The Steve Wilkos Show

I think the way you call people "Fat" all the time is way out of line. I'm 5'5 260 lbs. Call me on your show and call me Fat. They call me Lonnie " By God" Coker. Some of us can't help it, in case you aren't smart enough to realize this, but obesity is a disease. Why don't you call me on your show, and maybe my stepson who is a quadriplegic, or would you call him a gimp? I'll knock you out and he can run you Over with his power chair! I realize the people on your show that you have called fat may have done things wrong in their past, but when the show first starts you have known these people for what? an hour?

Lonnie "Fat Ass" " By God" Coker

Jerry Springer may have some major competition this fall with the release of the Steve Wilkos Show. Unlike Springer which is nothing but pure exhibition with sexual innuendo and brawls, this show offers tough love with compassion from the big bad bald guy himself: Steve Wilkos. One episode that incensed me was "Devil Mom" where a woman used her own daughter to perform sexual intercourse in exchange for cash. I really felt for Steve when he tried to help her stop doing what she was doing to her daughter. That episode was really powerful.

All in all the show is great, the host is great, the stories are engaging and poignant with some glimmer of hope for the guests and so on. So what if it's not Springer. Give this show a chance and you will not be disappointed.

Similar to other confrontation shows (Jerry Springer, Bill Cunningham), the show is entirely scripted, and is a hoax. While working as the "Director of Security" for Jerry Springer, he was introduced as a Chicago police officer. He oversaw wild brawls, and never made an attempt to stop the altercation. Even back then, people wondered: "If he's a real police officer, and the brawl is real, why doesn't he intercede?" Exactly. Now, he has his own show, of bumbling, clumsy "actors", and outrageous plots and complaints. If any of this was real, state officials would arrest these people for prostitution, murder, assault, illicit drug sales, rape, and child endangerment. Watching this nonsense you're reminded that, no matter how bad your life is, you don't accept minimum wage to make an a$$ of yourself on TV.

A good way to describe the Steve Wilko show is if you take the Jerry Springer show and turn Jerry into a tall bald former police officer who looks like a bully. The show does try to keep the fights to a minimum, and instead fill it up with Steve burning the guests with his hard lectures.

Another big difference, is how extremely grotesque the stories are. For example, there is one episode about an old woman who admits that she murdered a baby 15 years ago, one episode of a man who had sex with a 12 year old girl and more.

Many people debate that the stories are real and that they're just scripted. I don't know how to tell whether it's real or not, however I wouldn't be surprised if it was fake. It doesn't really matter though, as long as it's entertaining and enjoyable to watch.

Steve's show really does have some strong willed messages, and does open people's eyes to the horrors of this world. The only problem is, he does NOTHING whatsoever to solve these problems half the time. That is where Steve often misses the mark. Half the time, Steve handles the stories in the right manner, showing the audience something relevant and gives us a reason to listen. These are usually morals about family, being there for your child, keeping a child and so and so.

The major problem with the show is it's much too repetitive. Half the time Steve looses his cool and walks around the guest screaming in there face. This is fine, as I can understand him being angry with stupid people, but it just goes ON and ON and ON! If Steve is going to do nothing but yell at people, what good is he doing? Nothing. It's okay to be harsh, but you need to have an understanding of humanity.

For example, there's one episode where a woman wants to see her daughter, after allowing her to be raped 7 times. In that episode, Steve literally says "our show isn't about getting into the mind of a monster! Our show doesn't have couches where I try to understand you! And it's not about forgiveness or being kind! It's about showing something how it is!" That Steve has described there, is IGNORANCE! The reason why we hate evil so much in this world, is because we don't understand it. There's no use in shoving hate into someone's face if you're not going to tell them there's a solution. The past is the past, you can't change it! What you can do, is make an effort to fix the present. What good is it to see you express the same anger that the viewer already feels? You have show some moral, reason and lesson, rather then just needless anger.

Another problem is there is a poor lack of forgiveness. I don't care how terrible someone is, or what evil they have done. They are still humans, they still have minds of redemption. Why does Steve seem to think that no one can change? Why does he act like if someone is horrible in the past that they deserve no forgiveness? Forgive and forget is exactly what a lot of these nasty people need.

Ironically, sometimes Steve is too soft. Think about this, if you have someone with a history of abusing their children and they're sorry about it and are regretting it in tears, do they deserve to be torn apart or forgiven? Now, what if you have someone with a history of abusing their children and they deny it and claim to have done nothing wrong? that type of person deserves the Steve burn, 'cause the Steve burn helps open a person's ignorant mind up. Oddly enough, he doesn't loose his cool and talk in people's faces when it's the right time.

One last foot note, what is with Steve and throwing chairs?! It's...very random, and is in almost every episode.

Hello Steve, This email is to say a couple of things.

I first and foremost want to clarify that I understand the guests on your show are under agreement, and have guidelines they have to follow if they want to be on T.V.

That being said, I come to the point to this email. I am in no way condoning bad behavior from one party or the other, but your behavior and the way you do things is completely inappropriate, not too mention unorthodox.

Let me explain, While guests are in fact under agreement, that does not give you the right to manipulate the conversation to go one way or the other. If you are as you say "A mediator" then your job is to do just that. A mediator doesn't start saying HAVE YOU EVER, or other sentences of the nature and setting out a situation by using in a voice tone, that will turn the conversation the way you want it to, thus manipulating the outcome to make someone look bad. You have a habit of emphasizing certain things during the conversation to make one part right, while the other party gets screwed. Again while some people are guilty and I do not condone bad behavior, there are guests that got shafted despite actually being innocent.

LIE DETECTOR TESTS: You being an ex-police officer really surprises me, that you do not understand, (Either that or you do know this, but do not care) that a lie detector test cannot ever be used to prove someone is lying. In fact, a lie detector test cannot ever even be used to prove someone is even being deceptive. Also that gentleman who you have come up and start explaining how they work, is completely ludicrous. Just because he says how it works and what happens, that means he is right? Who is he anyway and where did he come from? I'm surprised one of your guests have not bothered to even question who he is and what makes him right. All we have is his word. While I'm not saying that, he is not who he says it is I'm just pointing out how no guest has ever questioned this, because I know I have.

MULTIPLE TESTS Another thing is that you say we gave you a lie detector test multiple times, as if that holds any credibility. Again I'm surprised you as being someone of law enforcement it is not aware that failing it 6 times if the same as failing it once, you can give someone the same test 90 times, the result will never change, so it is not relevant how many times it was given. This makes it complete pointless to do multiple tests and doesn't prove anything.

COUNTER MEASURES I have seen one or two shows where you told someone that they tried to use counter measures. Contrary to popular belief, there is also no such thing as counter measures when dealing with lie detectors either. Counter Measures was a concept that was designed and used by the FBI while interrogating terrorists being profiled by the FBI to think they could relax during interrogation to let their guard down. It is simply a misleading statement nothing more.

GUESTS AND LIE DETECTOR TESTS: When it comes to guests and lie detector tests on your show, every single one of your guests all have one thing in common, and they are already emotionally unstable with what they are on your show for to begin with. This in turn gives another solid and valid reason why the lie detector tests being given cannot be used to prove anything. If someone is already feeling they are condemned, and they are given the test, whether they actually did anything or not, they will still fail the test. The same holds true if someone remains calm during the test.

Continued