The marathon that is the Jerry Springer Show is likely to be coming to an end after 27 years. A controversial show of exploitation and moral panic, ‘a relentless orgy of humanity’s worst impulses’, ‘bear-baiting’ and ‘mob rule’ it lowered the tone of television and arguably set the stage for where we are now, politically and culturally.
Springer, an ex-politician, always had a hankering after a serious reputation but gave in to the forces of commerce and kept it rolling. Born 13 February 1944 11.45pm London, he has a powerful, influential and angry chart so it clearly fed some of his baser instincts. He has a 4th house Aquarius Sun in a confident opposition to a lucky 10th house Jupiter in flamboyant Leo.
More significantly he has Mercury in Aquarius in an Air Grand Trine to Neptune in Libra trine Uranus (Mars) in Gemini in the 8th, formed into a Kite by Mercury opposition a 10th house Pluto North Node in Leo – a communicator par excellence in so far as making his voice heard, giving expression to his volcanic, deep-rooted 8th house Mars Uranus, with his Pluto elevating him to ringmaster.
The show launched 30 September 1991 at 6pm New York (I think) which gives it again a hugely influential Pluto in Scorpio in the 8th though that can also be seen as dredging up the worst excesses of human behaviour. With Uranus Neptune in the 10th it was always going to arouse fanatical feelings and that squares onto Sun Mars in the 7th in Libra – with angry relationships spilling over into fist fights and worse on and after the show.
It may trail on with reruns and repeats for a couple of years but will come to a dead halt when the Solar Arc Mars conjuncts the Pluto in about three years time.
The Jerry Springer Show was like watching a car wreck – nearly impossible to not look. However, Jerry is not responsible for the collapse of civilization; he only brought the underbelly to light.
I watched him on “Who do you think you are?”, a UK tv show about ancestry. His parents had escaped Nazi Germany just three days before the start of WW2, arriving in England and he was born in Golders Green. The fate of his remaining family was tragic and both grandmothers died in the Holocaust. He traced his family back to 19th century Prussia, where he found they had suffered similarly due to anti-Semetism. He seemed intelligent, wise and was deeply moved by what he discovered regarding his background. I think it surprised many of us in the UK as to how different he came across from his Springer Show persona