Talk Show Results In Guest’s Death Critics Say Anything-Goes Programming Is Out Of Hand

A talk show focusing on “Secret Admirers” led to the killing of one guest, allegedly by another. Is “The Jenny Jones Show” to blame? And was this a tragedy just waiting to happen?

Yes to both questions, according to talk show critics, who argue that anything goes to boost ratings.

“What we have here,” said Patricia Aufderheide, a communication professor at American University, “is the retailing of emotional conflict for the casual pleasure of viewers. The consequence is human tragedy.”

Jonathan T. Schmitz, 24, pleaded innocent Friday to first-degree murder in the death of 32-year-old Scott Amedure. He was held without bond.

Amedure, described by a neighbor as a talk-show fan, had been at Monday’s taping to disclose his affection for Schmitz during the hourlong “Jenny Jones” episode titled “Secret Admirers.”

Three days later, he was dead of two shotgun blasts to the chest.

Police said Schmitz, who surrendered moments after the shooting, told them that his experience on the talk show had “eaten away” at him.

A statement from Jim Paratore, president of “Jones” syndicator Telepictures Productions, insisted Friday “there was no wrongdoing on anyone’s part connected with the show,” which is currently not scheduled to be aired.

But the chain of events provided fodder for talk show critics who charge that guests are put in unexpected and upsetting situations for the sake of lively TV.

The shooting “says something about the morality of people who would play one person off another and the tragedies that can occur when you fool around with people’s lives,” said John Nichols, sheriff of Oakland County, Mich., where Amedure was killed.

“It’s a sad commentary on how individual lives can be altered by the quest for Nielsen ratings,” he said.

Schmitz and Amedure both lived in Orion Township, Mich., 30 miles north of Detroit.

Nichols said Schmitz found a sexually suggestive, unsigned note at his front door Thursday morning, and suspected it was from Amedure. Nichols said Schmitz told him he bought a 12-gauge shotgun and drove to Amedure’s home.

When Amedure admitted writing the note, Nichols said, Schmitz got the gun from his car and shot Amedure twice.

Amedure’s family and a neighbor said he was gay. Schmitz told the “Jenny Jones” audience that he is heterosexual and told police after his arrest that he had no relationship with Amedure.

The two men had been introduced several weeks earlier by Donna Riley, who lived in Schmitz’ apartment complex. She also appeared on the Chicago-based show, sheriff’s Lt. Bruce Naile said.

During the taping, Schmitz “came out on stage before a studio audience, and there was a woman sitting there that he knew,” Naile said, referring to Riley. “He figured she was his secret admirer and walked up and kissed her.

“But then they told him ‘Oh, no, she’s not your secret admirer, this is’ - and out walked Scott Amedure. The show was about men who have secret crushes on men.

“He was stunned. He had agreed to do the show, so he didn’t know what to do or what his rights were. So he sat there and went along with it.”