A Man Died For Talk-Show Ratings
The only thing surprising about recent allegations that a man murdered another after being humiliated before a national television audience on “The Jenny Jones Show” is that it hasn’t happened before.
Have you ever seen these sleazy daytime talk shows?
The way they abuse and exploit people for the sake of Nielsen ratings, it’s surprising the guests don’t murder one another right there on the show. Contrary to her brighteyed appearance, host Jenny Jones is among the worst.
In an article last year on the rise of talk shows on TV, Jones described herself as honest and open, which really cracked me up. Jones seems to have no scruples whatsoever when it comes to exploiting guests. The reason boils down to money: Raw human emotion titillates viewers, and viewers seeking titillation watch a lot of TV.
The show that aired Wednesday was a perfect example. Had you tuned in, you would have seen several young women and men, all in their late teens and early 20s, alternately screaming and sulking over who had slept with whom - as if anyone outside their sullied little circle should care.
As the guests spoke their minds, lurid little phrases flashed on the screen, stuff like, “Just Found Out They’re Sleeping With The Same Guy” and “Stacy Denies Having An Affair With William.”
After several minutes of accusations and insults, Jones zeroed in on one of the wayward men who was claiming to be a good husband: “Didn’t she kick you out of the house?” she asked.
This is only one tiny point over which I question her honesty. You see, Jenny, who knows the answer in advance because of pre-show interviews, is setting her guest up.
The husband mumbled something unintelligible.
“Let’s bring the wife on,” Jones said. The audience hooted and hollered with the gusto of a rodeo crowd.
Other appearances in this “past guests” segment included a man who said he’s with only one of the three girlfriends who nailed him before (all three said he’s still calling them) and a woman who found out on the air that her fiance still visits strip joints (she wanted him to quit that scene, get married and start a family even though she keeps finding dancers’ phone numbers in his pockets.)
Of course, Jones never passes along any real advice, such as “Get real, sweetheart, and dump this jerk.” That’s because Jones and her genre don’t exist to help people. Au contraire. Their job is to ambush them. Expose them. Exploit their personal anguish as they scream, seethe or sob. This is the crowd that considered the busted nose Geraldo Rivera got on one show a badge of honor, a moment of “great television.”
But what do talk-show hosts such as Geraldo, Ricki Lake and Jenny Jones owe their guests who serve up blockbuster ratings on a silver platter?
Do they ever concern themselves with what will happen to these people next? What danger exists when TV types try to assess who can take the pressure of a television confrontation and who cannot? Do they screen people for emotional problems or violent tendencies?
Predictably, the show’s producers say they bear no responsibility for the inevitable fact that their nasty little version of Russian Roulette ended so tragically.
During a March 6 taping on secret admirers, guest John Schmitz, 24, came on stage expecting to meet one of his. He assumed it was a woman and, behold, on the stage was a woman he knew. Schmitz hugged her, but then was told that she wasn’t the one. Out walked a 32-year-old man Schmitz barely knew named Scott Amedure, followed by a tape revealing Amedure’s fantasy.
A few days later, Schmitz allegedly shot and killed Amedure in a rage after finding a sexually suggestive note from Amedure on the front door of his suburban Detroit home, investigators say.
Schmitz has pleaded not guilty.
So has Jenny Jones’ producer, a Time Warner company called Telepictures Productions.
“There was no wrongdoing on anyone’s part connected with the show,” a statement issued by Telepictures president Jim Paratore said. “Before each guest agreed to be on the show, he or she was fully briefed and each was told that his or her secret admirer could be a man or a woman. No one was lied to, no one was misled.”
What no one ever mentions is the world of difference between lying and the ways we sometimes manipulate words to mask understanding and achieve some intended surprise. Ambush TV lives or dies by its capacity to surprise.
“The Jenny Jones Show” continues to do so. A spot Wednesday asked viewers: “Do you have a crush on someone of the same sex and you want to reveal it?”
I declare. Decency is dead.
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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Diana Griego Erwin McClatchy News Service