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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Carl Yeh
The terrible temptation of trash TV
»—
CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
It might be silly, sloppy or
even sleazy, but the Jerry
Springer show can still be
a lot of fun to watch
Ilike to think that I’m fairly dis
criminating in my entertain
ment choices. The Spice Girls
make me retch, I avoid sitcoms
and I refuse to give in to the sicken
ing teenybopper sentimentality of
“Titanic.” This being the case, “The
Jerry Springer Show” should be an
affront. It should,
but every now and
again, around 11
o’clock in the
evening, I find my
self watching.
Earnestly watch
ing.
Sometimes it’s a
pressing social is
sue like “Pregnant
Bad Girls.” Other
OPINION
Kameron
Cole
times, it’s something simpler like “1
Won’t Let You Sell Your Body.” Oc
casionally, they whip out that clas
sic standby, "Guess What... I’m Re
ally A Man!” Whatever the topic, the
basic elements are always in place:
the deleted expletives, the obligato
ry rumble, and of course, that con
summate example of malice tem
pered with mercy, Jerry’s Final
Thought.
Oh, 1 know I shouldn’t watch. I
should be watching A&E, or better
yet, reading a book. But I often find
myself hypnotized by the spectacle,
the comical tragedy of it all.
And I’m not the only one. Ratings
for “The Jerry Springer Show” have
risen 183 percent over the past year,
and it has become the first talk show
to share the top slot with Oprah
since her show became No. 1 over 11
years ago.
There is, of course, an almost
dizzyingly wonderful irony in see
ing Jerry's trailer park shenanigans
holding their own against Oprah’s
grown-up austerity.
The show’s popularity is especial
ly intriguing. In terms of the stan
dard formula for TV success,
Springer is an anomaly. For one
thing, it’s syndicated, a term often
synonymous with basement-level
ratings. Furthermore, despite its
popularity, the show can still only
get away with charging about one
third of the advertising rates that
Oprah charges, and even then it’s
shunned by some major advertisers.
And there’s also the issue of con
tent. Compared to network fare like
Oprah’s and Rosie O’Donnell’s
shows, where general civility punc
tuated with the occasional bit of
choreographed zaniness is the stan
dard, Jerry Springer is about as far
from the mainstream as you can get.
This is the secret to the show’s
success. For every middle-income
suburbanite who delights in the lat
est offering from Oprah’s book club,
there's a college student just itching
to see some elbow-throwing and
hair-pulling on Jerry.
This isn’t a sign, as some of the
more high-brow culture critics have
suggested, of the decline of Ameri
can decency. That’s because while
it’s true that “Jerry Springer” isn’t a
classy show, America isn’t a classy
country. Indeed, it never has been
and isn’t likely to become one any
time soon. America is full of people
who are, at least some of the time,
Big Mac-chomping, tabloid-reading,
pop-culture animals. Springer’s
popularity serves this notice to the
cultural elites who squelch their
lower impulses and then presume to
look down their noses at those who
don’t: There’s more of us than there
are of you.
I personally know dozens of peo
ple who watch “The Jerry Springer
Show.” And I’m not talking about
slack-jawed yokels here. These are
intelligent people, people who can
think critically and engage in rea
soned debate. They merely like to
indulge in television’s version of the
middle-school food fight for a few
hours a week.
The truth is that there’s a lot of
crap on TV, and everyone has his or
her guilty pleasure. “The Jerry
Springer Show” is tacky and sleazy,
but it’s also great fun. In short, it’s
the perfect metaphor for America.
Kameron Cole is a columnist for the
Emerald. Her columns appear on alter
nate Wednesdays. Her views do not
necessarily represent those of the news
paper.
Thumbs
TO MICHAEL
MOORE:
Creator of the film
“Roger and Me,"
Moore has a new
movie out called
“The Big One.” tn the
film, Moore docu
ments his efforts to
meet with corporate
leaders while on a
book tour. Only one
CEO agreed to talk
—Phil Knight. Ap
parently, Knight
wishes he'd kept his
mouth shut; various
reports indicate Nike
executives are angry
about the way the in
terview was edited
and conducted. Nev
ertheless, Moore
has resisted pres
sure to alter the film
and has left in
footage of the inter
view, which portrays
Nike and Knight in a
less than admirable
light
TO CANADA
BORDER CHECKS:
Border officials have
increased efforts to
stop drugs from be
ing smuggled into
the United States.
Unfortunately, the
checks have tied up
commuters for
hours while catch
ing, by the admis
sion of officials, a
minimal percentage
of offenders. Addi
tionally, the drug for
which police are
searching is mari
juana. Yes, that's
right, time and mon
ey are being squan
dered to keep “high
potency" potout of
the Northwest. Yes,
we’re talking about
the same Northwest
where grandmoth
ers keep cookie jars
filled with bud
brownies. OK, per
haps we exaggerate,
but the point is that
anti-marijuana ef
forts on this scale
are wasting re
sources without any
chance of being ef
fective.