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Even those who don't take legal action describe talk-show horror stories. Alan Klein, an independent publicist in New York City, got a call four years ago from a producer for 9 Broadcast Plaza, a now defunct local show. The producer, says Klein, was looking for "people with distinguished careers who had a little secret." Klein recommended a respected set designer who was gay. When the man arrived on the show, he found himself in unexpected company. The other guests included a 400-lb. Madonna impersonator in drag and a body-pierced couple dressed in leather. "When I found the segment producer and complained," recounts Klein, "she said, 'Sorry, we had to make some last-minute changes.' " His client left before the taping. Many other guests, who don't arrive with savvy publicists, remain and take the consequences.
Producers of these shows insist that they do not deceive guests about what is going to occur. "Guests are always given the parameters of a surprise," says host Jerry Springer. David Sittenfeld, executive producer of the Richard Bey show, describes the typical dialogue with a prospective guest who is going to be surprised: "We'll say, 'We want to reunite you with someone.' If they ask, 'Who is it?' we tell them we can't say because it wouldn't be a surprise. If they ask, 'Is it good?' our response is, 'It might be good, and it might be bad. We can't tell you. That's for you to decide. We don't know how you'll react.' "
Some press analysts point out that producers cannot be held responsible for the later actions of people who appear-- voluntarily, after all--on these shows. "We're all responsible for what we do," says former CBS correspondent Marvin Kalb. "It becomes too much of a cop-out for anyone to claim that it was a television talk show that was principally responsible for a dreadful action." The question, however, is whether in their increasingly desperate quest for confrontation, these shows are making such dreadful actions ever more likely.
--Reported by Georgia Harbison and David E. Thigpen/ New York and Mark Shuman/Chicago