For the talk show hosted by Steve Harvey, see Steve (talk show) ''The Steve Wilkos Show'' is a syndicated American

tabloid talk show A tabloid talk show is a subgenre of the talk show genre that emphasizes controversial and sensationalistic topical subject matter. The subgenre originated in the United States and achieved peak viewership from the mid-1980s through the end of t ...

hosted by

Steve Wilkos Steven John Wilkos (; born March 9, 1964) is an American television personality, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former law enforcement officer with the Chicago Police Department. He has been hosting '' The Steve Wilkos Show'' s ...

. The series is a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

of the long-running ''

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

'' show. ''The Steve Wilkos Show'' debuted on September 10, 2007, two months after Wilkos' departure as director of security on ''Jerry Springer''.

Description

The Steve Wilkos show is a spin-off from the '''Steve to the Rescue segments on ''Jerry Springer''. Some of the topics he covers include adultery, domestic abuse, paternity, disrespectful children, and teenage pregnancy.

Polygraph A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked ...

exams are commonly used on the show as a means of resolving issues, despite inconclusive evidence on their effectiveness/accuracy.
Chapter 8: Conclusions and Recommendations, p. 212
Daniel Ribacoff, a polygraph expert, is commonly featured on the show to explicate polygraph results.

History

Wilkos has appeared twice on ''Maury''; the first time was in 2008, and the second was when he appeared on the 2,500th episode in 2013. On November 22, 2013, ''The Steve Wilkos Show'' celebrated its 1000th episode, along with

and Rachelle Wilkos as special guests. The 1,000th episode took a look back on the first seven seasons of the show. ''The Steve Wilkos Show'' celebrated its tenth anniversary in September 2016. Steve Wilkos and Rachelle Wilkos, as well as the producers, hosted a series of tributes entitled "A Decade of Steve", looking back on the first nine seasons of the show. In 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the talk show was recorded an in studio audience due to

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...

regulations, while only a certain number of guests were allowed to be at the studio in person and others joined virtually (via

video chat Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Ency ...

). On November 9, 2021, Wilkos announced on social media that his show is finally allowing live audiences to be at the studio again.

Format changes

In the second season, Wilkos began dividing some episodes into two segments, each one dealing with different guests and issues. In rare cases, there can be three segments on one episode. Additionally, paternity tests and infidelity were added as topics to the show. As time went on with the paternity and infidelity stories, Wilkos would often make jokes with guests just to get laughs from himself, his guests and the audience, since paternity and infidelity are not as serious an offense as abuse of any kind. According to the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'', executive producer Richard Dominick was forced from the program by ''Jerry Springer'' and NBCU Domestic Television after encouraging Wilkos to become extremely physical with a guest. Rachelle Wilkos, Wilkos's wife and a long time ''Jerry Springer'' crew member, became the program's executive producer. Steve Wilkos admitted to being dissatisfied with the show's first season, saying "All I did was yell at everybody and throw people off the stage. There was no level of emotion -- just hardcore yelling." Upon his wife taking over, she encouraged him to be himself and go with his "gut." Wilkos' third season premiered September 14, 2009, originating from the Stamford Media Center in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 202 ...

. Production of the show had relocated from Chicago to Stamford earlier that year, complete with a new studio. Fellow NBC-Universal talkers '' Maury'' and ''Jerry Springer'' made the move, as well. In May 2022, it was announced that ''The Steve Wilkos Show'' had been renewed for a sixteenth season.

Notable episodes

Some episodes of the show have led to guests being arrested or convicted of crimes: * In November 2011,

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) (also called "The Rose of New England") is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to ...

police arrested Burke Bergman after he failed a lie detector test about sexually molesting his son, in the episode "Three Possible Dads, One Possible Molester" aired on September 19, 2011. * Five months following the October 3, 2012 episode "Did You Rape My Daughter?", guest Shaun Whitt was arrested in

Flagler County, Florida Flagler County is a county located in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 115,378. Its county seat is Bunnell. Created in 1917 from portions of Saint Johns and Volusia Counties, ...

on charges of raping his then-11-year-old step-daughter beginning in 2010. In September 2014, Whitt was convicted of two counts of sexual battery against a child and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years. * The May 6, 2015 episode "Did You Violate Our Trust...and Our Children?" led to the arrest of 22-year-old Dameion McBride in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

for sexually abusing three children. McBride was convicted in late 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. * Nearly a week after the May 15, 2017 broadcast of the episode "Horrific Child Abuse Caught on Video", police in

Waynesboro, Pennsylvania Waynesboro is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on the southern border of the state. Waynesboro is in the Cumberland Valley between Hagerstown, Maryland, and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. It is part of Chambersburg, PA Micropolitan Sta ...

arrested 21-year-old Jessica Lynn Samick on two charges including felony endangering the welfare of a child. She is suspected of beating and burning a one-year-old boy whom she was babysitting. * On October 25, 2019 two days after the episode "He Was Brutally Beating Your Three-Year-Old: Why Didn't You Stop it?" was taped, guest Samantha Delcamp was arrested for her part in the beating death of her daughter Arabella Parker. Her ex-boyfriend Jahrid Burgess severely beat Arabella while Delcamp did nothing to protect her. Burgess was sentenced to 24 to 50 years while Delcamp was sentenced to 12 to 25 years.

Ratings

The show's first season had the highest rated premiere of fall 2007, with a

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

of 1.1. From 2007 to 2014, the show had the highest ratings growth out of any syndicated talk show, especially among households and women aged 25 to 54. In November 2014, the show had a Nielsen rating of 1.5, with an estimated 1.8 million daily viewers. As of March 2020, the show averaged a 1.0 Nielsen rating, with 1.4 million daily viewers according to NBCU.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steve Wilkos Show, The 2007 American television series debuts 2000s American television talk shows 2010s American television talk shows 2020s American television talk shows English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Chicago television shows Television series by Universal Television American television spin-offs Culture of Stamford, Connecticut Television shows filmed in Connecticut