I love Maury Povich and Jerry Springer, I admit it.
I realize they’re really not helping anyone and the voyeurism of the shows is perhaps morally suspect but I just can’t help it. The acting out, screaming, and jumping up and down the guests do is just too damn funny. I don’t really care who the baby-daddy is or if any of these folks ever fix their relationships but the acting the fool they all do is hilarious.
It occurs to me though that I love Michael Savage for a very similar reason – he’s NUTS!
Like full-on, crazy, ranting, bat-shit NUTS and I love it! I disagree with everything I’ve ever heard him say and yet when I’m in the car I can’t turn it off.
Allow me to offer The 700 Club. Religious programming masquerading as “news”. Some are true news stores, granted… but the crazy pokes it’s head out before the fifth story in the broadcast. Pat Robertson’s almost certainly going to blame a flood/tornado/terrorist attack/etc. on the gays/liberal agenda/evil ways/etc. of a particular group of people in the affected area.
Maybe I’m too sensitive or some such crap, but I find Maury’s and Jerry’s shows to be embarrassing. Whether the “guests” are playing a part or genuinely frooty-loops, the theatrics make me cringe almost as much as their airing dirty laundry on TV.
My husband would watch Maury when he was home sick from work, but thankfully, he’s given it up in retirement. I suppose there’s an entertainment element of sorts, but it doesn’t appeal to me. I really pity the apparent need for attention or whatever that drives these shows.
As for Pat Robertson, I think you find his picture when you look up “bat-crap crazy.”
Then again, I can’t stand the interviews at the beginning of Wheel of Fortune when contestants talk about their “beautiful wife and three wonderful children.” Not sure why that irks me - maybe just because I can’t stand WoF but I get stuck watching it whenever we’re with the inlaws…
I don’t know how Jerry books his guests. if you’re not doing something cra-cra & get a call from his producers, you know you’re the third wheel who’s going to be embarrassed on national TV.
The best (of the few) Maury show I ever saw was the woman who brought the second guy on for a paternity test but it wasn’t his either. She vowed to be back because she was sure she knew who it was this time. :o
I used to enjoy coast to coast, but the refusal of the host to challenge anything no matter how stupid turned me off.
I prefer a local talk radio host who lets the crazy flow, THEN starts hacking at it with logic until the person walks out. He doesn’t attack them or the absurdity of what they say, but instead assumes their woo is true and uses logic to point out it isn’t even internally consistent woo.
When Art Bell would interview someone who was obviously whacked, even by True Believer standards, he would get a tone in his voice & an angle to his questions & comments which seemed to say “Yeah, I know, but isn’t this fun?!” George Noory, on the other hand, has a credulous “And then what happened, Grampa?” tone.
I used to watch sometimes when I was working second shift. It was on around the time I got up and was puttering around. It genuinely had some interesting and frequently uncovered news chunks buried in the stew of craziness. It could be fun to try and guess where the editorial content was going to go as the story started.
They are already in that close relationship with crazy. Odds are they have issues or like crazy already. Besides it’s a way to get all righteously angry, threaten violence, and strut around without getting your ass beat or ending up in jail. All that and they get paid.