On this date in TVKiese History, Jerry Springer made his sitcom debut on Fox Broadcasting's "Married… With Children" on Nov. 14, 1993.
At the time, Springer was a little known daytime talk host, just starting his third season in national syndication.
It would be another five years before his trash TV topics and chair-throwing guests shoved him to No. 1 in the daytime ratings in 1998 past "Oprah Winfrey."
Springer's first prime-time comedy exposure came with crass Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill). In the episode, Bundy went ballistic when women took over his favorite bowling alley and tavern. So Al launched a protest movement called NO MA'AM -- the National Organization of Man Against Amazons – which led to an appearance on the national "Jerry Springer" show on the sitcom.
Springer, the former Cincinnati mayor and WLWT-TV news anchor, taped the episode in October 1993, nine months after he left Channel 5 news. He had been commuting daily between Chicago, where he taped his show, and Cincinnati, to anchor the evening news with Norma Rashid.
His sudden popularity for beating "Oprah" resulted in guest parts in 1998 on "Roseanne," "The Chris Rock Show," "The Wayans Bros." and "Early Edition."
After Springer earned the dubious distinction in 2002 of TV Guide ranking his daytime talks show No. 1 on list of "Worst Shows In The History Of Television,” he began rehabbing his image. He started a daily liberal radio talk show from WCKY-AM in 2005; competed on "Dancing With The Stars" with Kym Johnson in 2006; and hosted NBC's "America's Got Talent" the summers of 2007 and 2008.
Springer, 72, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the "Jerry Springer" show in September.
