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Of course, Springer stands on the shoulders of giants. Long before his show became a hit, Donahue and Winfrey were walking around the audience while their guests shared their personal tales. Lake, whose show debuted in 1993, refined the formula by adding confrontation. With her success came a clutch of imitators and a new round of fretting about trash television. But with all the competition, ratings began to decline, and by 1996, hosts like Rivera and Lake were taking the pledge to become more high-minded. They were encouraged by the experience of Jenny Jones, one of whose guests murdered another. These shifts and the success of Rosie O'Donnell heralded a new era of niceness, or so it was believed. In fact, a nastiness vacuum had been created, and Springer was there to fill it.
No one who is honest would deny that his show can be entertaining. But it is also--what are the right words? Horrible? Disgusting? It is disgusting because it parades real people before the mob as objects of ridicule. Of course, Springer says the show is "silly" and "outrageous" and a "cultural cartoon" and so shouldn't be taken too seriously. "Most people get the joke," says Steve Rosenberg, president of TV distribution for USA. "It's crazy and funny, like World Wrestling." He is quick to add that there's nothing fake about it--and that's exactly the problem. The Jerry Springer Show is like pro wrestling, except that the eye gougings, physical and emotional, are authentic. This is a joke?
The experiences of Nikki, a guest who talked to TIME after a recent taping, were not so hilarious. An unemployed high school dropout from Tampa, Fla., Nikki is 20 and has been married to Chico, 27, for less than a month. A few weeks ago, a producer for Springer called and asked if she wanted to appear. She had seen the show only a couple of times, and was skeptical because the producer wouldn't be specific about why they wanted her. That is typical, since the show depends on surprises. The producer pressed on, reassuring her that the experience would be positive. By the end of the phone call, Nikki had reluctantly agreed to appear. "I said I would do it as long as I didn't feel everyone was staring at me."
At the taping, Nikki learned two things about Chico she hadn't known before: that he was still seeing his ex-girlfriend Mindy and that he had a second lover--Rick. She encountered them both on camera, naturally, and Mindy assaulted her. Afterward, Nikki talked about what she'd just gone through. "I wanted to cry onstage," she said in a quiet voice, "but I held it in. I didn't want to look all soft and gullible. All I want to do now is sit by myself and cry." Her feelings were mixed, though. "It wasn't a bad experience," she said. "I'd come back. In some ways, it was a relief. I got to find out the whole truth with no holding back." To help patch things up with Chico, which she still thinks is possible, she may accept the show's offer to pay for counseling (only a tiny number of people do so). Guests are not paid, but they get a free trip to Chicago, where the show has its studio, and Nikki enjoyed riding the el and going out on the town with Chico the day before the taping. "I really loved our time here," she says.