Just read the BBC report on Jerry Springer: The Opera (link goes to PDF). It's a thorough report which reveals just how carefully the BBC weighed up the pros and cons of showing the programme, with the final decision going all the way to the Director General himself. Amusingly, and quite rightly, it dismisses all 50,000+ pre-broadcast complaints in a single sentence.
Up yours, fundamentalist wackos! Now, when's the DVD out?