• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 6 hours ago

A new generation now has an opportunity to learn all about one of the most raucous -- and to some, shameful -- eras in television history.

Come with ABC as it travels back in time to the 1980s and 1990s to revisit the era of daytime talk shows in which anything was possible and no stone was left unturned in search of outrageous topics and bad behavior.

ABC is devoting three hours of precious prime-time real estate to dredge up the old stories once again, this time for those too young to have experienced it all firsthand.

Scheduled to air on ABC the next three Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern starting tomorrow, this saga -- produced by ABC News -- carries the title “Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV.”

They may not have ruled all TV, but taken as a whole, the daytime talk shows of the ’80s and ’90s were hands down the most talked-about shows of their era.

They were numerous and ubiquitous as they crowded weekday afternoons on hundreds of broadcast TV stations covering the nation.

It was a time when broadcast TV and the business of first-run syndication were still great businesses to be in.

Producers and syndicators were highly motivated to churn out show after show with titles interchangeable from the names of their hosts, including: Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo Rivera, Sally Jessy Raphael, Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake, Gabrielle Carteris, Leeza Gibbons, Rolonda Watts and Richard Bey.

From these shows came some of the most notorious stories of the late 20th century in TV, from mayhem to murder -- a treasure trove for reporters and columnists on the TV beat.

Adults wore diapers on “Donahue,” chairs flew through the air on “Geraldo,” extreme fighting broke out on “Jerry Springer,” reluctant dads took paternity tests on “Maury” and unruly teens were shipped off to boot camps on “Sally Jessy Raphael.”

And tragically, one guest of “Jenny Jones” murdered another one when they both got home, stemming from their appearance on the talk show.

To help tell the story of this bygone era, the producers of “Dirty Talk” have rounded up some of the superstar alumni of this peculiar pocket of TV history.

They include talk-show stars Maury Povich, Sally Jessy Raphael, Montel Williams and Leeza Gibbons, along with producers Marty Berman (“Geraldo”) and Burt Dubrow (“Springer” and “Sally”).

Those of us old enough to have experienced it all first-hand are gob-smacked to realize it was 30 years ago. And yet, it seems like only yesterday.

Many called it “trash TV,” but for the people who appeared on the shows and watched them at home, these shows represented the stories of their lives -- stories that were seldom seen on TV.

At the same time, when the topics and the violence became unbridled, tragedy resulted -- not only the murder after “Jenny Jones,” but other similar incidents down through the history of these shows.

Looking back and taking it all in, what are we to make of it now?