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Jerry Springer: Too Hot For TV! is the first compilation of classic moments from the American TV show which first began in 1991 and has seen over 1200 episodes aired to date. The format has been copied many times but nothing can match the original chat-n-fight format. In each episode, two people will come on stage for what looks like the start of a standard chat show about their own problems, but one will make a revelation that will forever drive a wall between them. This usually involves a third party being brought into play at which point a fight ensues.
That is a template for the show after which follows more guests providing variations on a theme. Given that almost anything in life can happen, there is an almost-infinite number of variations that can occur.
The programme is broadcast daily on television, ITV in the United Kingdom, but all the bad language and anything controversial, such as nudity, is edited out for home viewing. Jerry Springer: Too Hot For TV! gives you the chance to see ‘the best of’ these in their full uncut glory.
Clips included on this DVD include, “My Sister Slept with My 3 Husbands”, ”My Dream is to Pose Nude” and a food fight in “Holiday Hell with My Feuding Family”, not to mention the scene where a man has his own stag night and lap-dancers on stage. His girlfriend was there with him and gave him the choice: either he declines the invitation to eat whipped cream straight from a busty girl’s breasts, or his fiancee finishes with him. He’s a red-blooded male so you can’t fault him when he makes his choice. If his fiancee had been faced with a similar situation involving the Chippendales, she’d have done the same.
The encoding on this DVD is first-rate with no artifacts. The only reason it loses a star is because the picture quality is a little soft as a result of the conversion from NTSC to PAL, since the show originates in the USA. That said, in the main it looks identical to the broadcast-quality images the programmer receives on a daily basis. The average bitrate is a high 6.97Mb/s peaking at 9Mb/s and is not presented in anamorphic format, a process which provides extra resolution for those watching on widescreen televisions, as it is a 4:3 fullscreen title.
The sound quality is also excellent. It’s not a surround-sound fest but what’s there comes across without a hitch. There’s no Dolby Digital logo on the back so it may not be Dolby Digital 2.0, just standard Dolby Surround.
Extras:
- Chapters: There’s a mere 6 chapters on this disc to cover the 53-minute running time. The first covers Jerry’s introduction and the next four serve to split up the running time as opposed to sectioning the action into different genres. The last chapter, a “Bonus” one, is the 12-minute piece which features footage deemed “Too Hot For TV !”. Since parts of it is reminiscent of earlier Jerry footage, it’s not always enough to get banned from a TV broadcast but it’ll certainly set granny’s ears alight…
Languages & Subtitles: The programme is in English only, but the subtitles can only be selected in Dutch. Sounds odd, but the one disc is covering two separate markets. When the player starts up you are offered a choice between English or Netherlands. Select English and you’ll get the Medusa logo followed by the chapter selection. Select Netherlands and you get a logo for Arcade Pictures, whoever they are, then an option for subtitles on/off and then the chapter selection.
One could say that subtitles aren’t necessary because the words are mostly profanities – and the Dutch subtitles appear on top of the onscreen logos such as “Jerry Springer: My Sister Slept with My 3 Husbands” which isn’t too helpful. Personally, I’ve found the only time subtitles are needed are for when ITV show the usual censored editions with bleeped-out swear words, as there’s so much bleeping going on that you can’t hear the rest of it so need the other words onscreen to keep up with the script, er.. I mean spontaneous conversation.
The menu is static, but quite a colourful affair with still shots of clips from the respective chapters. is simple and effective. You can skip past the copyright info by fast-forwarding past or selecting a pre-saved bookmark.
Overall, this compilation is a must for anyone who wants to sample the best bits of Jerry Springer’s show or for those who want to see plenty of big-breasted women squirt liquids of different viscosities upon their ample charms and thanks to the top-rate encoding job done on this DVD, it can all be seen in an artifact-free environment.
It’s also worth noting that thanks to the low price of this disc, it’s only costing £2 more than the video for something that has twice the resolution. A videotape of this would suffer from much use of rewinding and pausing for certain scenes, which is something that won’t affect this DVD.
The best parts are probably when someone starts a fight at which the audience stand up to chant and it won’t be long before you’re joining in with the call of “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!”
Jerry Springer: Too Hot For TV! is out now on DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! No Jerrys |
| OVERALL | Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! & 1/2 Jerry! |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 53 minutes
Studio: Medusa
Year: 1997
Released: 1999
Cat.no: MDV146
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 6
Sound: Dolby Surround
Languages: English
Subtitles: Dutch
Fullscreen: 1.33:1
16:9-Enhanced: No
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD5
Price: £15.99
Extras : Scene index
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.