I watched the show today for the first time in about ten years (since I had heard it said that the guests were simply actors). In any case the people seemed to be somewhat sincere (it was a black lady who’s daughter had slept with her boyfriend). If they were actors they were at least above average. Has the show actually admitted to hiring actors in official circles? If not have there been investigative reporters that have shown this to be the case? Wouldn’t most people have my reaction and not watch if they thought that it was all acting? Have any other shows of this type (Montel, Maury ect) been accused of this practice?
I don’t think that they usually need to hire actors. Many people call in and sign up for stories that they do not live. There was a black woman from New Orleans a few years ago that claimed she had AIDS and still slept with as many men as she could to infect them out of spite. It turned out that she did not have HIV at all.
My wife’s aunt and uncle went on the Maury Povich show as part of a “Parents that Mortify their Children by the Way they Dress” expo. They really are part-time Harley bikers but they pulled out all the stops with their clothes and the way they acted. They coached my nephew to sob in the audience when they came on stage and interviewed him. Later, they gave them a makeover (and took everything back when the show was done).
I believe that they use regular people with or without a kernel of truth to their stories and get them to play it up.
Moving this from IMHO to Cafe Society.
May not always be actors, but as a wrestling fan, I’ve spotted many an independent wrestler up there posing as a father or boyfriend. I know the Iron Sheikh was once on as a father(and the storyline had nothing to do with his life). The Pitbulls from ECW have also been used a few times.
Springer-type talk shows are quasi-reality television. Plenty of coaching, wardrobe, makeup, rigged perspectives, props and scripted outcomes.
You’d think that after years and years on the air they’d figure out that bolting down the chairs might be worth a try.
Or that big expensive bouquets of flowers are only going to end up as assault weapons.
… which is exactly why you don’t see Ethan Allen oak living room chairs on the set for participants to sit in, and why you see those huge bouquets on each set.
Ya go with what works.
They are too awful to be real actors. Why pay for a prostitue when you can find an good whore. There’s no way the Springer show is paying scale for these people to be there. They are just pathetic people desperate to be on TV. Who knows what evil lurks at the bottom of this wretched piece of programming, but real trained actors are not on the show.
I remember, way back when Geraldo had a talk show, that he had on some teenaged sluts, with such charming street names as “Fuckalicious.” The girls were bragging about their wild ways and the number of boys they’ve serviced, and then Geraldo brought out their mothers.
The girls immediately shut up and started shifting in their seats. I saw one girl crying, “I didn’t mean it! I just said it to get on TV!” and she ran off the stage to hug her mother, who was sitting in the audience. They didn’t talk to her for the rest of the show, concentrating on the other girls, but I thought that was very interesting. I don’t think the editors caught it, since other kerfluffle was going on, but I think at least one girl was lying.
In this thread, there are several anecdotes about Dopers or acquaintances of Dopers who have made up stories to get onto a talk show.
I also recall that during the height of Jerry Springer’s popularity, strippers interviewed on the Howard Stern show would mention that they appeared on Jerry Springer. During the same timeframe, I remember seeing ads for local strip clubs advertising featured dancers who had appeared on Jerry Springer. This was roughly 1997-99, back during the days that they were peddling the “too hot for TV” DVDs. It seems that Jerry was hedging his bets and assuring that he’d have attractive women willing to take their shirts off on his show for the DVDs.
I’ve seen several Springer reruns where I recognized the same girl in each show but with different “parents” and other “family”.
Dude, you just admitted you watch Springer.
snirk
I liked it when the had GWAR on. Does anyone take GWAR seriously? I thought they pretty much just do all that outrageous stuff for shits and giggles?