Sally Jessy Raphael returns to daytime TV to talk love and being fired — red glasses and all
"Sherri" host Sherri Shepherd told Raphael that she was an influence on her.
Former daytime TV star Sally Jessy Raphael was back on familiar terrain Tuesday, when she sat down with Sherri Shepherd on Sherri. And, oh yes, the red glasses were back, too!
Raphael, now 89, was on the air with her own, eponymous show, from 1983 to 1992, where she was known for relating to and having conversations with her audience, before others were doing it.
After she entered the studio to big cheers, Shepherd remarked to Raphael, "Audiences still love you!" Raphael called the crowd her "family."
Shepherd is also a fan, having been influenced by Sally Jessy Raphael, often known simply as Sally. The series was on the air when talkers such as The Phil Donahue Show and Geraldo were in their heyday.
"When I started watching you, you showed me the importance of a studio audience," said the former The View cohost, whose solo talk show debuted in September 2022.
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Sally Jessy Raphael films her last show in 2002.Not that every episode was perfect.
"You know," said Raphael, who's proclaimed that she was fired 27 times in her career, "we had three ladies, who were called 'the church ladies.' They showed up every show, and when things weren't going well — that's usually my fault — I'd look up and I'd see those 'church ladies' and I'd say, 'It’s okay. I can do it!'"
Raphael was regularly recognized at the Daytime Emmys, earning five nominations for best talk show host between 1988 and 1992; she won in 1989. By 1991, her show was such a TV staple that The Addams Family featured a scene in which a depressed Gomez called in so often that the host begged him to stop.
In October 2022, Raphael said on Ricki Lake's Raised by Ricki podcast, that her show had been a victim of new owners. When it changed hands during its run, she said, she was encouraged to be more salacious, which was not her strength, and her competitors triumphed over her.
As Raphael spoke with Shepherd on Tuesday's episode, she said she still has reunions with her former staffers. One of the Sherri EPs actually worked on her show back in the day.
Courtesy SHERRI
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On a personal note, Raphael explained to Shepherd that, after her husband and business partner, Karl Soderlund, died in 2020, she met a significant other on the internet.
"I got a lotta guys online. I got a doctor, I got an astronomer, I got a lawyer," Raphael said. "And one has made the cut."
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