[deanmine]

Although public perceptions in the show's first season were leading to this dubious title, the episode that solidified Geraldo as "Trash TV" was the November 3, 1988, episode involving white supremacists, anti-racist skinheads, black activists, and Jewish activists. A confrontation between John Metzger (the son of Tom Metzger) and Roy Innis (in which Metzger goaded Innis by referring to him as "Uncle Tom") led to Innis walking over to Metzger and forcefully grabbing him by the neck, and subsequently a full-out brawl with chairs hurled and punches thrown. Audience members, several stage hands and Rivera himself got involved, with Rivera throwing a few punches at a white supremacist. In the process, Rivera was struck in the face by a chair and wound up with a broken nose. He did not press charges, saying he did not wish to be "tied up with the roaches", and also claiming "if there ever was a case of deserved violence, this was it".[2] The ratings for this show went through the roof as news of the fight attracted attention to the episode even before it aired.

In August 1992, Rivera would scuffle with KKK members again at a Klan rally in Janesville, Wisconsin. Rivera suffered cuts and a bite to one of his thumbs.[3]

From that point on, the less graceful side of society's issues, and juicy celebrity exposes were the norm, but no other future incident matched the heated fist-fight of season two. Geraldo's symbol in the grand scale of talk shows became typified by what opened each show: the image of a fictional supermarket tabloid magazine cover displaying images of the day's subject with a screaming headline accompanied by the show's scripted logo (Geraldo's handwritten signature). This practice paved the way for later talk shows using creative and somewhat drawn-out titles for their show topics (The Jerry Springer Show, Jenny Jones and Ricki Lake were among the programs to jump on this bandwagon).

[kellyhound]

blast from the past

[Gadne]

All-American apestyle tv-show.

[Faline]

Clip made my eyes funny

[spills]

Watch carefully to see who started the violence. ;)

[Shakey]

Seated just a little too close together.

[deanmine]

Originally Posted by spills ↗

Watch carefully to see who started the violence. ;)

hey, cut the dude a lil slack.. it was sweeps week after all, and .. um... finding Al Capons hidden treasures was some class A bullshit

[luger]

Did they set the chairs back up and continue the show afterwards?

[becca320]

And I still find it funny!!

[VileGirl]

I mean… you put a nazi, a Jew, and a black man in a room together…….

It’s either the beginning of a joke, or there is about to be a fight lol. What did they expect?