Jerry Springer, the one-time mayor and news anchor whose namesake TV show featured a three-ring circus of dysfunctional families willing to bare all on weekday afternoons, has died aged 79. Known for chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments, the Jerry Springer Show was a favorite US guilty pleasure over its 27-year run, at one point topping Oprah Winfrey’s show. Springer called it “escapist entertainment” while others saw the show as contributing to a dumbing-down decline in the country’s social values.