Geraldo Rivera Reflects on Jerry Springer's Legacy and His Talk Show's 'Positive Impact' (Exclusive)
27.04.2023 - 21:01
/ etonline.com
Geraldo Rivera is reflecting on the life and legacy of Jerry Springer.Springer died peacefully in his home outside Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday following a battle with a «brief illness.» He was 79. Best known for his long-running tabloid talk show, , which debuted in 1991 and aired in syndication until 2018, Springer was a colleague and friend to many, including Rivera.ET's Kevin Frazier spoke to the Fox News correspondent following the shocking news Thursday, where he looked back on their time on air and shared the positive impact his long-running show had on viewers and the daytime TV community.«It's quite an extraordinary time. Oprah [Winfrey], was kind of the mother hen, then Phil Donahue.
And then you had the acolytes. Jerry, Montel [Williams], me and some of the others. Jenny Jones, Ruth Westheimer, Sally Jesse, Maury Povich, who's still flying those borders,» said Rivera, who hosted his own show, , from 1987-98.
«You could not put on your television but see one of these daytime shows. There are many people whose entire daily schedule revolved around many of the programs that were on at the time. Sometimes, we soared to great heights, and other times we were kind of applying the gutter of life.»While Rivera left at the height of the daytime talk show craze, he said that Springer took a different approach to things, adding a level of performance to some of those wild TV moments.«I think Jerry took it to a performance level, though.
I think that Jerry knew what he was doing. He brought the combatants into the ring, and he let them tear each other apart. Whatever the issue of the moment was, he was very visceral, very real,» he recalled.