Jerry Springer, one of the most influential figures in television history, has died at 79 years old.
The TV star hosted the syndicated talk show “The Jerry Springer Show” for 27 years.
His show was so popular that in the late ’90s, he beat even Oprah Winfrey in a few cities.
“Springer” finally went off the air in 2018.
“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,” Jene Galvin, spokesman for the family said.
“He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart, and humor will live on.”
He ran for Congress in 1970, unsuccessfully, before being elected to Cincinnati’s City Council in 1971.
He was elected mayor of Cincinnati in 1977.
Jerry Springer dead: Legendary TV host was 79 https://t.co/5ofjIU82rI pic.twitter.com/Cj9tEt1jn8
— New York Post (@nypost) April 27, 2023
JUST IN: Jerry Springer has passed away at the age of 79. May He Rest in Peace. 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/qPbKFHwIn6
— Complex (@Complex) April 27, 2023
RIP To The Legendary Jerry Springer https://t.co/HVLOQs4DYD pic.twitter.com/oWSNOdaqS4
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 27, 2023
According to Yahoo:
“The Jerry Springer Show” began its multi-decade run in 1991 and, in 1998 at the height of its popularity, beat “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in the ratings, drawing 12 million viewers.
Like Geraldo Rivera, Springer signed on for a show that he thought seemed like the logical next step in his journalism career — a show not unlike “Donahue” that would take a serious look at a variety of important issues.
But as with “Geraldo,” the pressure to score big in the ratings pretty quickly meant appealing to the lowest common denominator — Springer and his new producer, Richard Dominick, who’d worked at the Weekly World News, made significant changes to the show in order to garner higher ratings in early 1994 — and “here he was,” wrote Todd VanDerWerff in a June 2014 piece on Springer on the A.V. Club site, “no longer exposing America’s dark underbelly but rolling around in it.”
There were precursors for “The Jerry Springer Show,” including “Donahue” and “The Morton Downey Jr. Show.”
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