Ah, the Jenny Jones show. It was on the air from 1991 until 2003.

Jenny Jones was born in Israel, and then her family moved to Canada. She toiled in the shadows until she won the grand prize on Star Search back in the day. A few years later, she had her own talk show.

And what was on the show?

01) Makeovers!
02) Boot camps!
03) Geek to chic!
04) Celebrity impersonators!
05) Paternity tests (before Maury Povich perfected or perverted the art form)
06) Slutty correspondents like Chela!
07) Rude Jude!

Oh, and there was that whole murder thing.

Discuss. (The subtitle comes from a MadTV spoof of the Jenny Jones show.)

That totally cracked me up. I'm going to hell.

Don't forget Raymond Moses. I miss Jenny Jones. Before Maury Povich & after Jerry Springer went to hell in a handbasket (no more fighting), this show & Ricki Lake was my bible.

I was always a sucker for the geek-to-chic makeover shows, not so much the other topics. Plus, JJ didn't have catchy rhyming topics like Ricki Lake did, nor did she have Queen Latifah laying down the law (hers used to be my favorite talk show).

Used to love Jenny and Ricki back in the day.
She always had great theme songs (which Jenny wrote and performed), and the show was quite entertaining and innovative for its time.

Confession: I read her biography many years ago, it's pretty good.

Oh the memories!!!

Don't forget all the "My daughter dresses like a whore. Jenny, help!" shows. Those were hilarious!

I also think Jenny was the one to pioneer talk show DNA testing to prove which total deadbeat was the father of the child of the hysterical mother who would be on stage.

It was on Jenny Jones that I first heard phrases like, "I'm all that and a bag of chips." and "Kick him to the curb." and "Dump that zero and get yourself a hero."

Now that I think about it, I miss Jenny Jones. I wonder what she's been up to.

My favorite shows were the "I used to be ugly and now I'm hot!" shows where formerly fatties confronted their mean high school crushes with their new hot (and scantily clad) bodies.

That's when we first met Rude Jude, who I thought was--kill me--a cutie.

Yeah, the memories. I was never a huge fan of Jenny's but I usually watched her show if it was on in it's heyday. I stopped watching for a long while and then one day I caught it and I saw Rude Jude. I couldn't believe I used to watch the show. But I say that about every talk show that isn't Oprah or Donahue.

I remember being in the checkout line one time and seeing a tabloid headline about the many surgeries she had had. I hope she is now happy with herself.

I had a crush on him too! He was hilarious and kind of cute.

Remember how Jenny always had random local bands on? I always thought that that had to be the lowest of the lows. Sometimes they did have "legit" acts though (like Tag Team or something like that)

They had Dinosaur Jr. on once--definitely out of step with the crowd. J. Mascis is not exactly an R&B crooner. I think they played "The Wagon", but I was too numbed by shock remember correctly.

I still remember some guy getting up during a "stop bullying my Daughter!!!!" show (I remember one girl had been all haopy she was being called sexual chocalate until it came out that was the name of a 400 lb wrestler) and telling the bully to "Go get an edumacation", Jenny was all "An edumacation, sir?" and he was all "You deaf Jenny? Yes, an edumacation."

*Hangs head in shame* Oh, I had a huge crush on Rude Jude. He was funny and he talked a lot of shit.

Aw, I loved me some Jenny Jones.

And Kiran - That? was hilarious.

For those curious about where is she now....

http://www.jennyjones.com/

I loved this show. My friends and I still recite lines from the best ones (those being "My 13 year old daughter is addicted to SEX!!!"): "Ya'll don't knooooooow me! I know I look good coz I do whatever I want with my hot body!! Yeah, I get Popeyes chicken for sex...these men buy me cars, they don't know I ain't 18!!" Well actually all of America now knows. Those girls were good entertainment.

My faves? "I LOVE MY MAMA!" and the ever popular "I had sex with a sailor for a hamburger!" and does anyone remember 15-year-old call girl Misty, who had aspirations to become a stock broker?

I remember girls on the show that bragged about having sex for a bag of chips.

Classay.

I used to love the Geek to Chic shows because all the formerly geeky men would inevitably now be strippers and have really weirdly coiffed facial hair and lots of fringe on their outfits. Plus, they'd still all be butt ugly and have these bulging pecs that seemed to be mostly flab.

My favorite geek to chic had this one black Latina chick from New York with this thick accent who was still mercilessly cruel to the girl she'd bullied. She kept clowning the girl and kept saying she liked seeing people in pain and when she was young people called her flacca and she didn't give a shit so why should this girl be so upset she got made fun of. I'll just never forget how she went into how much she loved seeing people in pain.

I had a crush on Rude Jude too. I remember someone yelling at him and saying he was trying to act black and he goes "I know I'm white! I'm Caucasian as hell!" And with that he'd won me over for life. Anyone remember the shows where the title would be like "Tell My Friend to Cover Up!" and really it was just an excuse to bring out a panel of strippers and porn stars?

There was another one with people who had weird voices. There was these adult women who still sounded like little girls. And one woman had this weird vibrating voice that had come from years of trying to lower her high-pitched voice. And another one tried to "cure" herself by wrapping all these belts tightly around her waist to control her voice and make it drop a few octaves.

I used to love the "Reunite Me with My Spring Break Fling / Secret Crush / High School Sweetheart" shows too. Especially when the other person would be completely uninterested or be all "I'm seeing someone right now, sorry." I wasn't really a fan of the last couple seasons.

Seemed like she always had a panel of judges for some reason (I don't know what they were judging.) That fat dude Hurricane or something like that would always be there in some crazy suit. Then she had that comedian who would play "Lil' Somebody" and sit on people's shoulders making fun of them. And I hated the musical performances. Those were always just awkward.

I forgot about those! Loved them! I always thought it was funny when they go to the back (to "Lover's Lounge") and Jenny checks in with them and they are basically making plans to re-fuck after the show.

The thing I loved about JJ is that the audience had some pretty good one-liners for the guests. Jenny used to always half-heartedly go, "Now, you promise you aren't going to be mean" and then the audience member will completely snark on the guests...so funny!

Don't forget the classic:

You don't need to be on Jenny Jones; you need to be on Jenny CRAIG!!

And the audience goes wild!!!

Gee, thanks! I had just worked this one-linere out of my memory! Haha
It was mildly amusing the first time (although rude), but someone said it every single episode...plus it was even worked into the show opening if I remember correctly.

The show went downhill the last few seasons IMO - with the little guy on Jenny's shoulder, the bands, etc. But it was a over-saturated genre back then and they did try to differentiate themselves.

I went to IMDb for Jenny Jones and it lists some of the episode titles. Here's some gems:

• You Say You're a Woman Who Can Mack...Well That's Just Wack!
• I Don't Mean to Be a Pest, But You Need to Cover Up That Chest!

The first one featured a guest by the name of Kayla Kupcakes...when I go to her bio on IMDb, her other TV/movie credits include Big Tit Betrayal and Busty Dildo Lovers #2. Did somebody say class?

That show was definitely ghetto. And I loved it.

BTW, that loser who had sex for a bag of potato chips, I think you got the wrong show on that one. I heard that from Maury Povich.

Oops! Sorry. I must've gotten my trashy shows all mixed up.

I'd choose JJ over Ricki Lake any day.

I loved Jenny Jones too! The "My Mom Dresses Like a Ho" episodes were great because the mom was always like 220 lbs stretching out a size 8 spandex minidress 'cause she knows she looks good.

Jan & Tyler were the best guests ever. Well them and Shirley the sexy grandma who said her best feature was her butt.

My favorite would have to be "You Must be Pulling Pranks, 'Cause You're No Tyra Banks!"

Didn't she also publicly have her silicone implants taken out? If I'm right, that was pretty daring at that time.

It looks like Rude Jude is on Sirius radio.

I really miss Jenny Jones being on. I really didn't care for the paternity test shows or the "My 2-year old weighs 100 pounds" shows. The shows with the overweight kids really upset me because these parents wouldn't put there foot down and tell their kids "no". I really loved the makeover shows. Those were my favorite.

This thread has made me laugh more than anything lately. I loved watching this show.

My favorite topic was something about cable access shows, where viewers of cable access shows would bring on the hosts of said shows and tell them how much they sucked.

I also had a crush on Rude Jude. I forget how he got started on the show. He was just a regular studio audience member, right, who stood up with a comment that made everyone go wild? Then Jenny Jones invited him back to be a panelist that cracked on the guests?

He apparently has a MySpace account

I'm 99% positive that Rude Jude started on the show not as an audience member, but as a "bully" on a Geek to Chic (read: stripper, amateur porn star) show. And he wasn't appologetic or fawning all over the now chic (HA!) geek. He was still clownin'.

Does anyone remember the dynamic duo of "Black and Buttah"?!?!?!?

I loved this show!