The Best of the Worst of Trash TV: Part Four

• The final article for trash tv.

There are three articles before this one, so if you want to read those you can follow the links to, The Best of the Worst of Trash TV: Part One, The Best of the Worst of Trash TV: Part Two, and The Best of the Worst of Trash TV: Part Three.

Maury Povich 

Maury brought out people’s fear for a few shows and then did paternity tests. If you’re the father, the audience applauds. If you’re not the father, they explode.

Some of the subjects were exploited but for the audience that wanted this, it was there. The show was so crazy it was easy to critique.

But the late 90s and with the success of Jerry Springer, there was a lot of backlash. 

Shows were full of shock and social dysfunction, sexual dysfunction and perversion and immorality.  Some said it was “destroying America” while others said it was just a show. It was truly the best of the worst.

Fans of the show argued that there’s tons of violence and sex on tv so what makes it different for Jerry Springer. The show was looked at as poison even though they were big.  

The Beginning of the End- Or Was It?

Other talk shows started ending and it was becoming the end of talk shows. Even with ratings for Jerry Springer, tv guide called it the worst show ever. (Wonder what tv guide thought of Tiger King?)

People wanted to see the pulling hair and the punching. Other shows said they didn’t want to be The Jerry Springer show. It went on for a long time and began to lose its appeal.

Talk shows showed us you could watch other peoples experiences on screen without paying actors for entertainment. This got people thinking about other ways to do it.

Reality TV

Execs thought, lets put 10 people in a house, people who hate each other on a road trip or people who want to win on an island with nothing to see who comes out on top. Again, the best of the worst.

So the reality of daytime shows became a blended kind of scripted/unscripted show and what we now call reality tv.

There were still people in the nude and people fighting. Most of the earlier reality shows could have been Jerry Springer shows, sans the host. 

Jerry Springer says that reality tv isn’t reality, talk shows are. The people that come on the show are real. and they are bringing what’s really happening in their lives onto the stage. It wasn’t created for television; it existed before they ever got to the studio. What we call reality television is not real because you’re taking people and putting them in a fake situation, you’re putting them on an island, you’re putting them in a house.”

More reality tv came like America’s Next Top Model and Celebrity Apprentice.

Jerry Springer was seen as not only ruining talk shows but creating reality tv and thus ruining television and the country. What do you think about that?

Trash TV Had a Good Side

Good things came out of the talk shows. Disenfranchised people were now on television, truly the best of the worst tv.

Shows showcased different races, lifestyles, different sexual identities, and transgender and gay people. 

The Jerry Springer Show gave these people a voice. It wasn’t a dignified voice but it was a voice

Talks shows really moved culture. They brought on people considered deviant but always talking about them and showing them, made iit less deviant. The idea that familiarity can breed compassion helped move the needle in regards to tolerance. 

Television started out as a personality medium and remains a personality medium with shows like:

• Dr. Phil
• Wendy Williams
• The View
• The Chew
• Ellen

The Jerry Springer show is still on the air, (or at least it was until yesterday, RIP Jerry Springer!) Maury Povich is still on, too. 

Talk shows opened up a space for ordinary people to participate on television. And then social media came along.

Just the Beginning

People sharing their stories and having a voice has become a part of our everyday. Snapchat does it now, as does Facebook and YouTube. People are using phones, tablets and internet of all kinds. Everyone wants to have their story told and make connections. We are all social beings that like to talk about what’s going in our lives and that will never change.

What do you think? What’s you favorite best of the worst when it comes to tv?