October 14, 2007: "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" Premieres

Left to right: Kris, Kylie, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall

October 14, 2007: The "reality TV" series Keeping Up With the Kardashians premieres on the network E! It starts a media franchise that fascinates millions, and bothers many more.

Robert Kardashian was a lawyer who was well-known in his hometown of Los Angeles, but not outside the area, until he became part of O.J. Simpson's legal defense "dream team" in 1994. They had been neighbors and close friends for many years, and O.J. was accused of murder, Robert, who had stepped away from the legal profession to run a music-production company, took on what turned out to be one last legal case. He helped his friend gain an acquittal, but came to accept that he was actually guilty.

Robert married 3 times. His 1st wife was Kris Houghton, and, together, they had 4 children: 3 daughters, Kourtney in 1979, Kim in 1980, and Khloé in 1984; and a son, Rob in 1987. They split because Kris cheated, but they stayed close until Robert died from cancer in 2003.

The daughters were "nepo babies," something they couldn't possibly avoid. But they were no "heirheads," as Kim's friends Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were sometimes called: All 3 of them worked for their father's company, and knew how to run a business and create jobs better than most Republican politicians do.

But in 2007, the release of a sex tape with Kim and her then-boyfriend, rapper Ray J (brother of singer Brandy), introduced the next generation to the public in a way they hadn't wanted. So Kris, their "momager" -- mom and manager -- negotiated with E!, and got the reality show made.

By this point, Kris had remarried, to Bruce Jenner, winner of the decathlon in the 1976 Olympics. It was Jenner's 3rd marriage, and he already had 4 children. Together, Kris and Bruce became the parents of daughters Kendall in 1995 and Kylie in 1997. Unlike the earlier daughters, who kept the Kardashian name, the younger sisters' surname was Jenner. Still, like their mother, all of the girls (but none of the boys) had first names starting with K. (Shades of baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, whose 4 sons all had names starting with K, for "strikeout"; and boxing champion George Foreman, who named 5 sons George.)

At the time the show began, Kourtney was 28, Kim was about to turn 27, Khloé was 23, Rob was 20, Kendall was 12 and Kylie was 10. So, basically, the 2 younger sisters grew up in the public eye.

The show detailed the family's business moves, their search for ever more fame, and their turbulent love-lives, which always seem to end in disaster, including Kim's marriages to basketball player Kris Humphries and rapper/conspiracy theorist Kanye West. By October 2022, Kendall was the only 2nd-generation Kardashian/Jenner who hadn't become a parent, although Kylie -- believed to be, through her makeup line, the 1st American to have become a billionaire before turning 21 -- also hasn't gotten married. She could afford children, including nannies.

These breakups included Kris and Bruce, who split in 2013. People began to joke that Bruce started wearing makeup that made him look like a woman, but Bruce accepted that he was a she, underwent a surgical transition, and took the name Caitlyn, or Cait for short. She became America's most famous transgender person, making it all the more shocking that she supported Donald Trump. I suppose, once a Republican, always a Republican. (The rest of the family -- the far-right Kanye excepted -- have kept their political leanings quiet, so as not to offend either half of their fanbase.)

The show took off to the point where ABC News' Barbara Walters decided she had to interview Kris and the older sisters for one of her annual The 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year TV specials. She asked, "Which one is the most book-smart?" Kim and Khloé both said, "Kourtney." Barbara asked, "Which one is the most street-smart?" Kourtney and Kim both said, "Khloé." Kim's brainpower was not mentioned.

Spinoffs of the show have included:

* Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami, in 2009-10, in which those sisters open an outlet of their D-A-S-H clothing store in Miami, while Khloé, having gotten into shape, saying, "I'm tired of being the fat funny one," became a radio talk-show host there.

* Kourtney and Kim Take New York, in 2011, with a D-A-S-H store opening in SoHo in Lower Manhattan. Despite Kim being the most famous person of Armenian descent in the world, surpassing singer Cher, Kourtney got top billing because she was older.

* Khloe & Lamar, in 2011, about Khloé's struggles with infertility, and with the infidelity and substance abuse issues of her then-husband, basketball player Lamar Odom. She eventually divorced him, and married another basketball player, Tristan Thompson. By the time their daughter True Thompson was born in 2018, they were on the outs over his infidelity, but got back together. By the time their son Tatum was born through surrogacy in 2022, they had split for good.

* Kris, in 2013, a talk show hosted by the momager. It lasted 30 episodes.

* Kocktails with Khloé, in 2016. This talk show lasted only 14 episodes, although that was all that was intended for the 1st season, and a similar total probably would have been set for the 2nd season. It just didn't get a 2nd season.

* Rob & Chyna, in 2016. It was about son Rob and his then-wife, rapper Angela Renée White, a.k.a. Blac Chyna.

* Life of Kylie, in 2017. She was only 19 when the show premiered.

* Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian, in 2017-19, a fitness series, interrupted, with some irony, because of her pregnancy.

In 2022, with the family's contract with E! having run out, Kris switched them to Hulu, and started a new series with them, titled simply The Kardashians.

One more aside: Once, while I was online, the subject of Khloé Kardashian came up. But when I tried to type "Khloe" (not knowing how to do the accent mark), my spellchecker tried to make it "Kylie." I don't know what any of the sisters would make of that.

*

October 14, 2007 was a Sunday. Game 3 of the National League Championship Series was played at Coors Field in Denver, between the 2 newest franchises in the NL. The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1. Matt Holliday and Yorvit Torrealba hit home runs. The next day, the Rockies completed the sweep, for their 1st Pennant. It was their 21st win in their last 22 games.

The American League Championship Series was between Games 2 and 3. The Boston Red Sox went on to beat the Cleveland Indians, and then beat the Rockies in the World Series.

The NBA season started 16 days later. There were 2 games in the NH, both of them in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Detroit Red Wings beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. And the Minnesota Wild beat the Anaheim Ducks, 2-0 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

And these games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Jets lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 16-9 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the St. Louis Rams, 22-3 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Houston Texans, 37-17 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium).

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Tennessee Titans, 13-10 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Miami Dolphins, 41-31 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Stadium).

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 34-31 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins, 17-14 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-20 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The New England Patriots beat the Dallas Cowboys, 48-27 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 25-10 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Oakland Raiders, 28-14 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium).

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-17 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* On ESPN Monday Night Football, the New York Giants beat the Atlanta Falcons, 31-10 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* And the Buffalo Bills, the Denver Broncos, the Detroit Lions, the Indianapolis Colts, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Francisco 49ers had a bye week.

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."

*

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.