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While Springer plays the ringmaster on his show, deep down he dreams of returning to political life. By the early 2000s, he seems ready to make a comeback. While some seem eager to welcome his brand of progressive politics, it’s unclear if voters can reconcile Springer’s serious side with the man they know from the show.
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Springer’s willingness to push the boundaries of what’s allowed on television – and the increasing amount of fighting on screen – put the show under a microscope. Springer and the show’s staff stand firm as accusations of violence, moral debasement, and fakery abound. In the process, Springer becomes a world-famous superstar – but what has he lost along the way?
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By the mid-1990s, The Jerry Springer Show had made a name for itself by embracing the messy and unbelievable aspects of people’s personal lives. As ratings soar, producers scramble to make shocking episodes that will live up studio executives’ highest expectations – and Springer’s guests are caught in the crossfire.
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As his success on the nightly news in Cincinnati lands him his very own show, Springer struggles to stand out from the crowded field of daytime talk… until one strong-willed producer encourages him to take the show in a new direction.
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Springer makes his most ambitious political move yet. And while his work on the campaign trail may not deliver him to the governor’s office, he finds his stride in another arena: television.
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When the scandal around Springer explodes into public view, he faces a reckoning in the city he has come to think of as his home. As Springer works to regain the trust of his community, where will he go next?
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Born in a London bomb shelter to WWII refugees, young Gerald Springer grows up steeped in liberal politics. After taking his talents to Cincinnati City Council, Springer wins over a base of support in a traditionally conservative town. But personal scandal threatens to drive him from the city that’s grown to love him.
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At the height of The Jerry Springer Show’s popularity, Springer himself is called in front of Chicago City Council to answer for the violent behavior that appears on the show. As he joked, hedged, and defended the debauchery on his program, few would recall that he was once a city councilman himself – a rising star in the democratic party – and a beloved and trusted local news anchor. How did Springer go from idealistic young politician to host of the “world’s worst television show”, and what was his legacy?
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It’s not that hard to kill a planet. All it takes is a little drilling, some mining, a generous helping of pollution and voila! Earth over. When you take stock of what’s left, it starts to look like a crime scene: decapitated mountains, poisoned rivers, oil-soaked pelicans, maybe a sun-bleached cow skull in a dried-up lake bed. The only thing missing is yellow caution tape. On each episode of Lawless Planet, host Zach Goldbaum reveals the scams, murders and cover-ups on the frontline of the climate crisis, and the life and death choices people are making to either protect our world – or destroy it.
Listen to Lawless Planet: Wondery.fm/LawlessPlanet
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Travis never thought he’d meet someone like Lily Rose. She was kind, passionate, beautiful. The woman of his dreams. There was just one small detail: she wasn’t human.
Lily Rose is an AI companion. A digital soulmate designed to be everything he ever wanted. She listens without judgement, supports him through his darkest moments, even explores his deepest desires, all while fitting neatly into his pocket. Before long, Travis realizes something strange, even absurd, has happened - he’s fallen in love.
But then one day, Lily Rose’s behavior takes a disturbing turn. When alarming reports pour in from across the globe, Travis discovers he is part of something much bigger. Soon he finds himself pulled into a confrontation with a mysterious Russian visionary behind Lily Rose’s creation.
From Wondery, comes a true story of love, loss and the temptations of technology. Can an algorithm truly replace human connection? And what happens when a corporation controls your deepest emotions? Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire, hosts of the hit podcast RedHanded, explore the dark side of AI love.
Listen Now: Wondery.fm/FleshandCode
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From the publisher's feed
Leon Neyfakh is a journalist and podcaster best known as the co-creator and host of Slow Burn, Fiasco, and Backfired. He has been a reporter for Slate, The Boston…
Season 3: OnlyFantasy
In this provocative investigation into OnlyFans— the adult platform where subscribers around the world spent more than $7 billion in 2024— journalist Leon Neyfakh teams up with comedian and OnlyFans creator Gracie Canaan for a one-of-a-kind exploration into the current state of human connection.
Throughout, they discover that the site originally built for spicy adult content has quietly and surprisingly become something more complicated— an emotional marketplace where desire, performance, care, fantasy, and vulnerability seemingly blur together.
As Neyfakh and Canaan navigate timely questions about autonomy, performance, and profit, a question emerges: is connection mediated by a screen still authentic? To find the answer, they meet creators building lucrative businesses, subscribers who believe they’ve found something real, professional “chatters” who are paid to simulate affection, and pioneers who have helped engineer intimacy at scale.
Captivating and tender, <i>OnlyFantasy</i> is ultimately about the cost of loneliness, the seductive power of desire, and how the rules of human intimacy are being rewritten online.
Is what’s happening on OnlyFans real? Or is it only a fantasy?
Season 2: Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer wasn’t supposed to become the host of The Jerry Springer Show. Before the chairs started flying and the fights became a daytime TV staple, the man then known as Gerald Springer was an idealistic rising star in Democratic politics, with ambitions to one day be elected governor of Ohio.
From Leon Neyfakh and Prologue Projects — the team behind Slow Burn, Fiasco, Backfired, and Think Twice: Michael Jackson — comes Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer.
You may think you know Springer, the notorious ringmaster of what TV Guide once called “the worst show in television history.” But long before Springer’s name became synonymous with outrageous guests, taboo confessions, and vicious on-stage brawls, he was the mayor of Cincinnati — a serious and popular politician who many believed was the future of the Democratic Party. So, what happened?
This series traces Springer’s unlikely transformation — from the son of Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany, to a respected public servant, to the face of a show many called a symptom of cultural decline. Through intimate interviews with the people who knew him best — family, political insiders, and the producers who helped shape his show — Final Thoughts will bring you closer than ever to the man behind the spectacle, and maybe even cause you to rethink some of your own life choices.
Final Thoughts isn’t just a story about one man’s improbable career path. It’s about how far someone can go for success and what they’re willing to trade to stay on top. Was Springer pulled into the gutter, or did he just understand it better than anyone else?
Season 1: Think Twice: Michael Jackson
More than a decade since Michael Jackson’s death, his legacy remains complicated and unresolved. Think Twice: Michael Jackson is an exploration of the King of Pop’s life and impact — and an investigation into why his global influence continues to endure, despite the disturbing allegations against him. In this ten-part series, journalists Leon Neyfakh and Jay Smooth bring you a new perspective on the Michael Jackson story, based on dozens of original interviews with people who watched it unfold from up close.
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