plots can be very diverse, ranging from the outrageously unbelievable to the downright silly.

Some standard plots:

My teenager is a nympho-maniac.
I'm sleeping with my husband's brother.
I'm sleeping with my husband's sister.
I'm obese and I'm still sexy – in which scantily clad obese women parade around on stage.
I'm a teenage stripper who loves sex.
etc


It should be pointed out that many of the episodes feature scantily clad women and even nudity. The shows can be very raunchy.

In most cases there is often audience feedback where you often get a man or a woman throwing abusive comments to those on stage. This interaction between audience and stage makes it even more entertaining.

<My Opinion>

There seem to be two types of people who appear on this show. Firstly there are those who are looking for their fifteen minutes of fame and these stories tend to be unbelievable (
and probably are). I really cannot understand why someone would fake something like this just to get on TV?

There are then others who have real problems and air these problems on TV. In some cases this can lead to happenings of camera, for instance one man was murdered by a guest on a similar show). I really feel sorry for these people, especially for their unknowing partners who often find out about affairs on TV; surely a better approach for these people would be to find some type of counceling?

The appeal of these shows is firstly due to disbelief, but mainly is due to man's enjoyment of suffering.

I personally do not watch this show any more. I did watch it once or twice, but in the same vein as Wrestling I found it to be too unbelievable and really lost interest after the third show. Each show doesn't really have much different from previous show and for me this makes the enjoyment only short term. However, somehow this show is very popular and at the end of the day people have freedom of choice to watch what they want or to appear on whatever show they want to.

For me, I'll tune into Who Wants to be a Millionaire instead!

These types of shows will always be around; they provide amusement for millions. At the end of the day I can use my remote control and flip to a different channel!

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