Dom Robinson reviews
Jerry Springer: Too Hot For TV !
Distributed by
Medusa
Cat.no: MDV 146
Cert: 18
Running time: 53 minutes
Year: 1997
Pressing: 1999
Region(s): 2 (PAL)
Chapters: 6
Sound: Dolby Surround
Languages: English
Subtitles: Dutch
Presented in Fullscreen
16:9-enhanced: No
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £15.99
Extras : Scene index
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 programme
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.
Menu :
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!" .
PROGRAMME CONTENT : Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
PICTURE QUALITY : Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
SOUND QUALITY : Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
EXTRAS : No "Jerry!"s
------------------------------------------------------------
OVERALL : Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! & a half
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.
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