Jenny Jones (presenter)
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Jenny Jones (Born Janina Stranski on June 7, 1946 in Bethlehem, Mandate Palestine) was the host of a television talk show called Jenny Jones which aired in the United States from 1991 to 2003. The show was taped in Chicago, Illinois. She also plays the drums and speaks Polish fluently.
Shortly after she was born to her parents, who were from Russia and Poland, they immigrated to Canada. She appeared as a contestant on Press Your Luck and Match Game. In 1986, she was the first female comedian to win Star Search. After that, Jones was the opening act for Sammy Davis Jr., Smokey Robinson, Kenny Loggins, and Engelbert Humperdinck. She is also a former backup singer for Wayne Newton.
In 1991 she became the host of her own daily TV talk show, The Jenny Jones Show. The show established many of the now most cliched elements of daytime talk, including shows themed around paternity tests, makeovers, "geek to chic" transformations, and on-air revelations of secret crushes.
Early in her show's run, Jones spoke of her own health complications from breast implants, and warned women about their dangers. Jones says her show was not at all like Jerry Springer. The difference, she says, is that her show was fun, never exploitative, and didn't thrive on conflict and confrontation.
The show received negative publicity in the wake of a murder of a homosexual man, Scott Amedure, on March 9, 1995. Amedure confessed his love for another man, Jonathan Schmitz, on the show just three days prior (as part of the episode "Same-Sex Secret Crushes"); Schmitz later killed Amedure, and was convicted of second degree murder in the case.
On March 6, 1995, Jones did an episode on "secret crushes," and with the cameras rolling, Scott Amedure told his friend Jonathan Schmitz that he had the hots for him. Schmitz laughed it off in front of the studio audience, but three days later he killed Amedure. The episode was never aired.
Schmitz got 25-50 years in prison, and the producers of The Jenny Jones Show got sued. Amedure's family argued that the show's staff should have known Schmitz had a long record of alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, depression, several suicide attempts, and a thyroid condition. Not to mention homophobia. The show's producers were ordered to pay $25 million to Amedure's family, but that verdict was tossed by a higher court.
In publicity interviews, Jones has repeatedly said Schmitz knew in advance his "secret admirer" might be male, but Schmitz said he was led to believe that his admirer was a woman. And in her deposition, Jones said she did not want Schmitz to know his "secret crush" was a man. "I cared that he not know," she said under oath, "otherwise we wouldn't have had a show."
The ratings dwindled for several years after the murder. The Jenny Jones Show last flickered across America's TV sets in 2003, and Jones hasn't yet announced her next project.
Filmography And TV Appearences
- Jenny Jones
- Match Game 73
- Wisecracks
- Man of the Year
External links
- About.com: The Jenny Jones Murder Trial (http://talkshows.about.com/cs/jennyjones/a/secondverdict.htm)
- Jenny Jones Website (http://www.jennyjones.com/)