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5 Jerry Springer Accomplishments You May Not Be Aware Of

By Colin Newby

Jerry Springer passed away on Thursday, April 27, 2023, at the age of 79 after a battle with cancer. He hosted The Jerry Springer Show for 27 seasons from 1991-2018. Outrageous humor gave the show an appeal that made it massively successful for decades. The storylines brought up by his guests seemed to have no limits. They talked publicly about relationship issues that left the realm of the ordinary (to say the least). They would kick and scream about the wildest things to the point where security had to break them up.

The task of keeping the show FCC-friendly was a handful with countless bleeped curses in the regularly sudden outbursts and screaming matches.

Jerry Springer spoke about his show during an interview with Huffington Post in 2013. “My show is stupid. It’s stupid, but it’s fun to do. I enjoy it. People obviously like it, otherwise they wouldn’t watch it… It has no redeeming social value. It’s an hour of escapism, but at least our show is reality.” He even jokingly called himself the “father of the destruction of Western civilization” because of his show’s influence on modern “reality” tv.

Springer is famous for the show, but it wasn’t his only accomplishment.  He had a career in politics before he entered the entertainment business.

Here is a list of 5 Jerry Springer accomplishments you may not be aware of.

The world will remember Springer for major accomplishments within decades of a life in the public eye.

  • He had a law degree

    Jerry Springer
    Springer graduated from Northwestern Law School in 1968.

    US News ranked Northwestern as the 13th best law school in the country last year.

    He also earned a political science degree from Tulane University in 1965.

  • He worked on Robert F. Kennedy's Campaign

    A young Jerry Springer worked on Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign to become the Democratic candidate for president of the United States in 1968.

    The campaign, unfortunately, ended when RFK was assassinated. 

  • He was the Mayor of Cincinnati

    <span style=”color: #000000;”>Springer was elected as the 56th mayor of Cincinnati in 1977. He served one term. His aspirations to become governor of Ohio fell short before a career transition.</span>

  • He beat Oprah in the ratings

    Jerry Springer
    The public perception of the two celebrity hosts couldn’t have been more different.

    However, The Jerry Springer Show overtook The Oprah Winfrey Show in the Nielsen ratings in 1998. In February, Springer became the first talk show to beat Oprah in a single week in 10 years.

    Springer continued the monumental climb with a victory in the May sweeps three months later, the first time in over a decade that Oprah had lost an entire month to another talk show.

  • He led the way for trashy reality tv (for better or worse)

     

    The unusual demographic of Jerry Springer’s guests paved the way for other TV shows.

    Ricki Lake began her own talk show in a similar format in 1993. It lasted 12 seasons until 2004.

    Springer’s long-time head of security Steve Wilkos also spun off with his own show in 2007. The Steve Wilkos Show still runs today.

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