The Steve Wilkos Show

Watching altogether too much daytime TV this week in an effort to catch up on the new shows, I'm starting to develop a conspiracy theory about daytime programming in general.

Most of it is so bad, it must be a plot by the government to get us all out of the house and to work.

The worst of daytime locally, I'm not proud to say, is provided by the local Fox afilliate that is owned, like The Courant, by the Tribune Co.

Fox 61 likes to pride itself on its hourlong newscast at 10, but it's the one local station that has no other news the whole rest of the day -- nothing in the morning, nothing in the early evening.

Worse, it fills the daytime with only the worst syndicated trash -- two helpings each of "The Jerry Springer Show," which has degenerated into pretty much a barroom brawl from segment to segment; and two more of "Maury," which is pretty much now a hideous paternity results game show. (Kids can catch both when they get home at 3 o'clock!).

In between them now is "The Steve Wilkos Show," from the people who brought us Springer.

Wilkos in fact is the bald-headed tough who earned his fame by being the chief (and very busy) bouncer on the Springer show. On a couple occasions, as Springer's duties on more mainstream reality shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and then last summer's "America's Got Talent," Wilkos has stepped up to "host."

Most of that involves being more like a ring announcer, introducing the lowlifes who will swing at their exes or girlfriends as soon as they're on stage (today, Springer added Dixieland music to the brawling).

Lots of Wilkos' show looks like Springer's. They're both shot in Chicago, in possibly the same studio. The excitable audience is just as apt to yell at the guests or break out into chants at the drop of a fist -- yelling "Steve! Steve!" instead of "Jer-ry!" of course.

Wilkos, for his part, doesn't shrink to the back of the studio as Springer often does, trying to disassociate from the mayhem he in fact has caused by throwing up his hands as if to say "What are you going to do?"

Instead, the former bouncer is right in it, nose to nose to those he dislikes, hugging those he's trying to side with.

Guests ask to be on the show to "seek Steve's help," although it's not always clear how much he can do with pure bullying and audience shaming. There's none of the occasional humor of Springer.

The Tuesday show had something to do with deadbeat dads, people held in such low esteem he didn't offer them chairs (it was Wilkos, in fact, who tossed the chair; he wasn't waiting for his guest to do so). Wednesday, it was a group of teenage girls who wished their mother would get off drugs and prostitution and get more involved in their lives.

Wheras Springer would have such a group on and off between commercial breaks, Wilkos stretches the show out for the full hour, browbeating in a Dr. Phil way and yelling when the people aren't listening to him. He's a former cop who has his own daughter, he keeps saying. But apparently he doesn't know much about addiction (in many cases people can't decide to stop on their own, for example).

Anyway, right and wrong are not difficult to identify. There are no grey areas. Eventually, he may be able to bully America into being a better place.

In promos for later shows this week, he yells at top volume to a woman already in jail for subjecting a child to something terrible: "I hate you for what you did to your daughter!"

Because he confronted her in jail, he was denied the Greek chorus of his fans behind him, chanting "Steve! Steve!"

Comments

[MIKI]

RAS,
Nice comment, I am tired of explaining to these Steve fans the very articulate argument you make. They will never get it until it is them who steps on the opposite side of rightousness. Whether as simple as a white. lie, Well, I told myself I would never comment anymore and just pray for the demise of this awful show. Which I do not watch. I do want it off in much of the same way I thank god that Hitler was stopped. Its pointless to try to get this type of people to understand good help from bad help.
The venue that Steve uses is not conducive to help. Ratings and Money thats all he is after. Just like people follow false prophets these people will follow. They are the ones who sit and wait for someone to make what they believe is a difference. Its people like you and I who actually make a difference without profit and television fame.
Thank you for you comment.

[RAS]

Amy-

I'm glad it brightens your day since that it what is important, brightening people's days. That's why the fans like this show, because it makes them feel better to see these people get yelled at. Apparently, these fans don't seem to care whether or not Steve Wilkos actually helps anyone. It is a proven fact that people that have been abused are more likely to abuse. Does that mean that everyone that has been abused is going to go on and abuse others? No, but that doesn't change the fact that some will. Giving "tough love" is one thing, yelling at people with profanity and cruelty is another. Many of the guests on this show aren't going to stop there destructive behavior because of or in spite of being on the show. Sure, everyone feels happy that the bad people got yelled at, but if they are going to hurt more people, is it worth it? Meanwhile, Steve is laughing all the way to the bank.

Maybe the molesters or whomever deserve this cruelty, but if it doesn't help or potentially worsens the situation, is it really worth it? Someone respond to that.

[Amy]

Dear Steve,

I am a huge fan of your show and of you. You are not afraid to tell the low lifes how it is. I believe we need more citizens like you in todays society.I am dumb founded at the comments some people make regarding the way you handle child molesters and child abusers. What do they think you should do give them the red carpet treatment? Screw that if I had my way they would have the same treatment done to them that they did to those poor innocent children. I was an abused child and trust me what you do tho those low lifes just brightens my day. Another thing that ticks me off is how they use the excuse that they were abused children and that they can't help it, bull crap I don't go around beating and molesting children I have 6 kids and none of them are being hurt or touched. You are a true hero. Please Keep up the good work. Thank you for all you do,
Amy

[steve J.]

People in prison are paying for their crimes and should not be disrespected by some talk show host who is after ratings and abuses his power.

[steve J.]

I think he means well, but is not educated and needs more training to accomplish what he is trying to do. I know from having a counseling degree that yelling and disrespecting people is not therapeutic. It only has a place in certain situations like scared straight programs for childeren. Guests personal space should be respected, and he should know from being a police officer to touch someone is technically assault. Kids should not be allowed to watch this show as it teaches them that yelling and intimidation are ok and they will practice it themselves. They will use it against anyone that they disagree with or dislike. Steve should not be so judgemental on every little detail that is basically opinion.

[andy]

steve,
being an eight year marine vet myself i certainly understand the hard ass aproach! i certainly wish i had someone like you when i was getting beaten and molested daily by my folks when i was younger. i love your show! its the best thing to happen to the bleeding heart liberals in a long time! however, i am also a recovering alcoholic and have been sober for 12 yeas now.i watched the episode with the dad who sold his daughters. steve, those girls thought they had all the answers and knew what the world was like. i likened it to cancer.are we gonna beat up a dieseased person. love ya steve,and semper fi!

[Holly-raye]

The only reason steves like that on the show is to get a reaction from the audience!
He annoys me so much :@
Hes constantly going on about his daughter and how tough he is :@
Hes meant to be a host.
You dont threaten the people who are on your show :@

[tina]

hey steve

i really love your show i really hate it when parents mistreat their children but you put them straight i think ur a really good guy also i need your advice my husband is leaving for iraq for a year and we have three kids together what would help while hes gone

[Steve Hammonds]

Wilcos show is not the worst show i have ever seen. In fact its the second. Although he was a big part of the first. His atempt to make up for the lives he help damage so badly started out pretty good. Now however it is a complete JOKE!!! His constant screaming at people over what to me looks like flimsy facts and lie detector tests sickens me. Steve appears to be a good man or tries to be just like any man. His show makes him look like and ass. How much good does screaming at people really do? Springer was entertaining for the same reason for the same reason fans watch car crash videos. Steve's show is nothing like that for a reason i hope. It's just his style in trying help is failing horrilbly.
Screaming at even those who come to his show to help better the problem get crusified for past problems for is shows sake. I hope he tries harder.

[Don Pike]

Could anyone from National Inquirer try to find out about the bulls___ that this moron claims like his USMC and Chicago Police duties. He is a BULLY and it would not surprise me to hear that he had numerous Complaints filed against him as a bully of of cop and his USMC Duties would most likely be as a back line coward who could only be effective against those smaller than him or who were intimidated by him. He is a fake and someone should take to time to dig the truth up.

[Mike]

The Steve Wilko show is proof they'll give a talk show to anyone! He is, obviously, nothing more than a loud mouth bully, getting in the face of people and yelling at them with a bunch of Springer inbreds rooting him on! I'd hate to see him with a REAL job working with the public! I'd rather watch my turds go down the drain when I flush than to watch this bald turd on TV. The only people that watch him are Springer inbreds!

[Deb]

Seve,
I am a mother, nurse and a caring loving person. I have a real problem with your show. Not because you get in-the-face of some victimizing piece of crap that shatters innocent children's lifes but that it's not legal for you to beat them to an inch of their worthless life! I will continue to watch your show everyday and hope that one day my dream will come true!If you send me a tee-shirt I will wear it with pride. Thanks,Steve.

[BRENDA WATKINS]

GOOD ;IF ONLY WE HAD JUDGES ETC, LIKE STEVE NEED I SAY ANYMORE .

[brian young]

i watch the show today steve was talking to a young girl 17 yrs old who was trying to kill her unborn baby an told her he would help her if she would stop trying to kill the baby that really touch me i think steve is a real good person if he gets on somebody for doing something bad and dog's them out then they must need it keep it up steve somebody needs too

[CORRINA WHITE]

HEY STEVE, I JUST WANTED TO STOP IN AND SAY I THINK YOUR DOING A GREAT JOB, I WISH THERE WAS SOME ONE LIKE YOU AROUND WHEN MYSELF AND MY SISTER AND BROTHERS WERE GROWING UP TO STOP THE ABUSE THAT WAS INFLICTED UPON ALL OF US FROM OUR PARENTS... IM SO SICK OF HEARING TIRED EXCUSSES FROM PEOPLE ON WHY THEY DO DRUGS AND ABUSE THEIR CHILDREN, MY EX WAS A METH ADDICT AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY CHILDREN, I WONT ALLOW IT.. THEREFOR THAT MAKES ME A SINGLE MOM OF THREE TEENAGERS, IVE RAISED THEM SINCE THEY WERE ALL LITTLE ON MY OWN, WE HAVE A HOUSE TWO TRUCKS FOOD BILLS PAID ON TIME AND I OWN AND RUN MY OWN BUISNESS FROM MY HOUSE, AND STILL HAVE MONEY TO GET WHAT THE KIDS NEED. IF I COULD OVER COME THE ABUSE THAT I ENDURED GROWING UP AND ACOMPLISHMENT SO MUCH FOR MY CHILDREN NOW THEN SO CAN EVERYONE ELSE, THEY JUST NEED TO GET UP OFF THEIR ASSES AND SUPPORT THEIR KIDS AND STAND BY THEM INSTED OF SUPPORTING THEIR HABITS AND STANDING BY THEIR DRUG DEALERS.... GREAT JOB STEVE KEEP ON BUSTING THERE ASSES..... OH YEA AND MY SON DEVIN WHO IS 12 CURRENTLY IN BASIC TRAINING FOR THE SOUTHERN KENTUCKY YOUNG MARINES.. SEMPER FI .......... SINCERLY CORRINA WHITE , SCOTTSVILLE KENTUCKY.....

[liz]

steve we watch your show evey day and it's about time someone stands up for the kids

[Chris]

I watched the Steve Wilkos show for the first and the very last time today.

I'm truly disgusted that this show was ever allowed to air and I blame the TV producers for sinking low enough for doing it. We have ratings systems on movies and censorship on video games (that are obviously not real) to protect our children from seeing violent behavior and yet TV producers are allowed to show a real obviously ignorant, unqualified, abusive pig get up and shout, scream and threaten people on world TV and call it “counseling” and “helping” as acceptable.

We campaign against bullying in schools and yet this is allowed?. Steve what a wonderful legacy you’ll leave to the world and your children, being permanently immortalized on film in the above light. You should have kept your mouth closed and stayed as the likable happy smiling bouncer from the Jerry Springer show instead of showing the world you really should have been one of the guest on the show. There are two ways of thinking either you really are like this or your hamming it up for TV and the money either way it’s sick making money off fueling and encouraging hate.

All this show does is encourages violence and the TV producers should be taken to account for allowing this to happen. In a sick sort of way I almost hope something goes wrong that lands the TV producers in jail for allowing this travesty maybe it will actually teach TV producers there are some lines that should not be crossed.

Don’t get me wrong I definitely do not agree with the people’s past behavior that go on the show but being more disgusted with the behavior of the host than the people on the show is not good. The episode I watched by the way was “My mother swapped me for a bird”.

I sympathize with those who have posted here who have had very bad experiences and have had no help or champion but this “man” is not the answer.

[TERRI WEBB]

Steve i watch your show all the time I'm am glad to see that finally there is someone that stands up to the woman beaters and child molesters they dont feel sorry for the children they hurt or the woman they hurt i wouldnt shake there hands either keep on doing what you do and if they dont like it change the channel ..baltimore md..

[SALLIE HARPER]

STEVE,
I THINK THAT IF THERE WHERE MORE PEOPLE OUT THERE LIKE YOU THERE WOULD BE LESS ABUSED CHILDREN AND ADULTS AND AS FAR AS YOU BEING SO TOUGH ON ALL OF THESE CRACK HEADS AND MOTHERS WHO ARE ON ANY KINDS OF DRUGS I REALLY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE NEARLY HARD ENOUGH BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GOING TO SAY THAT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT PEOPLE HAVE TRIED TO HELP THEM THEY JUST REALLY DONT CARE WHO THEY HURT OR EFFECT WITH THERE DRUG OR ABUSE THEY ARE JUST LOOKING FOR A FAST FIX TO A NEED AT THAT IME NOT THINKING WHAT THEY HAVE DONE SO KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AND IF YOU FOR ME BE LITTLE HARDER ON THEM BUT THEY MOST LIKELY NOT TAKE TO HEART JUST WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO OPENING PEOPLES EYES OUT THERE THAT THERE ARE SOME REAL PROBLEMS IN THIS WORLD

[Kevin]

Steve Wilko, I am afraid you are a bully who is in need of therapy, as all of your guests do.

To the Steve Wilko fans, condoning Steve's behaviour does not move society forward but backwards, and I do question why should such fans enjoy his show. The under-current of the show is deeply disturbing: to have an audience shouting and screaming for blood, egging Steve to continuously move the boundary beyond what is deemed to be acceptible behaviour is worrying. Although, I agree that Steve, Jerry Springer and others of "populist" presenters are just holding up a mirror of society, but resolving the problems cannot be achieved with the methods employed these types of shows. Steve is clearly after ratings, which is great for the advertisers, presenters, crew, producers etc...but bad for society over all.

"The poor always pays"

[Christy]

Steve -I watch your show I thank People should be Thanking You .
You are The ONE Voice for all of us who survived sexual abused one way or another,dirt bags all over the world need to sit onetime with you ! Way to go
THANK YOU again
Christy
Portland ,OR

[Nancy]

The Steve Wilko Show is, in my opinion, the worst thing on TV. Steve Wilko eipitomizes every horrible, self important, bullying cop I've ever had the displeasure to meet. If I've got the TV on and it comes on, I rush to turn it off--I hate it that much. And this show appeals to the basist of human instincts. I am reminded of the bible story..."let he who is without sin cast the first stone". Does Steve feel that his character is so perfect that he is above reproach? And don't get me started on his grammar & diction--in my opinion, he's more suited for a back alley in Chicago than in front of a camera. Once I heard him berate some parent who hadn't seen there child in a while "I go home & see my kid every day!!" I thought to my self, "that poor child, who has this macho bully for a father". The way I see it, this show can't go on much longer, because they're going to run out of patsies to appear when word gets around as to how his "guests" are treated!

[Charmaine Dullard]

Hi Steve,

I am emailing from London England, I love your show and I think you are doing a real good job if only there were more people like you not just in the USA but here in the UK. Ihave been moved to tears with some of your stories, I do have one question do you go back to some of the people you have helped it would be nice to see if they were serious about changing their lives. If and when I come to the USA Iwould love to see your show in person instead of watching you on the TV.
Take care, you are doing a real good job.

Charmaine x

[cathy schwarz]

Steve, I think you're great!! As for all these people who think you're " too tough ", either they are also one of these jerks or they just can't see past themselves.. they also need to be yelled at!! You're show is great!! I hope you're on for a long long time. God Bless you and your family!! Cathy

[Christine]

Are the comments from people supporting this guy's show for real? Do these people really think this site is Steve's personal site? Or are people posting fake comments to make the fans of the show look incredibly dumb? I'm amazed at some of these comments. They really do seem too stupid to be true. The spelling and grammar errors, the typing in all caps, the hope/fear that Steve himself will read the comment on the show (one commenter even seemed to think he was sending Steve an email). Is this for real?