Some of you may remember that my sister somehow ended up with 4 tickets to the Jerry Springer show, and coerced me and MY PARENTS to go with her.
Well, it was quite an experience, I must say. I have never watched an entire show, just bits and pieces here and there while changing the channel. I thought I had a good idea of what it was all about, but I was WRONG.
The taping was set for noon, and we were told to get there no later than 10:15 because they start seating you at 11:00, and shows are overbooked so that there are no empty seats in the audience (looks bad on camera!).
We got to the NBC towers, and waited in line for quite awhile before they started letting us in. We had to walk through a metal detector, take off our shoes, have our purses emptied and searched and we were on our way. To the next line. Where we stood for about 45 minutes before they took us up the elevators to the next line. Where we stood for 15 mintutes before they put us in a holding room. The people that worked there were unreal. I swear I thought I was on candid camera. They told us we must stay in line, even in the elevator. They crammed the elevator full, but told us to not get out of line. How is this even possible? When we walked to the holding room, they threatened us again to not get out of order. One poor older man HAD to go to the bathroom so he got out of line and went. When he returned they told him he was PUNISHED and had to wait in another area, away from the rest of his party! Unbelievable.
It was finally time to walk into the studio which is MUCH smaller than it looks on TV. There are probably less than 175 people in the audience. The stage is also small. At this point, the stage manager came out and told us that Jerry was not there because he was off filming Dancing with the Stars. He then told us that Steve, Jerry's bodyguard, would be filling in as host.
The stage manager also informed us, in really rough language, that we should be expecting nudity and if that offended us, we should leave right then. He then encouraged everyone to take their turn later "flashing" the camera and audience because it makes good TV. He said if the women lifted up their shirts and completely exposed themselves, then turned completely around at least once they would get "Jerry beads", which are basically cheap plastic Mardi Gras beads. You should have seen my parents' faces!! They also informed us that there was a stripper pole on stage, and that we would have the opportunity to use it later if we wanted to.
The first topic of our show was 2 brothers who were supposedly fighting over the same woman who had had 3 children out of wedlock with one of the brothers. The problem was, the one brother (the father of the kids) no longer wanted the woman at all, and refused to fight at all, or even speak for that matter. He just sat there mute staring into space. It did not make for good TV, and the stage crew tried valiantly to get something going, to no avail. The whole segment was a bust in their eyes.
We then moved onto the second segment. It featured a woman who worked at McDonalds who befriended another woman who was a lesbian. The first woman invited the second woman home "just to be nice", but the second woman hit on the first woman's 17-yr. old daughter, and they are now in a relationship. The first woman wants them to break it off. There was a lot of fighting, hair pulling, etc. on this one, even a lesbian kiss. The stage crew was much happier with this segment, you could tell.
The third and last segment was basically a question and answer period betweeen the audience and all of the guests. It was also when they wanted people to start flashing. I could not believe how many women did it. They encouraged us to yell and cheer them on. At one point a woman very pregnant with twins decided to flash her belly as well. Since she was having twins, they gave her 2 sets of Jerry beads.
I am not that old, and I am definitely not a prude, but I really was surprised at what goes on there. I have no one to blame but myself because I never watched the whole show before going there, but it really saddened me that there are so many people out there that are that desperate for attention. I found the whole thing more depressing than anything else. I always assumed that the whole show was staged, but the crew swore to us that it is not, and that the guests are not compensated financially. All they get is a plane ride to Chicago and a hotel room in exchange for telling their story.
As we were walking out of the studio they handed us an 800 phone number that we are supposed to call every Friday. At that point they will tell us if our episode will be airing the following week. They film 12 episodes a week, and only show 10, so I am guessing our show will never air. The whole first segment was such a snooze I can't imagine them showing it on TV.
It was an interesting experience, but one which I have no interest in ever repeating.
Well, it was quite an experience, I must say. I have never watched an entire show, just bits and pieces here and there while changing the channel. I thought I had a good idea of what it was all about, but I was WRONG.
The taping was set for noon, and we were told to get there no later than 10:15 because they start seating you at 11:00, and shows are overbooked so that there are no empty seats in the audience (looks bad on camera!).
We got to the NBC towers, and waited in line for quite awhile before they started letting us in. We had to walk through a metal detector, take off our shoes, have our purses emptied and searched and we were on our way. To the next line. Where we stood for about 45 minutes before they took us up the elevators to the next line. Where we stood for 15 mintutes before they put us in a holding room. The people that worked there were unreal. I swear I thought I was on candid camera. They told us we must stay in line, even in the elevator. They crammed the elevator full, but told us to not get out of line. How is this even possible? When we walked to the holding room, they threatened us again to not get out of order. One poor older man HAD to go to the bathroom so he got out of line and went. When he returned they told him he was PUNISHED and had to wait in another area, away from the rest of his party! Unbelievable.
It was finally time to walk into the studio which is MUCH smaller than it looks on TV. There are probably less than 175 people in the audience. The stage is also small. At this point, the stage manager came out and told us that Jerry was not there because he was off filming Dancing with the Stars. He then told us that Steve, Jerry's bodyguard, would be filling in as host.
The stage manager also informed us, in really rough language, that we should be expecting nudity and if that offended us, we should leave right then. He then encouraged everyone to take their turn later "flashing" the camera and audience because it makes good TV. He said if the women lifted up their shirts and completely exposed themselves, then turned completely around at least once they would get "Jerry beads", which are basically cheap plastic Mardi Gras beads. You should have seen my parents' faces!! They also informed us that there was a stripper pole on stage, and that we would have the opportunity to use it later if we wanted to.
The first topic of our show was 2 brothers who were supposedly fighting over the same woman who had had 3 children out of wedlock with one of the brothers. The problem was, the one brother (the father of the kids) no longer wanted the woman at all, and refused to fight at all, or even speak for that matter. He just sat there mute staring into space. It did not make for good TV, and the stage crew tried valiantly to get something going, to no avail. The whole segment was a bust in their eyes.
We then moved onto the second segment. It featured a woman who worked at McDonalds who befriended another woman who was a lesbian. The first woman invited the second woman home "just to be nice", but the second woman hit on the first woman's 17-yr. old daughter, and they are now in a relationship. The first woman wants them to break it off. There was a lot of fighting, hair pulling, etc. on this one, even a lesbian kiss. The stage crew was much happier with this segment, you could tell.
The third and last segment was basically a question and answer period betweeen the audience and all of the guests. It was also when they wanted people to start flashing. I could not believe how many women did it. They encouraged us to yell and cheer them on. At one point a woman very pregnant with twins decided to flash her belly as well. Since she was having twins, they gave her 2 sets of Jerry beads.
I am not that old, and I am definitely not a prude, but I really was surprised at what goes on there. I have no one to blame but myself because I never watched the whole show before going there, but it really saddened me that there are so many people out there that are that desperate for attention. I found the whole thing more depressing than anything else. I always assumed that the whole show was staged, but the crew swore to us that it is not, and that the guests are not compensated financially. All they get is a plane ride to Chicago and a hotel room in exchange for telling their story.
As we were walking out of the studio they handed us an 800 phone number that we are supposed to call every Friday. At that point they will tell us if our episode will be airing the following week. They film 12 episodes a week, and only show 10, so I am guessing our show will never air. The whole first segment was such a snooze I can't imagine them showing it on TV.
It was an interesting experience, but one which I have no interest in ever repeating.
Thank goodness you weren't on the show! By your title that's what I thought. 
I can't believe he is still on T.V. 
How does Jerry sleep at night? Well, seeing he is worth most likely a billion dollars, probably REAL GOOD! 
