September 30, 1991: "The Jerry Springer Show" Premieres

September 30, 1991: The Jerry Springer Show premieres. There had been controversial talk shows on TV before, but this was the beginning of "trash TV.

Gerald Norman Springer was born on February 13, 1944 in Highgate, and lived in East Finchley, both in North London, before moving as a child with his family to Kew Gardens, Queens, New York City. He was raised Jewish, and it would be decades before he found out that both grandmothers had died in Nazi concentration camps.

He got a degree in political science from Tulane University in New Orleans, and a law degree from Northwestern University outside Chicago. In 1968, he worked on Robert F. Kennedy's Presidential campaign. In 1970, while working at a Cincinnati law firm, he ran for Congress, and lost. The next year, he was elected to the City Council.

In 1974, he made the mistake of going across the river to Kentucky (where he figured he wouldn't be as well-known), and became the customer of a prostitute. He compounded the mistake by writing a check. The mistake was further compounded when the check bounced, and it became publicly known. He came clean and resigned. In a city as conservative as Cincinnati, that would have appeared to mean the end of his political career.

But the next year, with the scandal having blown over, he won his seat back, and in 1977 was chosen by the Council to serve as Mayor for a year. He ran for Governor of Ohio in 1982, but failed to win the Democratic nomination, and never ran for office again.

And if that were the whole story, it would be pretty interesting. But WLWT-Channel 5 hired him as a news commentator. This led, in 1991, to the creation of The Jerry Springer Show, which began as a ripoff of Phil Donahue's talk show, and then, as Emeril Lagasse might say, kicked it up a notch. Or twelve. Although usually using NBC studios, the show aired in syndication throughout its run.

The topics were usually of an unsophisticated nature, such as infidelity and other relationship squabbles. From there, they might move into the bizarre: Sleeping with the wrong twin, liking sex in weird places, "My boyfriend is a Nazi," "My girlfriend is a witch," etc. Once all the guests had told their stories, there was usually a "question and answer" segment where audience members asked guests questions. In earlier seasons, the questions tended to be serious. However, these questions gave way to insults as the show progressed.

Sometimes, there would be fights between guests; sometimes, a guest would challenge an insulting studio viewer to say it to their face, and the viewer would oblige, and a fight would result. Like the referee at a hockey game, Jerry would let them fight for a moment, then send in the security officers. All the while, the studio audience would chant not the name of their favored combatant, but the host's name: "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"

He would end the show with a "Final Thought," giving a formal lecture, sitting by himself on the stage, on the principles of refined values in regards to the featured guests. The segment ended with the concluding statement, "'Til next time, take care of yourselves and each other," which was his sign-off line during his days as a newscaster in Cincinnati.

Critics hated the lowbrow nature of the show, citing Jerry's tilting toward the lowest common denominator of human society. Which is what the show's fans loved about it. In a 2000 interview, Jerry himself admitted, "I would never watch my show. I'm not interested in it. It's not aimed towards me. This is just a silly show."

Taping was moved from Cincinnati to the NBC Tower at 454 North Columbus Drive on the Near North Side of Chicago in 1992; and to the Stamford Media Center, at 61 Atlantic Street, in the New York City suburb of Stamford, Connecticut, in 2009, after the State of Connecticut offered the producers a big tax break. The final episode aired on July 26, 2018, by Jerry's own choice: His contract was running out, he was 74 years old, he and ready to retire.

What about Jerry's own family? It was actually too inspirational for his own show. In 1973, he married Micki Velton. In 1976, their daughter Katie was born, without nasal passages. This required immediate surgery. She is blind, and deaf in one ear. Yet she said her parents raised her as normally as possible. In 2006, she was teaching at a school for disabilities, and her father donated $230,000 to build a high-tech facility there, now known as Katie's Corner.

Jerry and Micki separated in 1994, but never divorced. Katie married a man named Adam Yenkin, and they have a son. She remained close to her father, including talking him into accepting an invitation to appear on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars when he didn't want to do it. She says, "Anyone who judges him based strictly on his show, they shouldn't. It's not who he is."

UPDATE: Jerry died on April 27, 2023, at 79, from pancreatic cancer. British newspaper The Guardian said he "changed U.S. television for better and worse." Steve Wilkos, the former Chicago cop who was his show's security director from 1994 to 2007, and thus became famous as well, said, "Other than my father, Jerry was the most influential man in my life. Everything I have today, I owe to Jerry. He was the smartest, most generous, kindest person I've ever known. My wife and I are devastated. We will miss him terribly."

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September 30, 1991 was a Monday. On ABC Monday Night Football, the Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 23-0 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington.

The NBA and the NHL were out of season. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Scott Sanderson allowed 4 hits over 5 innings, John Habyan 1 over 2, and Greg Cadaret none over 2 to finish a 5-hit shutout. Don Mattingly went 1-for-4.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Steve Bell and Steve Buchele hit home runs, for the Pirates. Barry Bonds went 2-for-3 with a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The California Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. John Smoltz allowed 2 hits over 8 innings, and Mike Bielecki finished a 3-hit shutout.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-3 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-8 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Jack Clark and Phil Plantier hit home runs for the Red Sox. For the Brewers, Robin Yount did not play, Paul Molitor went 1-for-4, former Yankee 2nd baseman Willie Randolph went 4-for-5, and Greg Vaughn went 2-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 11-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-4 with a walk. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3.

* A doubleheader was split at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Seattle Mariners won the opener, 3-2. Jay Buhner won it with a home run in the top of the 11th. The Texas Rangers won the nightcap, 2-0. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI in the 1st game, and grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the 2nd game.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 7-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Tony Gwynn did not play for the Padres.

* And the Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 2-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. For the Giants, Chris Gardner allowed 6 hits over 7 innings, and Rob Mallicoat and Xavier Hernandez finished the 6-hit shutout.