The Jerry Springer Show to air on That’s TV

That’s TV has announced it will broadcast episodes of The Jerry Springer Show at 10 am beginning Monday 5 June as a tribute to the American talk show host who passed away in April.

That’s TV Head of Programming, Kris Vaiksalu:

“Jerry Springer was a TV icon and a trailblazer for reality TV, showcasing real people and their lives. Jerry was widely applauded as a host because he was non-judgmental and good humoured.”

“Throughout his life, Jerry spoke out for the marginalised and unrepresented. He once joked that he would end up in hell. However, speaking as someone who studied theology I see Springer as a modern-day prophet, with his famous Final Thought monologues promoting kindness and understanding.”

The Jerry Springer Show was produced by NBCUniversal Syndication Studios stateside from 1991 to 2018 and became a global phenomenon, broadcast in over 40 countries. In the mid-1990s three thousand Americans per day were phoning to get on the show and by 1998 it was the highest-rating daytime talk show in the US, beating Oprah.

That’s TV has secured the rights to broadcast episodes from the 24th season of The Jerry Springer Show with such titles as My Stripper Sister Strikes Again, I Slept With Your Twin and Your Mom, and Cousin Will You Be My Girlfriend?

That’s TV Head of Programming, Kris Vaiksalu:

“That’s TV seeks to broadcast era-defining TV shows and there is no more iconic daytime TV show in the world than The Jerry Springer Show. The show was a mainstay of popular culture for three decades. Jerry will be remembered as the British-born superstar who redefined television. All of us who remember watching his shows were saddened to learn of his passing. That’s TV is proud to be able to pay tribute to such a remarkable personality by broadcasting a season of his world-famous shows.”

Jerry in a promo for his prime time Carlton TV series in the UK (2000, ITV)

Whilst The Jerry Springer Show frequently showcased confessions and confrontations between love rivals, Springer always defended it against snobbery. Springer told Jeremy Paxman on BBC Two’s Newsnight in 2014:

“You could decide only to put well-scrubbed, wealthy people who speak the Queen’s English on television and just do that but that wouldn’t reflect the whole society… Television should reflect the entire culture.”

Springer himself said in one of this Final Thought sequences at the end of his show: “There’s never been a moment in the 25 years of doing this show that I ever thought I was better than the people who appear on our stage. I’m not better. Only luckier.”

Springer was born in a London Underground station during World War Two, the child of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis. Aged 5 he moved with his family to New York. Before entering the TV industry as a journalist and presenter, Springer had a successful political career including stints as a campaign adviser to Robert F. Kennedy and serving as Mayor of Cincinnati. Springer continued to support and help raise funds for pollical and charitable causes throughout his life.

Springer passed away of cancer at his home in Chicago in April 2023 at the age of 79. His family asked that, in lieu of flowers, people should make a donation or undertake an act of kindness, in tribute to the way Springer would sign-off his shows: “Take care of yourself, and each other.”

The Jerry Springer Show has not been shown on any channel in the UK for over 5 years, although re-runs continue to be broadcast overseas. It will air daily from 10am on 5 June 2023 on That’s TV which is available across the UK on Freeview, Sky and Freesat.

In the UK the format was replicated by ITV, who hired Springer for a number of series two decades ago, before trying their hand at their own version with the dubious Jeremy Kyle Show, which was axed after a guest committed suicide shortly after being part of an episode recording. The Kyle show was much more ‘brutal’ in its approach to guests with its host, where Jerry asked difficult questions, but didn’t shout and screech at them, unlike Kyle.