Named a Best Podcast of 2025 So Far by Vulture

From Leon Neyfakh and Prologue Projects — the award-winning team behind Slow Burn, Fiasco, Think Twice: Michael Jackson, and Backfired — comes Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer.

You may think you know Jerry Springer—the iconic TV host who presided over America's most controversial daytime talk show for 27 years. In that time, Springer’s name became synonymous with outrageous guests, taboo confessions, and vicious on-stage fights. But before The Jerry Springer Show made him infamous all over the world, Springer was something else entirely: a respected Midwestern politician whom many saw as a future leader in the Democratic Party. So how did this serious-minded idealist with lofty political aspirations take such a turn in such a radically different direction?

Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer tells the fascinating story of a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany who became the beloved mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio before morphing into a symbol of cultural decline. Through dozens of intimate and revealing interviews with those who knew Springer best—from his big sister to his early political aides to the producers who shaped his show—listeners will be transported into the world of this singular figure’s rise to notoriety, and his fascinating struggle to reconcile his status as “the king of trash TV” with his lifelong dream of returning to politics.

Final Thoughts examines timeless questions about ambition, compromise, and whether we can ever truly separate who we are from what we do for a living. Was Jerry Springer a principled would-be statesman who took a detour into the gutter, or did his show reveal something essential about his character – not to mention ours?

Final Thoughts was hosted and produced by Leon Neyfakh. The senior producer was Sam Lee. The editor was Diane Hodson. Sound design by Andrew Parsons. Producers were Katherine Sullivan and Arlene Arevalo, with additional production by Dustin DeSoto and Madeline Kaplan.

Archival research by Laura Coxson, with additional archival research by Francis Carr. Fact-checking by Maggie Duffy, with additional fact-checking by Madeline Kaplan. Theme song composed by Billy Libby. Audio mix by Erica Huang. Andrew Parsons is the executive producer at Prologue Projects.