Sep
16
“Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!”
September 16, 2009 | 2 Comments
A log while back I sent off for tickets to the Jerry Springer Show when word had gotten out that he was moving to Stamford CT. I am not ashamed to say I am a fan of the show. In fact, I remember back in the day my newlywed husband and I watching Jerry in bed when it aired at 11 p.m. All those years ago Jerry was a serious TV talk show. He sat and spoke to his guests who did not cuss, fight, or have need of pixilation. 19 years later, those very things are what he is now known for.
Truth be told, I never had any desire to see the show in person but if I had ever found myself in Chicago I may have tried to score tickets. Fact of the matter is that my mom was a big time Jerry fan. She passed away recently and with the show now a mere 39 miles from my Dad’s home, how could I not go.
My dad laughed when I told him we had the tickets and then he laughed even harder when he told me how early I had to get up in the morning to make the 39 mile drive to the studio. Here in the south when a person tells another person that a place is 39 miles away we expect to be driving our car for about 45 minutes. Not so true in NYC. 45 minutes is how long it took to drive the four miles we were on the Cross Bronx Expressway—an event that I am not so eager to repeat. NY drivers are not what I would call safe or considerate, but they all seem to drive with a hive mind that keeps them all from crashing into one another. My dad has been driving the Cross Bronx Expressway for an easy 45 years. He knows every bump and dip on the road. He knows when to be in what lane and at exactly what time to leave the house to avoid what he calls “the worst traffic.” Just like how a sea captain knows the lanes he fishes in, how to read the sky for tell of bad weather my dad can do the very same thing but with NYC traffic. It’s amazing watching him navigate the cars and trucks and busses that appear to have no regard for human life. It is quite possibly true that he is the only person who uses their traffic signal to change lanes.
Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Did you know that there is a not only an age limit for being an audience member (21 years old with proper ID being shown at the door) but also a dress code? Tis’ true. As we waited to be seated a big flat screen TV showed an episode. Dad had claimed earlier that he did not watch the show but he admitted then and there that he had seen the episode that they were showing. (It was entitled “Hillbilly Ninja btw.)
You are seated by color lottery, and Dad and I are RED. Right after the VIPs are seated our color code is called. VIPs are friends and family of the staff of the show and they are the ones who get to sit closest to the stage. Lucky them, unless you consider that they are the ones sitting closest to the stage.
Led into the studio I am instantly struck with how small the space is. On TV the stage looks to be very long and deep, but not so. Maybe its 15 feet long and 5 feet deep. We are seated one after another in the next available seat, you can’t pick to sit on the end, but that did not stop the woman in front of us from parking her butt down in the end chair, refused to move and bitched about everyone who had to climb over her. It would have been where my Dad would have gotten to sit, but he like everyone else climbed over her and said nothing. In life, how important is that, really?
As others are being seated one of Jerry’s pay-per-views are running on the numerous flat screens spread through the room. Its one thing to see the pixels and hear the beeps on the show, but it’s another to see and hear them. It’s a bit shocking really.
Before the show Todd comes out and tells us everything we need to know about the show. He tells us that there are mikes hanging from the ceiling so that they can pick up our cheering so that we should not chat amongst ourselves during the show. He teaches us his hand signal code, the one to stand, the one to clap, the one to chant “Jerry,” and so on. He warns that there is to be NO PHOTOGRAPHY AT ALL and all cameras will be confiscated, including cell phones, all of which will then be mailed back to you.
After Todd, the man himself comes out, Jerry Springer. He does a few minutes of stand up and takes some questions from the audience. He’s a funny guy.
There are 4 stories that we get to see and admittedly, they were not all that sensational by Springer comparison. It was a simple show of I had an affair and drug my Significant Other to tell them. There was no swearing and very little fighting, all the guests managed to keep their clothes on. The Reverend Snore didn’t even make an appearance. All things being equal is was a rather tame show.
When the audience comment time came Todd more or less begged us to participate. He swore that no one would chant “Go to Oprah” or boo us, and he especially begged the ladies to ask questions. We were told not to ask for a hug from Jerry or any of the bouncers. He also mentioned that if anyone was after Jerry beads to be sure to bounce in a circle and flash everyone equally. The best two questions would get aired; everyone who asked would get a shirt or something. The best question would get to read from the teleprompter “We’ll be right back with Jerry’s Final Thought” and stand next to Jerry while doing so. Naturally someone asked for a hug from Jerry and two gals got their Jerry beads. The person picked to read from the teleprompter was a very cute little girl from the VIP section.
Jerry’s final though sounded a bit familiar, but he has been doing the show for 19 years, some 3600 episodes by his own personal best estimate. The show I saw will air sometime between next week and six months from now, I have a number to call every Friday to find out when it will be. In case I never post when it airs, it will be the episode where some guy who is a HUGE Michael Jackson fan cheats on his girlfriend because she had to work third shift and was not there to comfort him during his time of grief—but her best friend was. That old chestnut.
Today I watched an episode of Jerry Springer on TV. It was a brand new episode on the brand new set. I have to say that a bit of the magic was gone for me. I’m sure that I’ll still keep on watching though, it’s sort of like comfort food for the soul for me, not because its compelling must see TV but because I can hear my momma laugh when I watch it.
Comments
2 Comments so far
i first read your blogs at buzzymultimedia.com and thought i would head over to read some more. i’m not a js fan but read anyway because i find your blogs insightful. this one really touched me. thanks.
A truly American experiance. What I find so frightening is that people in certain countries see this as a “talk” show and believe it to be portraying life in America. They think that Americans all marry their cousins etc, That aside, it was the first of its kind. Displaying such bizarre relationships and ways of life made people feel better about their own disfunctional families. After all they weren’t Springer materiel.