It's the end of an era, an extremely trashy, stupid, and embarrassing era. Jerry Springer is dead. He passed yesterday at his home in Chicago after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 79 years old.
"The Jerry Springer Show" was the first word in trash TV, from its launch in 1991 until its cancelation in 2018. In 2011, "TV Guide" named it the WORST show in the history of television.
Before his TV career, Jerry was on the Cincinnati city council, but he resigned in 1974 after admitting to soliciting a prostitute. He got caught because he paid her with a PERSONAL CHECK.
He was re-elected the following year and was even chosen to serve a one-year term as mayor of the city in 1977.
During one of his comeback speeches, he said, quote, "A lot of you don't know anything about me, but I'll tell you one thing you do know: My credit is good."
Jerry was pretty unrepentant about his talk show but also had a sense of humor about it.
In his 2008 commencement speech at Northwestern, he said, "To the students who invited me, thank you. I am honored. To the students who object to my presence, well, you've got a point. I, too, would've chosen someone else."
"Let's be honest. I've been virtually everything you can't respect: a lawyer, a mayor, a major-market news anchor, and a talk-show host. Pray for me. If I get to heaven, we're all going."
No matter how much insanity went down on his show, Jerry always ended it with a "Final Thought" and the catchphrase, "Take care of yourself and each other."
(Check out some tributes from Jerry's fellow talk show hosts. And here's longtime "Springer Show" security guard Steve Wilkos talking about the last time he spoke to Jerry.)
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