Jenny Jones – Nostalgia Central

1 9 9 1 – 2 0 0 3 (USA)
2718 x 60 minute episodes

When you’re playing with people’s lives on a daily basis, it’s only a matter of time before you come across someone who can’t take it. So was the case with Jenny Jones on 6 March 1995.

Jenny Jones – born in Bethlehem, so possibly harbouring ideas above her station – was the host of the eponymous talk show that, with a crowded marketplace and in the struggle to maintain ratings, had begun to tackle more and more risky subjects.

They were particularly fond of the ‘twist’ shows, where someone came on thinking they were there for one reason, when in fact it was something completely different.

For an item called ‘Secret Crushes’, 26-year-old waiter Jonathan Schmitz came to the show excited to be told that someone had a secret crush on him.

Unfortunately for him, the person opening their heart was not a beautiful young woman, but an openly gay army veteran from Detroit called Scott Amedure.

When Amedure revealed his secret, Schmitz seemed to take it in his stride, saying that he was flattered but that he was heterosexual.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the saga.

Three days after appearing on the show, Schmitz turned up at Amedure’s house with a pump-action shotgun and shot him twice at point-blank range.

Amedure was killed instantly.

The media went crazy, blaming Jones for the death and berating talk shows in general for screwing with people’s lives for ratings.

Jones said that neither she nor her staff were responsible, noting that Schmitz had been told his crush might be a man. As a waiter, she argued, Schmitz was used to having men try to chat him up.

Since the two of them knew each other, she continued, Amedure might eventually have revealed his feelings, and the same thing would have happened.

Amedure’s family didn’t agree and sued the show for $25 million. Schmitz went to court, where it emerged that he was already fighting alcoholism and depression. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 to fifty years in prison.

The show was ordered to pay the Amedure family $25,000,000 for funeral expenses and pain and suffering for each family member. This decision was later overturned on appeal.

The show continued nonetheless despite being shrouded in controversy and sluggish ratings, and was finally cancelled in 2003.

Host
Jenny Jones