Have I not been in on the joke the past 10 years?

[panerd]

I was talking to a couple of friends last night and somehow the Jerry Springer show came up (I think there was a Springler type show on at the bar or something like that). Well my one friend starts out with how it is fake anyways and I kind of laugh and say something like "Yeah right, it would be cool if the show was fake. The studio audience would have been duped really, really bad." And my other buddy looks at me like I am an idiot and says of course the whole show was staged. This was like my adult Santa Claus moment. I have always thought it was just trailer trashy people who will do anything for a buck. And while they may put on a bit of an act and stretch the truth a little their stories are absolutely true. This really has had me thinking. How naive have I looked the best couple years?

So are my friends right and I haven't been in on the joke for years. (Like the Phil Hendrie radio show, but on a much larger scale) or are they completely off base and, even though any scenerio is certainly possible, as far as everyone knows Springer is above board?

I feel sort of dumb right now, but I also have about a 75% feeling that I am right on this one and Springer is real people who just have no dignity.

[KJDelaney]

Are you aware that pro wrestling is fake also?

[panerd]

Are you aware that pro wrestling is fake also?

I really feel like an idiot. I have always known that pro wrestling is fake. Have had my doubts about pro boxing and the UFC. But I always had faith that Springer, Judge Judy, Cops, etc. were just sad pictures of how some of this country actually lives.

[Draft Dodger]

my cousin was on one of those shows (maybe Springer, I don't remember) with his ex-girlfriend. except that he wasn't - a buddy of his went on pretending to be him since he didn't want to do it. although they were essentially representing a real relationship, the whole thing was more fake than real.

I don't know that Springer is 100% in terms of scripted audience reactions and stuff, but I'm sure there are a ton of embellishments from all parties done intentionally if not tacitly - to make it more interesting.

[lighthousekeeper]

i think part of the confusion is that The Springer Show was real at one point in time, but sometime between 1991 and 1997 it became fake. People pointed out that it started as a political-type talk show. Of course it was real then. But even after it morphed into an entertainment-type talk show it was still real at first. But somewhere along the line it just morphed into a show with all fake guests.

[Toddzilla]

Oddly enough, two former professional wreslters, one of them the son of Jerry "The King" Lawler, were writers for The Jerry Springer Show.

[AZSpeechCoach]

You mean that the brother and sister who were having sex with one another until he went gay were just actors? I spent this afternoon watching for nothing?

[Buccaneer]

You do realize that nearly every single element on TV, except for sports (for the most part), is scripted, including so-called reality shows? There is way, way too much money invested (and to be obtained) to not have control of what ends up being broadcasted, first to the advertisers and then to the public. Even a show like Jeopardy has re-takes, re-dos and editing to ensure a clean, fast-paced episode. Also, take a look at all of the shows on FoodTV and esp. HGTV, plus Three Wishes where "spontaneous" moments are scripted to ensure the proper pacing and reactions in the limited amount of time they are presented.

[Lorena]

Jerry Springer is fake? NO WAY!! So now you're gonna tell me that Phil Hendrie does all the voices on his show, right?

[Dutch]

oh my god.....

...

.....and Dr. Phil????

[KJDelaney]

I really feel like an idiot. I have always known that pro wrestling is fake. Have had my doubts about pro boxing and the UFC. But I always had faith that Springer, Judge Judy, Cops, etc. were just sad pictures of how some of this country actually lives.

Just joking with you.

HOWEVER.......

Pro Boxing.....now that's fixed.

My father, before he passed, used to say to me, a former die hard boxing fan.

"You know the difference between wrestling and boxing, at least wrestling admits it is fake"

[panerd]

Jerry Springer is fake? NO WAY!! So now you're gonna tell me that Phil Hendrie does all the voices on his show, right?

That's what I been saying all along. I have always been in on the Hendrie gags. I knew Hulk Hogan was going to win. I know any time I get put on a committee at work that the decision has already been made by somebody higher. I just always thought Springer was real. I never really watched it, I thought the people were pitiful, I knew they overdid their fights,I thought the studio audience was way too overeactive, but I at least thought the idea was true. Like Bob sleeping with Mary's sister actually did happen.

[panerd]

You do realize that nearly every single element on TV, except for sports (for the most part), is scripted, including so-called reality shows? There is way, way too much money invested (and to be obtained) to not have control of what ends up being broadcasted, first to the advertisers and then to the public. Even a show like Jeopardy has re-takes, re-dos and editing to ensure a clean, fast-paced episode. Also, take a look at all of the shows on FoodTV and esp. HGTV, plus Three Wishes where "spontaneous" moments are scripted to ensure the proper pacing and reactions in the limited amount of time they are presented.

My beef the whole time hasn't been the many hours of video being cut down to 40 minutes of footage, or the multiple fights being broken up by the one or two security guys, or the outragous behavior. The only thing that I didn't know (previous to last night) was that Bill and Mary aren't brother and sister sleeping together, but two actors who don't know each other at all before the program. I thought that at least the simple premise of each show was founded in truth.

[Glengoyne]

I've been duped as well. Of course I haven't actually seen even a snippet of an episode in several years. You'd have to pay me to watch, and I seriously think I'd hold our for more money than most of you.

[PackerFanatic]

Fucking reality TV...it should all die.

[Antmeister]

Fucking reality TV...it should all die.

No....I will keep my Amazing Race....thank you. ;)

[Karlifornia]

What's the story behind the Phil Hendrie show? We don't have it here in San Jose, but I've downloaded a few clips (his version of the Jim rome show, and a pizza delivery prank, which were both hilarious) and heard it when I was driving across the country.

What is the story behind his stuff?

[panerd]

What's the story behind the Phil Hendrie show? We don't have it here in San Jose, but I've downloaded a few clips (his version of the Jim rome show, and a pizza delivery prank, which were both hilarious) and heard it when I was driving across the country.

What is the story behind his stuff?

I am not sure if this will spoil the show for you or make it 1000 times more entertaining (which it does for me) but Phil Hendrie is a master of voices. The political rants and other stuff he does are all above board, but any of the controversial guests who call into the show are just Phil Hendrie doing their voices into another microphone.

There is no idiot kid RC Collins, or arrogant restaurant owner Ted Bell, or sleazy Chris Norton. These are all voices done by Phil Hendrie which trick listeners into calling in to agrue with their outragous viewpoints. He really is quite gifted and even when you know it is him it is still hard to believe there isn't somebody else there doing the other voice.

My favorite character is Steve Bosell who always has some sort of ridiculous lawsuit pending. One time he sued his mother in law for not letting him open the cranberry sauce during Thanksgiving. He said it deprived him of an important moment with his kids. Of course all kinds of people not in on the joke call in to go off on frivilous lawsuits and Hendrie always manages to take it even a step futhur. In this case it turns out the mother in law's son was opening the cranberry sauce because he was about to go to prison for murder and this was his last free meal, but Steve was going ahead with the lawsuit anyways. You have to listen though as my descriptions don't even do it justice and how worked up the callers get is hilarious. Steve Bosell and his attorney Dolores Blasingame end up in the mainstream media quite a bit when people don't understand it is all a joke. (Kind of like people who don't get the Onion) Next time you listen to his show you will see it from a whole different viewpoint.

[Karlifornia]

I am not sure if this will spoil the show for you or make it 1000 times more entertaining (which it does for me) but Phil Hendrie is a master of voices. The political rants and other stuff he does are all above board, but any of the controversial guests who call into the show are just Phil Hendrie doing their voices into another microphone.

There is no idiot kid RC Collins, or arrogant restaurant owner Ted Bell, or sleazy Chris Norton. These are all voices done by Phil Hendrie which trick listeners into calling in to agrue with their outragous viewpoints. He really is quite gifted and even when you know it is him it is still hard to believe there isn't somebody else there doing the other voice.

My favorite character is Steve Bosell who always has some sort of ridiculous lawsuit pending. One time he sued his mother in law for not letting him open the cranberry sauce during Thanksgiving. He said it deprived him of an important moment with his kids. Of course all kinds of people not in on the joke call in to go off on frivilous lawsuits and Hendrie always manages to take it even a step futhur. In this case it turns out the mother in law's son was opening the cranberry sauce because he was about to go to prison for murder and this was his last free meal, but Steve was going ahead with the lawsuit anyways. You have to listen though as my descriptions don't even do it justice and how worked up the callers get is hilarious. Steve Bosell and his attorney Dolores Blasingame end up in the mainstream media quite a bit when people don't understand it is all a joke. (Kind of like people who don't get the Onion) Next time you listen to his show you will see it from a whole different viewpoint.

Oh, I got that part. I was just unsure whether or not the incredulous listeners were real or not.

[Hurst2112]

I had a foreman at my old job come up and talk to me about The Blaire Witch Project. While I never saw it, I listened to how he was scared shitless. I then told him it was fake. He looked crushed.

[jbmagic]

Phil Hendrie

does he do all the callers voice that call in to the show? or just Guest?

[EagleFan]

No....I will keep my Amazing Race....thank you. ;)

Amen to that, starts up on Tuesday!!!!

[stevew]

My beef the whole time hasn't been the many hours of video being cut down to 40 minutes of footage, or the multiple fights being broken up by the one or two security guys, or the outragous behavior. The only thing that I didn't know (previous to last night) was that Bill and Mary aren't brother and sister sleeping together, but two actors who don't know each other at all before the program. I thought that at least the simple premise of each show was founded in truth.

I thought that it was at least somewhat real as well. I just thought it was embellished very badly.

[Buccaneer]

Phil Hendrie. I'm surprised no one mentioned him yet.

[Bonegavel]

did this thread just become a parody of itself?

[Ironhead]

Is this where we need to remind you that every person you see in a commercial on television is nothing but an actor - even that nice looking doctor fellow trying to tell you about the dangers of smoking?

[molson]

Oddly enough, two former professional wreslters, one of them the son of Jerry "The King" Lawler, were writers for The Jerry Springer Show.

The show also often employs lesser known professional wrestlers to play characters on the show.

Though, I'm pretty sure Springer is unique among talk shows for its blatant fakeness. I interned for a couple of daytime talk shows in the late 90s, and they were more or less on the level (though the producers would attempt to "prep" guests as much as they could to create a good show, but no one was asked to lie, and there were certainly no actors)

[Daimyo]

According to the wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer) it is not intentionally faked although they admit they have no control over the guests themselves lying. There have been people killed after appearing and lawsuits against the show... I assume if it was fake that would have come out in the suits.

[Ksyrup]

i think part of the confusion is that The Springer Show was real at one point in time, but sometime between 1991 and 1997 it became fake. People pointed out that it started as a political-type talk show. Of course it was real then. But even after it morphed into an entertainment-type talk show it was still real at first. But somewhere along the line it just morphed into a show with all fake guests.

That's my take on it. I haven't really watched the show but 2 or 3 times since college/law school, when it had some semblance of being real. What should tip people off, though, is that now, EVERY single story begins with or becomes a fight. At a minimum, they're telling people to fight or recruiting people who've made up a story just to get on the show and pretend to fight (kinda like most of the awful AI auditions are fakes). But you can't even give them that much credit. It looks fake, so they're probably actors.

That show was really good back 10-15 years ago, when the fights didn't look staged and didn't happen every single time. And I was younger. That's probably the biggest reason it sucks now.

[Butter]

My brother-in-law called them up and has pretty much lied his way onto the show... but now won't go on it because he's afraid of being kicked out of the staunch Baptist college he currently attends.