Jerry Springer, the onetime mayor and news anchor whose namesake TV show featured a three-ring circus of dysfunctional families willing to bare all on weekday afternoons including brawls, obscenities and blurred images of nudity, died Thursday at 79.
At its peak, “The Jerry Springer Show,” was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with lurid drama. Known for chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments, the daytime talk show was a favorite American guilty pleasure over its 27-year run, at one point topping Oprah Winfrey’s show.
Springer called it “escapist entertainment,” while others saw the show as contributing to a dumbing-down decline in American social values.
“Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word,” said Jene Galvin, a family spokesperson and friend of Springer's since 1970, in a statement. “He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart and humor will live on.”
Here's a look at photos of the infamous talk show host through the years.
Ex-mayor/news anchorman/talk show host Jerry Springer (L) w. his exec. producer Burt Dubrow looking at TV monitor as they review a taped portion of The Jerry Springer Show at the NBC studio. (Photo by Steve Kagan/Getty Images)
Ex-mayor/news anchorman/talk show host Jerry Springer yelling into mike & gesturing w. his hand while taping The Jerry Springer Show in front of an audience at the NBC studio. (Photo by Steve Kagan/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - JUNE 06: Potential Senate candidate Jerry Springer, D-Ohio, receives a doll of himself from Dustin Proehl at the Ross County Democratic Party Spring Dinner in Chillicothe, Ohio. (Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO -- Episode 1717 -- Pictured: (l-r) Television host Jerry Springer during an interview with host Jay Leno on November 12, 1999 (Photo by NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Jerry Springer, the host of Miss World, with some of the entrants, during the Miss World contest at The Millennium Dome in Greenwich. (Photo by Michael Crabtree - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
AMERICA'S GOT TALENT -- Episode 16 -- Aired 09/24/2008 -- Pictured: Host Jerry Springer -- Photo by: Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank
CINCINNATI - JUNE 26: Former Cincinnati Mayor and current talk show host Jerry Springer talks to union members before they went door to door to try and raise support for presidential candidate U.S Senator John Kerry (D-MA) June 26, 2004 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Springer was part of a larger movement by the AFL-CIO in which hundreds of Union members in Ohio towns and cities went door to door to talk to union members about the presidential candidates. (Photo by Mike Simons/Getty Images)
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH CONAN O'BRIEN -- Episode 110 -- 11/23/2009 -- Pictured: (l-r) Cody Devereaux, Jerry Springer, Wolfboy on November 23, 2009 -- Photo by: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank
