presages Jerry Springer
TCM is showing this right before It Should Happen to You this morning. Both showed unsettlingly clear signs of what would happen to entertainment and celebrity in the years to come.
shareYou could say that, but IAFW's "Midnight With Madeline" was a satire of shows like "Strike It Rich" and "Queen For A Day" - wherein guests told their hard-luck stories in hopes of being helped out (or "rewarded," to put it more cynically) - that were already broadcast staples by 1955.
Poe! You are...avenged!
But the shows you mention didn't have the hard-luck cases acting angry and irate and then have the show culminate in a brawl with the host eating it up and playing it up for ratings. I think that's what the OP was getting at.
shareAh, I see what you mean. I never watched shows like Springer, but I had heard of the chair throwing and whatnot, so fair enough: I'll yield on that point. Not sure I've ever seen "It Should Happen To You," so I don't really know what it was that might have been depicted.
Thanks for the perspective.
Poe! You are...avenged!