The Steve Wilkos Show

The Steve Wilkos Show
Genre	Tabloid talk show
Presented by	Steve Wilkos
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jerry Springer Rachelle Wilkos
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndicated
Picture format	NTSC 480i
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	September 10, 2007 (2007-09-10) – present
Chronology
Related shows	The Jerry Springer Show and The Maury Povich Show
External links
Website

The Steve Wilkos Show is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The show debuted on September 10, 2007, two months after Wilkos' departure as director of security on The Jerry Springer Show.

History

The show has Wilkos expanding on his successful "Steve to the Rescue" shows that he did while serving as a substitute for Jerry Springer whenever Springer took breaks or was doing other projects, such as Dancing with the Stars. The idea of Wilkos having his own show came as a result of this approach, which proved to be so popular with viewers that the producers of Springer pitched the idea of giving Wilkos his own show to NBC Universal, which proved successful. On his show, each episode of the show focuses on the topics usually addressed by this type of talk show, mainly involving adultery, domestic abuse, paternity, disrespectful children and teenage pregnancy, with other topics of the same ilk also covered often.

As noted, Wilkos' show deals with more serious topics than Springer usually covers, most involving criminal justice issues. He recently did a show that included a mentally unstable man who had killed his own infant child. Wilkos will often refuse to let guests accused of misbehavior, convicted of certain crimes (especially sex offenses and spousal/child abuse) to sit down in the chairs on his soundstage. Wilkos will sometimes toss these chairs aside when he is angry and for dramatic effect. He often notes in his show that the reason he does so is because when the accused committed the crime against the victim, they weren't making them "comfortable" and as such, they don't deserve to be "comfortable" while on his show. Irrespective of any heinous behavior, Steve typically lets pregnant women and teenagers sit on his stage.

Wilkos often gets into close confrontations with guests by not letting them have a seat and raises his voice, but avoids physical contact with them unless necessary to defend himself or other guests. When a guest begins to explain their actions in greater detail, Steve will often ignore and shout over the top of them. When guests get aggressive, Wilkos has threatened them with arrest. When guests flee backstage to try to get away from Wilkos, he often follows them and continues the confrontations. Almost always, when Steve has had enough of a particular guest, he will throw said guest off the stage, yelling "Get off my stage!", and with increasing frequency, will have them forcibly removed from the studio as well.

Changes

In the show's first season, Wilkos frequently closed episodes with readings of both positive and negative e-mails he received from viewers. He would preface the readings by saying, "If I read your letter, and if you're not a knucklehead, moron or belly-rubber, I'll send you a free t-shirt." He also proclaimed his show to be "Moron-Free TV", and declared that those who sent him negative e-mails were "not allowed to watch". In the second season, these readings are less frequent, Wilkos no longer uses the "knucklehead," "moron," "belly-rubber" or "Moron-Free TV" labels, and everyone who has their e-mail read gets the free t-shirt.

Also in the second season, Wilkos began dividing some episodes into two segments, each one dealing with different guests and issues.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, show creator and executive producer Richard Dominick was forced from the program by Springer and NBCU Domestic Television after encouraging Wilkos to become extremely physical with a guest. Rachelle Wilkos, Wilkos' wife and a long time Springer crew member, is now the program's executive producer.

Wilkos' third season premiered September 14, 2009, now originating from the Stamford Media Center in Stamford, Connecticut complete with a new studio. Fellow NBC-Universal talkers Maury and Springer made the move, as well. On October 25, 2010, it was announced that his show was picked up by NBC Universal through the 2013-14 season.

Wilkos' fifth season premiered September 19, 2011, debuting new graphics.

See also

• Kenny Easterday
• Jerry Springer: The Opera
• The Jeremy Kyle Show (UK version)
• The Jeremy Kyle Show (U.S. TV series)
• Face to Face (Philippine TV series)

External links

• Official site
• The Steve Wilkos Show at the Internet Movie Database