Well, last week we lost Jerry
Springer, the age of 79.
Now, his fame primarily came from the
often calamitous Jerry Springer Show,
But his life, which included being the mayor
of Cincinnati and a television news anchor,
it was an incredibly broad American story.
Verdue Bra works right here
in our building every day.
He's the senior executive producer
of Daily Blast Live.
You see it right here on Chin
Line every day at 3:00.
O'clock.
But before coming to Denver,
Bert's long and legendary
career in television,
also including being the creator of
and the executive producer of the Jerry
Springer Show and Bertu Brown joins
us now to reflect on on that life.
I think people always,
when they see someone that famous pass on,
they always felt like they knew him.
Did you get the feeling that people
who saw Jerry Springer on TV knew him?
I think they felt they knew him and
I think they wanted to know him.
He was that kind of guy.
I mean, you guys know on television
they always say the 1st 10 seconds,
you either like somebody
or you don't like someone.
Jerry was the most likable person
in the world. I mean, he was.
It's really in many ways the
opposite of what you saw because you
associated him so much with that show.
You know, and even I'm,
I'm separating, I'm separating it now.
And he was not that.
If you if you wanted to know Jerry,
and I've been saying this over the
last couple of days to a lot of
people that have been interviewing me,
you had to watch the final thought.
Oh, at the end of the show, the end
of the show, that final thought
was who Jerry really was.
And if you think about it, he made sense.
Kind of nonsense.
I mean, that's what he did.
It came from him being a news anchor,
by the way, and doing editorials.
And when we started the show,
I said to him, we got to figure
out a way to end the show and do
it like you do that editorial.
And we pretty much said okay.
And I said what about,
we'll just call it like a thought.
And we both said final thought.
And that's where it came.
It made sense out of what at
times, you know, a wild show.
And and we were talking about this
like there are so many generations that
know Jerry Springer, which is unique.
But when you say putting the show and show,
I mean, I think honestly,
like all of today's reality TV,
whether it's The Bachelor
or The Housewives shows,
they all learned the best from him.
I mean, he understood how to put on a
show that you couldn't stop watching.
No, he understood television
and understood it was a show.
Yeah, it was a show.
We were certainly not there to
teach anybody anything at all.
And you know it when it was sort
of middle ground, funky and crazy,
but middle ground people got upset.
They were not happy.
They thought we were screwing up
the American public and the culture
was going to grab out of the drain.
But when we got up here and we were a circus,
everybody got it.
And then they got it. I
have to ask you, because he was just
here several months ago and seemed
healthy and and to your to your
knowledge that point wasn't he was
he was. He found out a couple of months ago
that he had pancreatic cancer and Jerry,
his wife, Mickey, his daughter, Katie,
private people, very, very private.
They kept it to themselves and then boom,
we all, we all learned about it. I respect
that though because whether you're well
known or not and watching him on the show,
the life he brought to your show was a ton.
When he came to DBL,
everybody just loved him and and even
if you're not a well known person,
sometimes you don't want to tell people
something like this because well
meaning people say really dumb things.
That's right. And you know,
I called him and asked him
to come and do 2 days and
there wasn't even a question.
I'll be there Bert. You know,
just tell me when you need me.
That was the way he always we were.
Very much like them.
So this week there's been so much
reflection about the show and his
life and I'm sure you've enjoyed
and and you know reading all this
stuff that you already knew but to
hear other people talk about it,
But that show in particular,
the 25 plus year ride.
But when it started you
couldn't had any idea.
No, when we started it,
Phil Donahue who I hope people
remember you know was whispering.
About retiring, we were all the same company.
It was Phil Sally, which was also Jesse
Rafael and he was wish we were not retiring.
I went to the company and said I want
to do a show with Jerry Springer.
They were not happy about that because
he was an anchor and the management
will not be happy that I'm saying this.
But you guys are very important,
are very, very important.
The boss is here, be careful.
News is number one for a station.
So they didn't want to do that.
But I was able to talk to him and do it,
and we originally did it from Cincinnati,
where he was an actor,
and then we moved it to Chicago,
then eventually moved it to Connecticut.
How far
did that show change over the years,
the initial concept to what
became its, its mainstream life?
Was it very different than
what you'd originally planned?
Oh God, yes. I mean,
it was our version of the Donahue show,
you know, all of us at one time.
Sal or anyone, Sally Ricki Lake,
whoever was everyone tempers
blitz or everybody had a show.
We were all trying to do the
Dyna here show and in reality
none of us really pulled it off.
I mean, you know it's like everybody
tried to do the Johnny Carson show,
right, but nobody really pulled it
off but ended up doing their version.
We did our version.
Certainly the Springer show went into
a whole other sphere completely When
you mention those names though that.
That show worked because it was
Jerry Springer. Yeah, like you
couldn't have done it with someone.
I don't think that many other people
could have pulled it off because I
think you always saw that little wink
in his eye that he, he got it and
everybody at home knew he got it.
What do you think he would help people
remember about all these different
things about him besides the fact
I really do think he connected
with people kind of transcended.
I think he would say just real quickly.
And this I think hopefully answers a
little bit of the question when we
the one of the first interviews we
did was the Today Show and we were
sitting in the limousine outside in
Rockville Center role-playing as what
if Katie Couric says this, what if she
said that What you going to say Jerry?
What do you do? What do you do.
And we went over every possible thing
we get in the studio and she said
to him something to the effect of.
You know, well,
what do you think of the show?
And he said, well,
I think it's a stupid show.
He said I would never watch this show.
And so the reality is,
to answer your question,
he embraced it, he embraced it.
He never apologized for anything.
He was honest and that's at that's
who he was on camera.
That's who he was Off.
You've
told me had a big heart too.
And you know it's some of that
comes through on television
but doesn't always you're busy,
you're doing a show or whatever,
but you your relationship with him,
you said he was a big hearted guy.
He was the best.
He was the absolute best.
He helped people.
He gave to charities,
Never told anybody really nice.
He was very special, Bert.
It's good to see it.
We always see around the building.
But to get you to come in here and
share some of the stories of Jerry's
life and your relationship with them,
it's nice to you to come.
Thank you for inviting me. Come
down the hall.
Come visit more often.
I will. OK.