Netflix is having a moment with the problematic men of TV. A month after releasing a docuseries about WWE founder Vince McMahon, the streamer is fixing its gaze on Jerry Springer.The platform announced Wednesday that two-part documentary series Jerry Spring: Fights, Camera, Action will debut Jan. 7, 2025. Directed by Luke Sewell (Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King), the two-parter will focus on the late talk show host’s wildly popular (and equally controversial) talk show which ran in syndication from 1991 to 2018.A synopsis from Netflix described the project like this: “This jaw-dropping, premium two-part series will tell the story of The Jerry Springer Show as it’s never been told before. Packed with extraordinary first-hand testimony and revelations from show insiders, the series explores how this daytime talk show became one of the biggest and most outrageous TV hits of the nineties. But behind the entertaining facade lay some darker truths. As we hear from the producers and ex-guests of The Jerry Springer Show, a murkier picture begins to emerge of the destruction it caused, raising renewed questions about who was responsible, and how far things should go in the name of entertainment.”“Murky” is an understatement. The “controversies” section of the Jerry Springer Show Wikipedia page is not a brief one. In addition to long-standing questions over the authenticity of the series, accusations of exploitation and the debate over the violence that often took place on its stage, there was the infamous “Secret Mistresses Confronted” episode. In the hour, Florida couple Ralf and Eleanor Panitz appeared as guests to accuse Mr. Panitz ex-wife, Nancy Campbell-Panitz, of stalking them. Within hours of its July 24, 2000, broadcast, Campbell-Panitz was found dead in her Florida home. Mr. Panitz was eventually convicted of murdering his wife.Still, Springer held much of the American TV public in his thrall with episodes such as “Married To Your Dad But I Want You Back,” “I Slept With 251 Men In 10 Hours” and “I Cut Off My Manhood.”Springer, who once served as Mayor of Cincinnati, remained unapologetic right up until his 2023 death from pancreatic cancer. Fights, Camera, Action is Minnow Films, with Sophie Jones, Alicia Kerr and Sophie Leonard on board as executive producers.
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