Here’s a story I never thought I’d tell publicly, but with legendary Jewish talk show host Jerry Springer back in the headlines, it feels right to spill some behind-the-scenes tea. On Tuesday, Jan. 7, Netflix drops “Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action,” a two-part docuseries diving deep into the chaos, drama and legacy of the iconic talk show. And here’s a fun fact to kick things off: The Jewish Light has just five full-time employees and two of us have life-changing Springer connections. What are the odds?
My Springer story
In the fall of 1994, I was working at a television station in Knoxville, Tenn., which was owned by Multimedia Corp., the same company that owned “The Jerry Springer Show.” After some finagling I managed to somehow get Jerry Springer to come to Knoxville to appear on a live-call-in TV show I was producing. He appeared for two nights, and the shows were a hit.
We kept in touch. In the spring of 1995, Jerry Springer invited me to Chicago to interview for a job on his show. That same week, I also interviewed in St. Louis for “Show Me St. Louis” at Channel 5.
I got both jobs.
That’s when the story takes a turn. Ann Eisen, the CEO of the Jewish Community Center in New Orleans, La. and the mother of my sort-of girlfriend (now wife) Leigh Eisen, stepped in. She learned of the Springer job offer and promptly informed me that if I ever seriously wanted to marry her daughter, I should not take the job.
“Über mayn toiten kop”—“‘over my dead body’—will any son-in-law of mine work for Jerry Springer,” she told me (or something close to it).
I wisely listened to my future mother-in-law.
Stacy Wolff Smart: From Jerry to the Jewish Light
Turns out, I’m not the only one at the Jewish Light whose life intersected with Springer. Stacy Wolff Smart, now the chief of revenue growth and community engagement at the Light, spent time as a producer on “The Jerry Springer Show.”
In the fall of 2002, she began work on the show, producing episodes with titles such as “Feisty Females,” “Lovesick Liars” and “Hillbilly Love Triangles.” And while Wolff Smart soon realized this wasn’t what she wanted from her career, she still has fond memories of that time, including one about her husband, Rob.
Rob Smart worked on the Springer show before his now-wife started, and when she got her desk, his name was still on the company phone list. When they met at a different production company about a year after Wolff Smart left Springer, she joked, “Oh, your name was on the phone list at my desk!”
For Wolff Smart, Springer was a whirlwind of chaos, memorable storylines and even the occasional bizarre moment—like a taxi ride with someone going through heroin withdrawal. While “The Jerry Springer Show” was a hotbed of drama, its influence on Wolff Smart and her husband’s careers—and her eventual role at the Light—is undeniable.
So, what are the odds? Two of the Light’s five full-time staffers crossed paths with Jerry Springer, and those interactions helped shape the course of our lives.
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action
The docuseries premieres Tuesday, Jan. 7, offering a no-holds-barred look behind the scenes of theshow that defined shock TV in the 1990s. Directed by Luke Sewell (“Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King”), the series features firsthand accounts from producers, guests and others involved in the show, diving deep into its chaotic energy and lasting impact.
The docuseries promises to tackle tough questions about the ethical boundaries of entertainment and the fallout from the show’s wild antics. Springer, who died in March 2023 at 79, left a legacy as a trailblazing yet controversial TV figure.
The show will be available exclusively on Netflix.
