Much like the three-ring-circus that is "The Jerry Springer Show", this was once was a high-quality show that dealt with relevant issues. Nowadays, the show has become shallow and asinine, and its attempts to be "hip" are laughable.
There have been moments recently when they've tried to be topical. They've done a number of shows on out-of-control teens (which has been done better on "Sally", where she lets it be known she won't put up with any bull.) This should've been an interesting hour of television, but it was derailed largely because it wound up going nowhere. Why they rely on b.s. pop psychology is beyond me; send them straight to boot camp and work them over; no forensic analysis is going to help anything. I'm almost certain much of this is due to Jones herself: she comes across as too cheerful and sunny a personality to tackle the hard issues. She'd be best to leave those to Montel and Sally Jesse.
When they're not trying to be topical, they do what they best: shows filled to the brim with T&A (without these, I imagine they'd lose half the viewing audience.) Whether it's porn stars, strippers, or former high school outcasts, they successfully bring more cleavage than expected in the "family viewing hour." Of course, it doesn't help that many of the ladies are either airheads or superficial bimbos without class (or, worst case scenario, both.)
I'm going to go out on a limb and postulate that show has been downhill since the now infamous 1995 incident where a guest on the show gunned down a male acquaintance who had admitted to having a crush on him. Suffice it to say that the incident was tragic, but when the facts came out, it signaled the depths of the irresponsibility of those who worked behind-the-scenes.
