The Jeremy Kyle Show

I should probably be honest and say why I bothered to watch a week or so worth of episodes of the Jeremy Kyle Show. Firstly I did have it in my mind after reading Charlie Brooker gleefully ripping into some time ago; Brooker has such a way with words and his passion for what he hates is so raw that I find myself wanting to feel that strongly about something myself and check out what has riled him so much (which is probably the opposite of what he is trying to do as a critic but in fairness he is also the reason that I watch The Wire, so it all balances out). Secondly last week in the UK we had the court case of a man who assaulted another man on the show. In his remarks Judge Alan Berg referred to the show as something along the lines of being akin to "human bear-baiting" and was a "morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people". So with these glowing recommendations I thought I should at very least see it for myself.

Well, after a week or so, I cannot help that feel that the judge's comparison with bear-baiting was off the mark. I have never seen bear-baiting or a dogfight or a cockfight but I imagine when you go to one you know you are at one and that it is not being dressed up as something else or put forward as somehow being good for the animal so, bloody and cruel it may be, but at least it is honest in its aims. The same cannot be said of Jeremy Kyle's approach which doesn't even have the decency to allow the viewer to laugh at the subjects as weird chav-culture circus freak shows – hell, at least Jerry Springer kicked back and enjoyed the car crash of other people's lives. But no, Jeremy Kyle never does that because, I suspect, it would be felt as lowering the tone.

There is no real risk of this though and, while I am not saying we need more Springer shows, at least it would make the relationship between subjects, producers and viewers an honest one. As it is though, the show tends to have a couple of settings but yet all of them are just as insincere as the others, the only difference being the approach and atmosphere of the specific episode. The show does the usual stuff that Trisha and countless others cover, so we have domestic abuse, broken relationships, cheaters confronted etc bl00dy etc. It all goes the usual way but what makes it significantly meaner than Trisha is Kyle himself. Knowing we are in a sea of this rubbish, he knows he has to make a mark. So where Jerry Springer will gently mock his guests and let the audience do the "you are trash" remarks, Kyle occasionally looks like he should have a bouncer restraining him such is the strength of his verbal assaults.

He goes after these gormless people, asking leading questions that he surely already knows the answer to given he is the host of the show (he isn't told what the show is about as he waits in his dressing room). So young mothers get gently asked about their drink problem and gently get asked "do you work at the moment", until the tempo changes and Kyle goes on the attack. IMDb reviewer davideo has commented that Kyle puts him in mind of Trisha crossed with Ray Liotta but at moments in the show all I can think of is Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, brimming with menace despite having just been your friend (just waiting for the show with the title "Tell me - what's so f**king funny about me"). Kyle really does go for it and I think it is him that makes the show such a lie in its presentation. I'm not suggesting that any of this type of show does actually "help" but somehow seeing Kyle "call a spade a spade" in a harsh and judgemental way, taking the audience with him removes any possibility that this show is about help.

But yet we still have to listen to the audience politely applaud at the end as if it has been of benefit and not just about Kyle laying into people. Shockingly at times it is easy to enjoy it, but only because the majority of the guests seemed to have been reached by producers flipping over flat rocks in swamps. Any parent with a child who wants piercings or tattoos should make them watch this show; tattoos still seem cool? No, thought not. Likewise, the various stories of offspring and DNA testing would have young people gladly wearing condoms even to hold hands. Slating these people further is too easy but ask yourself what sort of people would you expect on shows with titles such as "Prove I'm the Grandmother of your son", "Has my boyfriend been sleeping with men?", "Mum & sister, stop treating our home like a brothel" and the wonderful "If I stop drinking and hitting you, will you take me back?" or "You got 3 women pregnant at the same time but today confess you're gay!". Of course this is part of the approach of the show and makes Kyle's job so much easier – it isn't hard for him to judge these people, we're all doing it. It is hard to fathom what makes them sign up for this but then I suppose in this day we are nothing if we are not on telly and the only people who matter are the famous people.

Overall this is nothing we haven't seen before but yet Kyle manages to take this formula and make it just so much more demeaning, voyeuristic, cruel and pointless. And when you look at his genre peers you have to admit that quite something.

I think that this show is absolute rubbish, Jeremy Kyle gives his honest opinion, well in my opinion, like trisha did he makes situations worse than what they were before the guests come on the show, they probably leave wanting to kill themselves. He has got to be without a doubt the most patronising idiot on telly, giving it 'sweetheart', 'darling' to the guests, how about shut up jeremy kyle you're a fool. and it gets worse, not only does the idiot take over breakfast telly went he blocks capital fm, now capital, i do love your radio station, but this loser kyle might bring your ratings down So ITV and Capital stop torturing ur watchers and listeners and stop his programme, i might organise a petition.

The Jeremy Kyle Show is the UK equivalent to The Jerry Springer show in one respect- and many other so-called talk shows in that they seek pleasure in humiliating and embarrassing ordinary members of the public by means of airing their dirty laundry in public. I know that this show has only been on air for 2 years, but my goodness why is this still on? Coincidently, I had heard of Jeremy Kyle before because I used to tune into his talk show on the radio where viewers phone in with their dilemmas and he'd come up with a solution to each and every one of them.

Whatever your views are on the guy, one has to agree to a certain extent that on some occasions, he does speak the truth. However, what the detractors of Kyle's will argue is the rather unnecessary approach and manner he takes to verbally addressing his guests. Often arrogant, hypocritical and verbally aggressive in his tone of voice, even patronising and cynical towards them on his part, Kyle somewhat reminds me in this sense of the types of people I have encountered throughout my life- the bullying, often narcissistic and horrible people of which i will not go into mentioning names. The assertion that because of their ego, they think they are entitled to and HAVE a right to be entitled to speak to people in the way that they do, -which is unacceptable and one i find heinous, not to mention trying to shut others up and not giving them a opportunity to explain themselves to them. Another celebrity of whom fits this particular mould is someone like Vanessa Feltz, another person I dislike- also arrogant, patronising and to an extent, 'nasty', especially in regards to her views on certain issues.

The show itself is based loosely on the American model of talk shows-i.e; lots of cheering, heckling and jeering, person explains their dilemma- be it relationship or otherwise to the crowd and host, the host goes into a little detail, the guest's partner, friend, relative or whomever comes out amid the booing and jeering and sits down, the guest tells that other person what is on their mind, that other person ends up crying or loses their temper. I mean, this is voyeuristic TV to the extreme.

Almost the same thing happens with every show. Demographically, the typical Kyle guests tend to be from a working-class background, white, under 40, mostly female and made up of low income families and single mothers. I for one am not disrespecting them because I am from a working class background myself, but the thing is with most TV shows, particularly talk shows, they paint the image of your average Joe as being unemployed and on benefits or low paid, and perceiving them as being lazy and unintelligent- which the vast majority of us are not.

This type of TV show is a form of reality TV in my book- reality in the sense that, the dilemmas that we hear of are real life and the people on the show are real-life. The similarities between reality TV and talk shows are uncanny as they are shockingly bad that they are regarded by many as the lowest forms of TV programmes available.

Frankly, if you want advice on your marriage, relationship, friendship or whatever speak to a properly trained counsellor, a member of the NSPCC, phone a domestic violence hot-line, or even speak to someone you know well and trust. Don't, whatever you do, go on TV and spill the beans to someone like Kyle and have it transmitted on air.

I used to like this show when I was young, and God knows how, because I find it hard to watch now. It was a horrible show that exploited the lower class for cheap entertainment.

These people are not inherently bad, they were born into their backgrounds through no choice of their own, and instead of this very wealthy country supporting them and providing the opportunity to grow, it instead chooses to humiliate these people on national television. Classism is a massive problem in this country, it's a shame how normalised it actually is.

I am glad it's off the air. Shame on ITV for ever allowing and investing in this program in the first place.

I've never witnessed someone so desperately happy when surrounded by the misery of human suffering, the glee in his eye when someone's cheated, bullied or lied to etc is quite scary. He genuinely seems to get off on people's misery.

I recently watched a 'special' episode, and even surrounded by some remarkable and wonderful human beings he managed to make it all about him, and got lost in his own conceit.

It really does show the true fundamental problems in the UK right now.

A mix of nice and awful people on the stage, I just wish he could be a little bit nicer to the decent ones, he's gotten worse as the years have gone on, he seemed to be a little nicer when he started out.

Some of the stories are quite engaging, I've learned a few things that I was formerly unaware of, it's just him, and his ego. 3/10