The Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action trailer brings us back to America's coliseum

The Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action trailer highlights the complicated legacy of Springer’s long-running, popular daytime talk show. “It’s a television show. We will all survive it,” he testifies at a hearing in one clip. But elsewhere, he sings a different tune, apologizing for “everything I’ve ever done,” admitting, “I have ruined the culture.” Undoubtedly Springer’s salacious, voyeuristic demonstration of outrageousness influenced a lot of entertainment today. But you can decide for yourself which of his assessments rings more true when the docuseries premieres on Netflix on January 7. 

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

Much like the show itself, the Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action trailer is an exaggerated, hyperbolic affair. “This was the most vile and grotesque freakshow that’s ever been on television,” one voiceover dramatically proclaims. Those involved with the show behind the scenes hint at guilt for their part in the exploitation; those involved with the show as guests express regret on behalf of themselves or their loved ones for taking part. Springer himself died in 2023, but his opinion of his own work—and how that might have evolved over time—is preserved and presented in the many interviews and broadcasts he gave over the years, and the hours and hours and hours he spent in front of the camera facilitating the shock and revulsion of the nation.