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Trivia / The Steve Wilkos Show

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  • Cast the Expert: Steve Wilkos mentions in many episodes where the topic deals with domestic or child abuse that he has investigated cases such as those during his tenure with the Chicago Police Department. Essentially, since he's no longer on the beat, the show allows him to uncover criminals or clear the accused of wrongdoing.
  • Colbert Bump: Wilkos gained a fan following among viewers when he guest-hosted episodes of The Jerry Springer Show while the titular host was unable to film the show, leading NBCUniversal to develop a talk show as a vehicle for him. The format of The Steve Wilkos Show generated from these episodes, many of which were part of the "Steve to the Rescue" specials.
  • Executive Meddling: NBCUniversal Domestic Television fired original executive producer Richard Dominick from The Steve Wilkos Show and Jerry Springer in September 2008 after he encouraged Wilkos to engage in a physical altercation with an accused guest. Wilkos's wife, Rachelle, who formerly served as a crew member and producer on Springer for several years, replaced Dominick as executive producer of both shows. This led to some of the changes noted in the main article such as the elimination of Prison Rape jokes.
  • Milestone Celebration: The show celebrated its 1000th episode on November 22, 2013, featuring Jerry Springer and executive producer Rachelle Wilkos as special guests.
  • Throw It In!:
    • According to Wilkos in a 10th-anniversary piece that aired in September 2016, his wife, Rachelle, didn't necessarily want him to mention their personal relationship when talking with his guests. However, it wound up occurring so often that such references were eventually incorporated into the episodes instead of being left on the cutting room floor.
    • The incident in which Wilkos was hit by a metal bowl thrown by a guest named Thomasina, as mentioned in the main page under "Talk Show with Fists", almost didn't make it into the show. According to the aforementioned 10th-anniversary piece, Rachelle was so concerned about her husband possibly having been injured that she suggested that the show stop filming the episode and have him evaluated to make sure he was OK. After some discussions with producers and editors, Wilkos thought that the incident should be kept in the episode.
  • Word of God: Wilkos has stated that the reason why he's hard on some guests is that he believes that those who have engaged in irresponsible/heinous behavior should be held accountable for their actions regardless of the state they were in when it occurred since their victims' lives were irrevocably changed because of them.

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