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It's common for modern documentary series to feel padded out, with content stretched to fill at least three episodes, leading to a sense of repetition. Curiously, the two-part documentary on Jerry Springer's talk show suffers from the opposite problem: it feels too short.

This is most evident when the executive producer, the puppet master behind all the controversy, is interviewed. Given the opportunity to delve deeper into the mind of this key figure in the show's drama, and considering his apparent lack of remorse for the practices he promoted, the filmmakers miss a significant opportunity. Why didn't they explore the broader implications of exploiting people for entertainment in today's media landscape?

The documentary starts promisingly, addressing a relevant contemporary topic, but ultimately fails to provide a meaningful conclusion. It perpetuates the very superficiality it seeks to expose. The overall impression is that, like the show itself, the documentary prioritizes entertainment over substance, leaving viewers wanting a deeper exploration of the issues at hand.

Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action offers a look behind the scenes of the infamous talk show that once made a worldwide furore. Directed by Luke Sewell, the documentary focuses mainly on the intentions and methods behind the scenes, with ratings and sensations proving to be the leading drivers.

Although the documentary hits a critical note, the perspective remains strikingly one-sided. Most of the time is spent on the view of the old production team, without former participants being given an extensive platform. Something is missing: how would they, the people who actually experienced these explosive scenes, describe their experiences?

What is becoming clear is the dynamics between entertainment and ethics. The fights turn out to be nothing more than a deliberately chosen means of achieving high ratings, a strategy that undeniably made the talk show a phenomenon. Jerry Springer's role is discussed, and although some nuance is added, the question remains unanswered how much he really knew about the manipulations and provocations that took place behind the scenes.

The documentary largely confirms what many already suspected: selling sensation, and "The Jerry Springer Show" was a prime example of this. However, the limited angles make the film only superficially scratch a story that could have gone much deeper. For fans and critics it is an interesting look, but unfortunately the balance is missing to really surprise or make a broader impact.

I may have watched Jerry Springer from time to time, if nothing else was on, or simply because it was in the background. It seemed ridiculous, but Jerry always seemed likeable and endearing to me. People who want to blame this show for the breakdown of society surely realize that the show didn't create these disturbing situations and these outlandish individuals, right? Do you want the show to disappear? Then stop watching!

The sad reality is that the Jerry Springer show was probably the first to showcase all that is wrong with the "best country in the world". There is a huge divide between the learned and the ignorant, the refined and the base, the intelligent and the stupid.

Pretty good doc.

The producers are mentally ill, and I can't even fathom the audacity of them coming out now and boasting about their product, knowing they contributed to the death of a woman and who knows how many others they exploited. We don't even know the mental and psychological state of those other people who were used. Their actions are a blatant disregard for human life and dignity, and they should be held accountable for the consequences of their selfish and unethical decisions. Everyone who appeared on the program should now face prosecution, as their participation enabled this injustice. It's imperative to bring them to justice and prevent further harm.

Not really about Jerry Springer and more about his executive producer and gopher and two female producers, being all glib and cocky about how great their obviously phony JERRY SPRINGER SHOW was until they finally say they had had enough...

The men eventually quitting while, somehow, god knows how, Jerry stayed on the air for another 18 years after peaking and after stopping the fighting right before a murder he was blamed for since the killers were former guests...

There are so many things missed here, like the crazy idea to make a fictional movie (Ringmaster I think it's called) about the show, that ended up bombing instead of getting viewers into the theater like the show got their audience onto the couch, basically the lowest denominator...

Meanwhile, Jerry, in archive interviews, seemed like an alright guy, and he made a few bucks, that's good since this is America...

But these kind of new-style documentaries on Netflix and Amazon are mostly just propaganda for the subject... and yet they act as if this kind of niche was somehow edgy since they admit upfront that the documentary is basically shilling for people that, because of that fact, will supposedly be more honest about themselves since the documentary is in their favor...

It's too difficult to figure out these new promotional videos masquerading as docs but, this one drops the ball by not having anywhere to throw it: and could have been one episode instead of two since the cliffhanger didn't really lead anywhere...

Showing both sides and opinions equally actually has the subjects being more honest instead of repeating the same thing over and over like they do here....

But it's still interesting to see some of the old shows in the 1990's when trash was king.

I should begin by disclosing that I worked as a production assistant for "The Jerry Springer Show", when it was still plain vanilla and before it moved from Cincinnati to Chicago, sometime between September 1991 and September 1992. By the late 90s, I'd tuned out as the show descended into its infamous chaos. This entertaining 2-episode docuseries pulls back the curtain on how the talk show spiraled into a cultural phenomenon. As sleazy as the show itself, it showcases an unapologetic executive producer and offers a fascinating, if completely cringeworthy, look at its rise. Viewed through today's fractured reality, though, the show almost feels quaint, and Jerry comes across as a decent guy (even with the bounced check to the prostitute). For anyone with ties to Jerry or memories of his WLWT Channel 5 news days in the '80s, this is a quick trip down nostalgia lane.

The documentary series "Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action" offers a captivating plunge into the inner workings of a show that left a significant mark on the American television landscape of the 90s and 2000s. One of the main strengths of this program lies in its ability to take us behind the studio doors, providing privileged access to the internal dynamics and mechanisms of this scandal-generating machine.

The testimonies scattered throughout the series are often damning, offering an unvarnished look at how the show was conceived and produced. We discover a reality where boundaries were constantly pushed in the name of ratings.

However, a slight reservation arises regarding the sometimes sugarcoated statements from former production members. While their memories shed interesting light, one can sense a certain reluctance to fully acknowledge the show's most controversial aspects.

Nevertheless, the series successfully highlights a segment of our society, albeit marginal but very real, where conflicts and personal dramas were exposed without filter. The show then appears as a modern-day gladiatorial arena, where individuals were thrown to the public.

The words of the main producer, quoted in the series ("if I could kill on TV, I would"), are particularly chilling. They brutally illustrate a relentless pursuit of ratings, where the well-being of participants and viewers seemed secondary.

In conclusion, this show is an informative and unsettling documentary. While it sometimes suffers from a certain self-censorship from its subjects, it remains a fascinating insight into a controversial show and the potential excesses of spectacle television. It raises important questions about media ethics and our own fascination with the sensational.

I was excited and interested to watch the doc about Jerry Springer because I loved the show and Jerry Springer was a genius and a hero. The first half of the documentary was really good, 9 stars at least and then the second half was poorly done and rating dropped. I don't feel sorry for anyone who went on the show. Nobody was forced to go on there. It was not the responsibility of Jerry to fix people with serious issues. This is no different than what is going on in social media today. The Trump bit thrown in had zero relevance and would have made more sense to mention Family Feud. A man goes on family feud and made a snide remark about his wife and everyone laughed; same man murders his wife after being on the show. Is it family feud fault? Furthermore, people really do act up and do crazy things in real life but when put on camera tend to act differently. So producers were able to get the guests to do exactly what they would do off stage. The ex wife whose husband was abusive and she got away from him and then wanted to see him again and of all things do it in public on Springer.. it's not Jerry Springer show fault. And it happened two years later. I loved the show Jerry hosted called Baggage; it was brilliant. There was so much more that could have and should have been said. Most important takeaway is how much censorship went on then and still goes on today.

As other have stated this documentary is about the show not the man, and more about the produceur of the show then Jerry also.

As someone that was young and not from the usa but had acces to the show while growing up I was interested by this documentary, sadly its not that interesting.

It retrace the story of the show, describe the event, talk to some ex participant, but not a lot. It could have been more interesting if they were more interview with ex participant, if someone asked them directly if it was fake and about their life after the show . All in all, it not bad, you learn a little but not that much, it could have been more.

A fascinating look behind the scenes at The Jerry Springer show, a show that was pretty revolutionary, one that changed the genre forever.

This is a truly interesting watch, only two episodes long, so it's pacy, interesting and shocking, you'll want to watch it all in one go. It'll bring back memories, including the man and the Shetland pony, a reminder of just how far society has fallen (off a cliff.) Just remember the size of the audience the show got at its peak.

Most of us would have known that Jerry was just thr face of the show, this takes a look at the people behind the scenes, including the fascinating presenter Richard Dominick, who set the agenda, a man who clearly knew what he wanted, and achieved his aims.

I was surprised to see that the show ran until 2018, like many I lost interest some while back, initially it was edgy, it was risqué, it was something you'd not want to watch with your parents, after a while it became stale.

It's amazing to think it avoided cancellation, the infamous murder, can you imagine that in today's climate, a death did for The Jeremy Kyle show here in The UK, a show undoubtedly inspired by Jerry Springer.

It's very interesting, worth your time.

8/10.

I'm not American and I've never lived in the US but I remember Jerry Springer being popular on TV in my European country back in the 90's when I was just a teenager. And I remember a lot of teenagers watching it then because it was so shocking and unbelievable, especially compared to what the people were like in my country at that time.

Anyway, most of us watched it then and yet, most of us thought it was incredibly stupid and not relatable at all. We watched it only because we were teenagers in the 90's and the media looked so much different. However, I have never thought that this "talk show" had any influence on me, neither have I ever heard that anybody I knew would even remember what happened there without reminding them about Jerry Springer.

Make no mistake - I do agree that it was trash TV and that it had barely any value at all. Although it did show me that I had a very naive view of the world and i knew nothing about what people were really capable of and what some of them were doing. Now you don't need the Jerry Springer because this information is so widely available due to the Internet.

However, I think it is ridiculous to blame the murder that happened after so many other things had gone down between the deranged and abusive sicko and the love-seeking poor woman. I am very supportive of any abused women but really, this was such a reach and looking for another well-paid sensation that I'm surprised this was repeated in this documentary.

I agree with parts of the film but in the end it's actually doing what the media were doing back then - looking for a cheap sensation that they could cash in on. I'm glad to see others have noticed that, too.

The documentary didn't bring me the tears or give me groundbreaking revelations but it was an entertaining ride and I think Jerry Springer is a brilliant person. Mad respect for the main character who drove the direction of the show.

ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

I do not include a synopsis of the film/show -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.

My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating). For Lifetime Movies for Chicks (LMFC), drop the above scale by 3 notches. A 6 is excellent and 7 almost unattainable.

The 2-part documentary spends a lot of time asking the producers to recount their years on the show with a moderate level of entertainment: the combined look back really brings back the hype of the show at its peak, depicting Jerry mostly like a good guy who was just spotlighting a part of society that existed independently from the show and the producers and ahow runner as very dedicated and talented people with a nack for exploiting human nature... But then you slowly become aware of how hard they are trying to justify the fact that they were manipulating vulnerable people by telling them tjey would not be paid the flight back if they didn't start a fight and the entire thing goes from mildly interesting to infuriantingly disgusting: every single producer involved in it should have been sued and blacklisted from the industry, added to a register of public offenders like the worst of criminals as you would want to absolutely know if your neighbor was just a depraved human such as these producers and show runners. Oprah was 100% right and there is no amount of mental gymnastics that could make these ghouls justified in what they did to get those fights to break out just to entertain the same kind of fan base that ended up electing Trump for president twice.

Really interesting and wild to discover it's was all actually true. Definitely needed a part three and ended on a weird note. It would have been great to hear from more former guests and understand the long-term impacts the show had on their lives.

Despicable that none of the producers provided any aftercare to the guests or even did simple welfare checks on the guests after the show.

Sad to see how much Jerry sold himself out and sad to see what a lack of accountability Richard takes for it all.

I wonder what the world of television would look like today had the Jerry Springer show never happened.

So long story short, I was never much of a Jerry Springer fan. I was in my late teens when it first aired and maybe caught as few episodes simply because I had the tv on when I was doing something else. But none the less seeing there was a documentary about it seemed interesting. Would we see if it was real? Maybe fake?

Well to start the documentary is very informative. I didn't realize how much was of it was actually real. Aside from people coming on and faking things for the fun of it. Granted we will never know how many people truly faked their stories. But then near the end of the first episode the talk about the murder that happened because fo the show. Which leads to the second episodes being about the murder and the fall of the show in general. And this is where the documentary falls apart.

For starters the son of the woman who was killed, and the lawyer he had and some other guy... they seemed obsessed with trying to tell the viewer how the show should have taken responsibility for the woman murder. There is no doubt the murder was horrible of course and needless. But said murder took place over three months later. Long after this episode was aired. And even in their own words the mom had broke up again with the boyfriend (she took back again). Which lead to him murdering her. Sure, they said he was at a bar the night of the murder and seen a rerun of the episode and it caused him to snap. Even if that was the case, the whole thing seemed like a desperate attempt to blame the show.

Again, the show was indeed trash. So I am not defending the show of course. But this son shouldn't have gotten any attention. And while I realize the point of it the story was to point out how the show affected people's lives after being on it, I'd say it's not a big deal. Many people go on shows. Is every show responsible for what someone does because they were on a tv talk show?

Especially JS which was a trash show in which no one was forced to go on it. People knew what they signed up for. And yes, the people were often riled up by the shows people so they go out on stage all mad. And I can agree that is terrible (all be it good for ratings). But its not illegal. And again, in the case of the murdered woman, this was months later.

I also didn't care when the one guy who worked on the show blamed viewers for the show existing. I get viewers made the show continue. But YOU were part of it my man. I'm happy you quit of course as it was burning you out. But you could have stopped anytime. You could have also done more to stop the show if you really wanted. It took you over a decade to finally realize it was a bad show. You said yourself it wasn't scripted, you guys instead just knew how to "get into peoples heads and make them angry" before they went on stage. You were part of that manipulation. It's like being part of a concentration camp for years then saying "Hmm, this may be bad!"

And to be fair the documentary made it clear that Richard Dominick, the director, was the main push for the show being trash. Which to some degree shows what a twisted mind he has as he had no disgust by any of it. As always, again, no one was forced to go on of course. Though once there they were yelled at if they wanted to not finish taping. Never forced to stay though.

So like I said, a good documentary to see what went on in the background. A bad documentary for all the people upset in it.

I went to one taping of the show with my ex because he believed it was all real. I thought it was fake. The episode that we watched live was so unbelievably and fake that I didn't think they would ever air it on TV. During commercial breaks, all the yelling and fighting would stop. Crew would come out and tell them things to say and how to act. Even the fighting and falling seemed fake. After watching the taping, my ex finally agreed with me that it was not "real". And the documentary seemed like they were saying that Jerry didn't know about the manipulation of the guest, but I don't know of anyone who would actually believe what I saw for myself.

"Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry!"

Of course we're not talking Seinfeld, world-famous standup and arguably the greatest TV star of his era. We don't mean Jerry Lewis either, host of the world-famous telethon that raised $Billions for charity over 50 years. No no. This chant (if not the name) is reserved for Mr. Springer, former mayor of Cincinnati who became world-famous for... well, for starting fights?

"Fights, Camera, Action" documents the rise of Jerry's perverse talk show, which always leaned more on the spectacle than the spectacular. It marked the dawn of shock culture and a pivotal turning point in media history. To call it a talk show is pure euphemism, though. In truth it was an unlicensed battle royal, whose melees were fueled by Jerry's producers triggering guests and "revving them up to tornado-level before sending them out on stage."

FCA suggests Jerry was not involved in the genesis of the idea. I can see that. But it also lays the credit/blame solely at the feet of executive producer ("Svengali") Richard Dominick, and I have more trouble with that one. After all, the fact that most of the show's brain trust also came from the tabloid industry (not just Dominick) leads me to think they didn't need to be nudged *too* hard to join the cause. Regardless, you can decide for yourself when you watch it. But the series also poses more interesting debates like where is the line in TV - what's moral, what's legal, what's smart?! - questions we haven't collectively answered even to this day.

"Steve! Steve! Stev-"

They don't mention him. I know.

Overall, I found it to be an uneven ride that staggers between the funny, dramatic, stupefying, absurd, boring, and perhaps not always factual. The filmmakers reflect on the show- the worst EVER as per TV Guide- and the producers' strategy for navigating a crowded media space filled with dozens of Oprah wannabes, the ratings battle with Oprah herself, along with its many controversies, reputation and legacy. The music is ridiculously cheap but it's unclear if that's by mistake or by design... which is perfectly on-brand for this subject and the irony of mocking what's meant to be mocked.

Decades after its breakthrough, I still don't know whether the Jerry Springer circus was reflective of society back then or (at least partly) inspired how we are today. It could be both. But the best way to know if this two-part mini-series is worth watching depends on how you feel about one throwaway line that's dropped into the script halfway through but would make a fine title for the book:

"Ultimately the murder didn't hurt the show."

The hard thing about this review is separating how I feel about the Netflix documentary from how I feel about the Jerry Springer show.

The documentary was fine.

The Jerry Springer Show leaves me feeling like I just threw up (or like I want to throw up).

Since when does "pushing the boundaries" automatically a producer a genius?

Not to mention that Springer himself apologizes after almost 30 years of the show ("I just apologize. I'm so sorry. What have I done? I've ruined the culture.")

But who cares what the host thought? Let's definitely give the Jerry Springer Show a round of applause for working its way to the bottom of the barrel and showing us the worst people can be. And then kicking their guests out the door. Genius!

From what I understand, and have read from a local family member of Jerry, Jerry left explicit wishes before he died that he did not want any documentary on his life and his living family has publicly stated that permission has not been given to Netflix to do this. So if that is true, that is just not right to exploit his life and show.against his wishes and living family members, and not give him a chance to defend himself because he is not here. I watched it like most in Chicago and I really think half of this was staged by attention getters trying to get on tv with the most absurd stories and half truths and the producers of the show encouraged this baloney in this first place. Jerry was actually the one that brought some calm and humility to the show.