Producers of The Jerry Springer Show visited Oprah Winfrey this month as they recalled her long-running feud with the late talk show host.
Jerry's controversial tabloid talk show, which aired from 1991 to 2018, made history as the first program to topple The Oprah Winfrey Show in the ratings, but 70-year-old Oprah made no secret of her disdain for the program, calling it 'terrible'.
When The Jerry Springer Show first started gaining popularity for its scandalous content in the late 1990s, Oprah was asked for her thoughts on the eponymous host – who died in 2023 after battling pancreatic cancer.
Kicking off her feud with Jerry, Oprah said at the time, “Jerry Springer is all alone in a class, if you want to call that a class. I think he's just – he's gone, he's gone, that whole show, I think it's terrible. I can't believe what I'm seeing.
'I was watching the other day and this guy pulled his pants down and there he is, opening himself up – I can't believe what I see when I watch that show!'
When Oprah was challenged that it was she who had “led the way with confessional TV and people baring their souls,” Oprah responded, “Confessing and baring your soul is one thing, baring your penis is another.”
Producers of The Jerry Springer Show have reached out to Oprah Winfrey as they recall her long-running feud with the late talk show host (hosts pictured in the 1990s)
Oprah also lashed out at the show in a 1999 interview with The Times, when she claimed the program would pave the way for shows with sex scenes on daytime television.
She predicted: 'We will see sexual intercourse on television. And I wouldn't be surprised if one person actually kills the other.
'I'm completely done talking. My contract still runs for two years, then I'll stop doing shows like that because I feel like they're going to burn themselves out.
'I don't believe in the things that happen on television talk shows. How low can it get? Can public taste continue to sink? Yes, that's possible. I have to get out.'
“Until a few months ago, I felt like Jerry Springer was giving us serious competition, but I don't think that's sustainable because his show is such a circus of vulgarity.
“Unless you're going to kill people in the air, and not just hit them over the head with chairs, and unless you're going to have intercourse – and not just, as I saw the other day, a man pulling down his pants. and pull out his penis – then there comes a point where you've oversaturated yourself.'
Although the show remained a ratings success for years, Oprah was right when she predicted that a fatal accident would occur.
Tragically, Nancy Campbell-Panitz was murdered by her ex-husband Ralf Panitz in July 2000, just two months after they appeared on the controversial chat show as part of a love triangle storyline.
Jerry's show aired from 1991 to 2018 and was known for its outrageous content with Netflix's Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action unpacking the behind-the-scenes drama
Although Oprah made it clear she wasn't a fan of Jerry's show, he insisted she had nothing but respect for her.
In response to her jokes, Jerry told The Post, “It's fine, I really love Oprah. She's great.
“I know she doesn't like my show, but that's okay. My mother wouldn't have liked this show either – and I loved her.”
Jerry also praised Oprah's lease when she parted ways with her long-running talk show in 2011.
Speaking to ET Online, he said: 'It's the end of an era. She's the best that ever was: Oprah and Phil Donahue. Donahue made [the genre] and she perfected it.
“There will never be another talk show like hers, or have the same impact – at least not in the near future.”
Jerry — who served as mayor of Cincinnati in 1997 — added, “If she needs a job, I think I can find it for her!” They have good government programs to help her!'
Former employees of Jerry's show spoke about the feud in the Netflix documentary while rreferred to the numerous jokes Oprah made.
Toby Yoshimura said, “The way Oprah behaved compared to the way Jerry behaved? Jerry was a class act. He gave her the right of way and she hit back. It was so inappropriate.”
Executive producer Richard Dominick said, “Oprah bullied me, mostly because Jerry was so nice. Jerry was the nicest man in the world
Reflecting on Oprah's ratings defeat, producer Annette Grundy said: 'It was like a vindication, like you were always looking down on us, talking about us and making fun of us'
Producer Toby Yoshimura said: 'Oprah would say 'why would Jerry bring on those guys?' Jerry didn't turn those guys on, I turned those guys on. You're yelling at the wrong man.
“The way Oprah behaved compared to the way Jerry behaved? Jerry was a class act. He gave her the right of way and she hit back. It was so inappropriate.”
Executive producer Richard Dominick added, “Oprah bullied me, mostly because Jerry was so nice. Jerry was the nicest man in the world.
“He was a wonderful man and a gentleman and I felt like she needed to be taught a lesson. Then we went after her and then I could taste the blood.”
The producers explained that it became their mission to overtake Oprah in the ratings, pushing the boat out to book even more explosive and controversial guests.
Toby said: 'That fight with Oprah was like a pressure cooker of something – now the dial has to be turned up to 11.
'But we weren't a huge production machine, we were a small group of crazy people just trying to survive the week.
“Sometimes you try to book a story until the day before your show and you have nothing.
“Then it's better to just sleep in the office and keep calling, and if you're lucky, something will happen.”
However, their hard work paid off and in 1998 they finally scored more viewers than the chat show juggernaut.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action explores the show's origins and meteoric rise – as well as the dark side of its ratings – and what really happened behind the scenes
Reflecting on the moment they beat her, producer Annette Grundy said: “Nobody ever beat Oprah!
“It was like a vindication, like you were always looking down on us and talking about us and making fun of us, and we're worthless, but now look what happened. The waste wins the day!'
Jerry Springer: fights, camera, action explores the show's origins and meteoric rise – as well as the dark side of its ratings – and what really happened behind the scenes.
First-hand testimonies and revelations from show insiders, including producers and ex-guests, reveal the “destruction” the show caused.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action is available on Netflix.
