Netflix announces “jaw-dropping” Jerry Springer documentary after Mr McMahon success

Netflix found streaming success with their gut-wrenching WWE documentary McMahon, so it makes sense to now turn to one of TV’s biggest warmongers, Jerry Springer.

WWE might be disguised in glitter and glamour, as explored in Netflix‘s hit Vince McMahon doc, but the Jerry Springer stage always relied on aggravating the average Joe.

Now, the talk show’s many controversies and daytime legacy will be reevaluated in the upcoming documentary Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action, coming to the streaming service on January 7, 2025. The two-part docuseries will explore how the fist-throwing spectacular came to be.

The official synopsis reads: “This jaw-dropping, premium two-part series will tell the story of The Jerry Springer Show as it’s never been told before.

“Packed with extraordinary first-hand testimony and revelations from show insiders, the series explores how this daytime talk show became one of the biggest and most outrageous TV hits of the nineties. But behind the entertaining facade lay some darker truths.

“As we hear from the producers and ex-guests of The Jerry Springer Show, a murkier picture begins to emerge of the destruction it caused, raising renewed questions about who was responsible, and how far things should go in the name of entertainment.”

The Jerry Springer Show first aired in 1991, and continued to run for 27 seasons until 2018. Originally, the talk show had humble beginnings, until a complete creative overhaul made it what it’s known for today: screaming matches, on-stage fights, and a rowdy audience. (“Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!”)

In 2002, TV Guide named it as the worst TV show of all time, leading Springer to use that description in each episode’s opening from then on. As the show continued, its reputation began to unravel, with real life tragedies impacting the guests (including a homicide in 2000). In the UK, the show was banned from being aired in the daytime.

Jerry Springer died in 2023 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 79.

For more, take a look at all the new TV shows coming to streaming this month. You can also learn more about the Hulk Hogan lawsuit in Mr McMahon, and find out where can watch Vince McMahon’s terrible No Holds Barred movie for free now.