Remember Geraldo Rivera? This guy used to be everywhere in the 1980s and 1990s.

This was the beginning of the end of talk shows. I was 12 when he got hit by the chair. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. He’s going after skinheads, they throw a chair, it hits him, they walk around “sieg hailing” all over the stage. Bad ass. Then, decades later, I heard Henry Rollins discuss the incident. Was it cool? Yes, But what did we learn? Do we know what makes people racist? Did we change anyone’s opinion? What was gained from his experience? Ratings. It was pure entertainment, but nothing of value was learned. So what drives Geraldo? Ego. He just wanted the views. This “ratings grab” is what eventually led us to Jerry Springer. All entertainment, no education. And Springer was the end of the talk show era.