Netflix is having fun with TV's troubled men. A month after releasing a docuseries about WWE founder Vince McMahon, the streamer turns his sights on Jerry Springer.
The platform announced that two-part documentary series on Wednesday Jerry Spring: fighting, camera, action will debut January 7, 2025. Directed by Luke Sewell (Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King), the two-part series will focus on the wildly popular (and equally controversial) talk show of the last syndicated talk show from 1991 to 2018.
A Netflix synopsis describes the project this way: “This jaw-dropping two-part premium series will tell the story of The Jerry Springer Show as has never been said before. Packed with extraordinary first-hand accounts and insider revelations, the series explores how this daytime talk show became one of the biggest and most scandalous television hits of the 1990s. But behind the fun facade lie some darker truths. As we hear from producers and former guests of The Jerry Springer Showa darker picture of the destruction he caused begins to emerge, raising renewed questions about who was responsible and how far things should go in the name of entertainment.”
“Dark” is an understatement. The “controversies” section of the Jerry Springer Show Wikipedia page is not short. In addition to the long-standing questions about the series' authenticity, accusations of exploitation, and the debate over the violence that often took place on its stage, there was the infamous “Secret Mistresses Confronted” episode. During the hour, Florida couple Ralf and Eleanor Panitz appeared as guests to accuse Mr. Panitz's ex-wife, Nancy Campbell-Panitz, of stalking them. Within hours of the July 24, 2000 broadcast, Campbell-Panitz was found dead in her Florida home. Mr. Panitz was eventually convicted of killing his wife.
However, Springer held much of the American television audience in thrall with episodes such as “Married to Your Father but I Want You Back,” “I Slept with 251 Men in 10 Hours” and “I Cut Off My Manhood.”
Springer, who was once mayor of Cincinnati, remained unrepentant until his death in 2023 from pancreatic cancer. Fighting, camera, action is Minnow Films, with Sophie Jones, Alicia Kerr and Sophie Leonard as executive producers.