Mad Money
Encyclopedia
Mad Money is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

 television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 hosted by Jim Cramer that began airing on CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

 on March 14, 2005. Its main focus is investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...

 and speculation
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...

, particularly in publicly traded stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...

s. In a notable departure from the CNBC programming style prior to its arrival, Mad Money presents itself in an entertainment-style format rather than a news broadcasting
News broadcasting
News broadcasting is the broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network...

 one.

Cramer defines "mad money" as the money one "can use to invest in stocks ... not retirement money, which you want in 401K or an IRA, a savings account, bonds, or the most conservative of dividend-paying stocks."

Mad Money replaced Dylan Ratigan
Dylan Ratigan
Dylan Jason Ratigan is an American television host primarily covering financial markets, the global economy, and politics. He is host of The Dylan Ratigan Show which airs weekday afternoons on MSNBC. He is also a frequent contributor on The Huffington Post.- Early life :Ratigan was born in the...

's Bullseye
Bullseye (CNBC TV series)
Bullseye is a news and analysis program that aired on CNBC at 6 pm ET weekdays from December 8, 2003 to March 11, 2005. Hosted by Dylan Ratigan, it covered breaking news stories from business to pop culture and offered guidance on personal finance with the help of CNBC reporter Steve Liesman and...

 for the 6 p.m. Eastern Time
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...

 slot. On January 8, 2007, CNBC began airing reruns of the show at 11 p.m. Eastern Time, on Monday through Friday, and at 4 a.m. Eastern Time, on Saturdays.

Opening

Cramer usually starts his shows saying this, or an alternative version of this phrase after opening credits: "Hey, I'm Cramer, welcome to Mad Money, welcome to Cramerica, people want to make friends [at this point, Cramer adds an extra, original statement], I just want to make you money, because my job is not just to entertain you, but to educate , so call me at 1-800-743-CNBC."

Show medium

Cramer is usually standing up with the fisheye lens
Fisheye lens
In photography, a fisheye lens is a wide-angle lens that takes in a broad, panoramic and hemispherical image. Originally developed for use in meteorology to study cloud formation and called "whole-sky lenses", fisheye lenses quickly became popular in general photography for their unique, distorted...

 Steadicam
Steadicam
A Steadicam is a stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera that mechanically isolates it from the operator's movement, allowing a smooth shot even when moving quickly over an uneven surface...

 close to his face, while providing stock picks and investing advice. His voice inflection often changes from calm to shouting then back to a calm tone. Cramer also throws various objects around the set. Whenever one of his books is mentioned by a caller, he grabs the book, flashes it, and tosses it to the floor as a plug gag. In addition, he has a panel of oversized red buttons, which activate various sound effects. The online version of the show's sound board is available at madmoney.cnbc.com.

He also has small, plastic bulls
Market trends
A market trend is a putative tendency of a financial market to move in a particular direction over time. These trends are classified as secular for long time frames, primary for medium time frames, and secondary for short time frames...

 (and bears
Market trends
A market trend is a putative tendency of a financial market to move in a particular direction over time. These trends are classified as secular for long time frames, primary for medium time frames, and secondary for short time frames...

) which he has incorporated into his shows. After a large gain in the Dow
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index, and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow...

, Cramer, dressed as a chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...

, chopped off the heads of the bears with a knife and placed them into a pan with onions and tomatoes. He called it a "bear stir-fry" or a "bear souffle
Soufflé
A soufflé is a light baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savoury main dish or sweetened as a dessert...

". On February 28, 2006 he put his toy bulls through various kitchen appliances. And on May 17, 2006, after a steep plunge of the Dow, Cramer cooked toy bulls through a rotisserie
Rotisserie
Rotisserie is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit - a long solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This method is generally used for cooking large joints of meat or entire animals, such as pigs,...

 oven. The studio has also featured Cramer bobblehead dolls which utter phrases such as "Are You Ready Skee-Daddy?", callers can receive a free bobblehead upon request.

Also, Cramer has National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 yellow penalty and red coach's challenge flags that he throws whenever he believes a company has behaved unethically (penalty) or when he questions a stock decision (coach's challenge), respectively. He will also throw the flag when a caller unethically uses the national television audience to promote a stock for self-interest. If a caller rambles on about a stock, Cramer will lie down on the floor of the set with a pillow and blanket and act as if he is going to sleep.

Other props include a box of Uncle Ben's Rice, with Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Ben Bernanke
Ben Bernanke
Ben Shalom Bernanke is an American economist, and the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. During his tenure as Chairman, Bernanke has overseen the response of the Federal Reserve to late-2000s financial crisis....

's picture, an audio version of Jim Cramer's Real Money, a Louisville Slugger baseball bat
Baseball bat
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the game of baseball to hit the ball after the ball is thrown by the pitcher. It is no more than 2.75 inches in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches in length. It typically weighs no more than 33 ounces , but it...

, and pink Mad Money pigs.

On the May 19, 2006 episode, Cramer had a monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...

 named Ka-ching make an appearance on the show. Ka-ching wore a CNBC T-shirt, sat in Cramer's chair, pressed the buttons that made sound effects, and threw the foam bulls around the set.

In October 2006, a customized Daktronics
Daktronics
Daktronics is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video board, scoreboards, digital billboards and related products. The company is best known for its electronic LED displays...

 BB-2122 scoreboard
Scoreboard
A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game or match. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used a mechanical clock and numeral cards to...

 was installed, featuring drawings of bulls on the left and bears on the right. The scoreboard usually displays a score from the previous night's sporting events, usually a high profile game, i.e. Monday Night Football, or a score from a general NFL, MLB, game etc...The scoreboard also shows the date, but in the Sudden Death segment, the date turns into a countdown clock to the end of the segment. On the pre-taped shows which are re-run on days Cramer takes vacation, it shows an impossible date, with the digits displayed often representing the phone number to the show. The Daktronics BB-2122 scoreboard is not used during Back to School road shows.

In June 2011, the Mad Money set's original glass panels (with the word "MAD" painted on them) were replaced with video walls.

Segments

The general format of the show starts with two segments, where Cramer recommends one or more stocks in a group with his rationale for choosing them. At the end of each segment, Cramer will take one or two calls from viewers with questions about either the stock he recommended, or another stock in the same industry or which the viewer thinks may benefit from the topic discussed.

The third segment is the Lightning Round. Segments four and five will feature either one of the segments listed below or another recommendation. Cramer does not take calls on these later segments except for the Am I Diversified? segment.

According to CNBC's Mad Money website (as of August 2007), Mad Money regularly includes the following segments:

(NOTE: Some of these segments below may be discontinued as of this writing.)
  • Lightning Round: See below.
  • Game Plan: A Friday segment in which Cramer draws up his game plan to prepare you for the week ahead. He lays out all the plays you will need to make Mad Money when the bell rings on Monday morning.
  • Sell Block: A Thursday segment in which Cramer puts the stocks he recommended in past shows in the Sell Block. From stocks that are lost causes or moneymakers, Cramer tells the viewers when it's time to pocket the proceeds and put those stocks in the Sell Block.
  • Sudden Death: Seen at the end of most shows, this Booyah-free zone gives viewers one last chance to name their stock and get Cramer's feedback. But this rapid-fire Q&A ends when the clock reaches zero and the show's over. Launched by the phrase, "There goes swifty!", this segment is very similar to the Lightning Round. Cramer will hang up on callers who attempt Booyahs, pleasantries, and the like. This segment was discontinued in 2009.
  • Am I Diversified?: A Wednesday segment in which Cramer reviews five stocks in each caller's portfolio and suggests how they might consider enhancing their diversification. This is the only segment, as a rule, where Cramer is sitting in the chair.
  • Mad Mail: Cramer answers viewer Emails


The other segments featured on Mad Money (some of which are no longer current) include the following:
  • Pick of the Week: A segment in which Cramer picks a stock which he feels should be bought or at least studied carefully, usually before it is widely known or praised by others.
  • Beating the Racket: An occasional feature where Cramer argues "nose to nose" with fellow financial columnist Herb Greenberg
    Herb Greenberg
    Herb Greenberg is an American journalist, was a columnist and blogger for MarketWatch.com and a former columnist for The Wall Street Journal....

     (in person or via satellite) in which Greenberg focuses mainly on stocks that could lose money, usually a stock Cramer recommended. This segment has been discontinued.
  • Cramer vs Cramer: A segment in which Cramer checks the accuracy of his stock predictions from previous weeks. Seen on Fridays.
  • Danger Zone: An occasional feature in which Cramer profiles a stock that he feels does not have sound investment fundamentals but may appear attractive to investors.
  • The Week That Was: A video montage featuring various moments from the current week, aired at the end of the program in place of the Sudden Death segment on Fridays.
  • Pimpin' All Over The World: A segment (not actually using this title, but Cramer will reference the song by Ludacris
    Ludacris
    Christopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...

     of the same name) where Cramer profiles a potential play in an international market. Usually the play is not a direct investment—Cramer considers many of those to be too dangerous due to lack of accurate financial insight, especially in emerging stock markets—but a derivative, often another foreign company with ADR's traded on the American markets with significant investments in the emerging market, though in some cases Cramer will advise against the ADR's (if they trade on the pink sheets
    Pink Sheets
    OTC Markets Group, Inc., informally known as "Pink Sheets", is a private company that provides services to the U.S. over-the-counter securities market including electronic quotations, trading, messaging, and information platforms. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, OTC...

    , which Cramer believes do not have significant volume to generate profits) and recommend actually buying the stock in the foreign exchange.
  • Stump The Cramer: A segment in which callers name a stock they believe Cramer does not know anything about; if successful, the caller receives an autographed copy of one of his most recent books. This segment has been discontinued.
  • Am I Nuts?: A feature which premiered on the first Main Event special in which Cramer "evaluates a patient" (from the live audience) to figure out, just as the segment's namesake, if the person is nuts in owning a certain stock, and then gives them a "prescription." This segment is considered to be a Main Event exclusive.
  • Know Your IPO: An occasional segment in which Cramer spotlights a stock's upcoming IPO.
  • Executive Decision: In this segment, Cramer talks to the CEO, CFO, or an officer of a company, who joins the show either by telephone, on set or via satellite.
  • Pin Action: This segment may stand alone or is integrated within the show amongst his recommended picks. In this segment, Cramer explains how he has come up with a "play" to take advantage of news from other stocks as a sort of "pin action" play. Often when explaining his theory, he uses the sound effect of a bowling ball knocking down pins.
  • Under the Radar:
  • Student Stock Pitch: A feature in which college students (from the live audience) pitch a stock to Cramer. This segment is considered to be a Back to School exclusive.
  • Outrage of the Day:


Subtitles

Subtitles are frequently used to underscore some of the "bullet points" in Cramer's presentations.
They are also used to explain some of the off-topic, obscure historical, literary, or pop-cultural references he may make.
Subtitles are also used for disclosure stocks owned by Cramer's charitable trust
Charitable trust
A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...

, ActionAlertsPlus.com, for disclaimers related to any claims made by callers (such as how listening to Mad Money has made the caller mad money), and to show callers' names.

Lightning Round

The only segment which appears on every Mad Money show is the Lightning Round segment, where viewers call in (on live shows, they stand before a microphone in the audience) and ask Cramer about a specific stock.

Cramer's object is to showcase his encyclopedic knowledge of stocks and give callers a second opinion on their stock ideas. He takes as many calls as possible before a buzzer goes off to indicate the end of the round. When this happens, Cramer gets upset and usually takes a few more calls. After this, the Daktronics
Daktronics
Daktronics is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video board, scoreboards, digital billboards and related products. The company is best known for its electronic LED displays...

 buzzer goes off at his signal, and the segment is over.

In the past, prior to beginning of the segment, Cramer would abuse the office chair provided for him by throwing it on top of other "victims" (damaged office chairs), also damaging the studio's wall and glass displays as well. The damage was made apparent by a caller in the Lightning Round on March 1, 2006, which prompted Cramer to throw his chair again at the glass display, causing it to crack even more. Cramer has said that the reason why he throws chairs is because he hates sitting down on the job. He often had to be at his old hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...

 by 4:30 a.m., and if his employees sat down they would often try to go to sleep, so chairs became "the enemy".

The segment usually airs between 25 and 30 minutes past the hour for approximately 8 minutes. Additionally, a new "Overtime" session debuted at the end of The Lightning Round on the March 2, 2006 episode. In conjunction with the buzzer going off, a siren was heard, the "On Air" light flashed repeatedly, and the monitors around the set had Cramer rotating infinitely with lightning and siren images merged into the background, that latter also displayed on the viewer's TV screen at random intervals. Cramer took 5 more calls after this. However, the "Overtime" session was discontinued, starting with the Mad Money 1st Anniversary show on March 14, 2006. The newer "Sudden Death" segment at the end of the show now uses any time remaining at the end of the show for an even more rapid "Overtime"-like session.

On February 25, 2008, Cramer introduced a Web-only version of the Lightning Round, dubbed Lightning Round Overtime. This feature has additional stock picks that are not seen on the television broadcast. Lightning Round Overtime can be viewed only on the program's Website (high-speed Internet connection required).

Catchphrases

On May 24, 2005, a viewer asked Cramer by e-mail on Mad Money's Mad Mail segment what his boo-yah! catchphrase means, and he said did not have a clue. On the next day, viewers e-mailed him claiming that Cramer's boo-yah! catch phrase is similar to the Booyah registered trademark of the Booyah Bait Company or to the phrase of SportsCenter
SportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...

s Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott is a sportscaster and anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter.-Early life and career:Scott attended Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and went to college at the University of North Carolina. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity...

, but Cramer answered that his phrase is not copied from that company nor from Stuart Scott, and means "Are you ready to make some money?"

On the August 19, 2005 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...

, Cramer explained the origin of boo-yah: "Here's what happened: A guy calls me on my radio show, and he says 'You made me a 100 smackers on K-Mart— a hundred points
Value (economics)
An economic value is the worth of a good or service as determined by the market.The economic value of a good or service has puzzled economists since the beginning of the discipline. First, economists tried to estimate the value of a good to an individual alone, and extend that definition to goods...

...' —he's from New Orleans— '...and we have one word for that down here and it's boo-yah. Then the next guy calls and he says 'you know you made me a lot of money on [a stock] so: boo-yah!' And now they all say it. It's not my rap".

Another featured catchphrase is "Are you ready, skee-daddy?" Another commonality is for a caller to ask "Hows momma doin'?" to which Cramer replies "Momma doin' fine."

In June 2005, a viewer explained to Cramer by e-mail the difference between a pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...

 and a hog, which is a domesticated pig, so Cramer changed one of his catch phrases to "Bulls make money. Bears make money. Hogs get slaughtered."

Graphics

On May 2, 2007, the program unveiled its second-generation on-air graphics package, replacing what was used—including its opening graphic sequence—since its March 14, 2005 debut. In the current graphics package, the program's lower third changed its background color from red to yellow on November 26, 2007.

Disclaimer

Jim Cramer has been quoted as saying that Mad Money "is a show that is about education, entertainment and making money". The show features a disclaimer at the start of the program to that effect.

Special broadcasts

Mad Money has featured special broadcasts, the first four in 2005 and 2006, respectively, were referred to as Mad Money Main Event, while the 2006-present shows (other than the July 12, 2006 edition, which was also referred to as Mad Money Main Event) was referred to as Mad Money Back to School.

Main events

The first Mad Money Main Event was broadcast on July 20, 2005. Cramer had his show taped in front of a live studio audience of about 150 guests. The show was promoted on CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

 using commercials that showed Cramer locked up in a padded room in a straitjacket
Straitjacket
A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest...

 and tape over his mouth, as if in a mental institution (a reference to Cramer's book, the subtitle of which is "Sane Investing in an Insane World"). The Main Event was introduced by boxing announcer Michael Buffer
Michael Buffer
Michael Buffer is an American professional ring announcer for boxing and professional wrestling matches. He is known for his trademarked catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!" He is known for pioneering a distinct announcing style in which he rolls certain letters and adds other inflections to...

 with his catch phrase "Let's get ready to rumble!". The featured guest on the show was then-New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

 Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...

 (a classmate of Cramer at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

). Cramer went into the crowd and gave high fives to audience members who claimed to have had made money by following his stock tips. True to the commercials, it featured a segment titled Am I Nuts?, which had audience members asking Cramer about their stocks. Mad Money was expanded to a special 90 minute edition for this occasion.

Mad Money Main Event II premiered on October 26, 2005. In the commercials, Cramer is now a surgeon
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 instead of a patient, who performs surgery on the crippling economy (in this case, from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

, yet there were other factors). While "operating", Cramer proclaims "The bull's alive!" signifying that he was successful. It featured special guest Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...

. It ran for only 60 minutes and brought back Am I Nuts? from the first Main Event; this has been the trend for future shows.

Mad Money Main Event III was broadcast on November 30, 2005, and featured Mel Karmazin
Mel Karmazin
Melvin Alan "Mel" Karmazin is an American executive. He co-founded and was the president of Infinity Broadcasting and eventually became the president and chief executive officer of CBS. As of 2008, he is the CEO of Sirius XM Radio....

, CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...

 (now Sirius XM Satellite Radio). Cramer entered the studio as a surgeon.

Mad Money Main Event IV premiered on January 11, 2006 with guest Les Moonves, CEO of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

. This episode featured Cramer coming out in the straitjacket.

The fifth Mad Money Main Event show was broadcast on July 12, 2006. Like the second and third Main Event shows, Cramer entered the studio as a surgeon. His featured guest in the fifth edition was Jeff Zucker
Jeff Zucker
Jeffrey "Jeff" Zucker is an American television executive and former President and CEO of NBCUniversal.-Personal life:Zucker was born to Jewish-American parents in Homestead, Florida, near Miami. His father was a cardiologist, and his mother, Arlene, was a school teacher...

, CEO of NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...

.

Mad Money Ladies' Night was broadcast on January 22, 2008 and featured an all-female studio audience. This show also brought back the rarely-seen Am I Nuts? segment. Unlike all of the prior Main Event and Back to School shows that aired, there was no featured guest.

It is interesting to note that on each of the Main Events thus far, significant stock market activity has coincidentally occurred (e.g. Google reaching a price of 350, which Cramer had predicted, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index, and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow...

 attaining a 4-year high.)

Back to School (2006)

The first Mad Money Back to School event was broadcast on February 1, 2006 from Harvard (Cramer's alma mater). Cramer's special guest was then-New York Attorney General and future New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...

, who was a classmate of Cramer's at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

. Cramer said that his favorite part of the taping was the question-and-answer session with students; due to the nature of the show, however, this segment was limited to approximately five minutes.

Football players Joey Armao, Stephen Sheehan and Carl Ehrlich assisted Jim in the Lightning Round. Cramer noted the three players were wearing Under Armour
Under Armour
Under Armour is an American sports clothing and accessories company. The company is a supplier of a wide range of sportswear and casual apparel mainly focusing on hi-tech sportswear for professional athletes...

 gear, and noted the downgrade of the company by a firm. He did not like the downgrade, and the players assisted him in grabbing the chairs for the signature chair throw.

The commercials promoting the event primarily featured "Britney", a cheerleader obsessed with Cramer (she has multiple copies of Cramer's book – "in case I want to read it more than once" – is smitten by Cramer's picture and bobblehead doll, and ends the commercials with the phrase "give your investments something to cheer about--Booyah!"). On the January 30, 2006 episode (the last live episode before the event, the January 31 episode was a special featuring Cramer's top 10 American industrial stocks), the final Lightning Round caller was identified as "Britney from Colorado"; this was a promo for the upcoming event as the caller was the "Britney" featured on the commercials. The "Back to School" cheerleading campaign was thought up by Creative Director Dan Hoffman, who featured his cousin as the lead cheerleader Britney.

The first Back to School broadcast gave Mad Money its single highest rated episode since it was launched. The 6 p.m. ET airing produced a record 365,000 viewers, while the subsequent 9 p.m. ET and 12 a.m. ET airings gave the program 138,000 and 128,000 viewers respectively.

The second Back to School broadcast originated from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 on April 25, 2006. Once again, commercials featuring the aforementioned "Britney" have aired at the beginning of segment breaks. Originally, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 was Cramer's second stop on the tour with an air date of March 29, 2006, but this visit was cancelled due to "logistics." Cramer's special guest on the second Back to School broadcast was David Brandon
David Brandon
David A. Brandon is the director of intercollegiate athletics for the University of Michigan. He was formerly chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and manager of Domino's Pizza. He is also a former regent of the University of Michigan. Brandon took over Domino's in March 1999 when...

, CEO of Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza
Domino's Pizza, Inc. is an international pizza delivery corporation headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America. Founded in 1960, Domino's is the second-largest pizza chain in the United States and has over 9,000 corporate and franchised stores in 60 countries and all 50 U.S....

.

The third Back to School broadcast originated from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on May 16, 2006, again promoted by the aforementioned "Britney" commercials. In that episode, a female audience member assisted Jim in throwing a beach chair at the start of the Lightning Round. Cramer's special guests were George David
George David
George David is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of United Technologies Corporation. David was elected UTC’s President in 1992 and Chief Executive Officer in 1994. He joined UTC’s Otis Elevator subsidiary in 1975 and became its President in 1986.-Life and career:David was born in...

, CEO of United Technologies, and Raymond Milchovich, CEO of Foster Wheeler. This episode was the lowest rated Back to School edition to-date.

The fourth Back to School edition was broadcast from Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

 on September 20, 2006. Once again, it was being promoted by the "Britney" commercials. Cramer's special guest on the fourth Back to School show was Tim Russert
Tim Russert
Timothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...

, NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...

 Washington bureau chief and moderator of Meet the Press
Meet the Press
Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program produced by NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. It has been...

 and his son, Luke Russert (who was a student at Boston College).

The fifth Back to School edition was broadcast from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 on September 29, 2006, promoted once more by the "Britney" commercials. Georgetown was the final stop for the 2006 leg of the Mad Money Back to School college tour. Cramer's special guest on the fifth Back to School show was NBC News chief White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 correspondent David Gregory
David Gregory (journalist)
David Michael Gregory is an American television journalist, and moderator of NBC News' Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press.-Early life:...

.

Back to School (2007)

The Mad Money Back to School college tour resumed with the sixth Back to School broadcast on February 7, 2007. The first stop in the 2007 leg of the tour was at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
Darden Graduate School of Business Administration
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business is the graduate business school associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs...

 at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

. Cramer's special guest on the sixth edition was Celgene
Celgene
Celgene Corporation is a manufacturer of drug therapies for cancer and inflammatory disorders. It is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Summit, New Jersey...

 President and Chief Operating Officer
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...

 (COO), Robert J. Hugin.

The second stop in this leg was on March 20, 2007 at the McCombs School of Business
McCombs School of Business
The McCombs School of Business, also referred to as the McCombs School or simply McCombs, is a business school at The University of Texas at Austin. In addition to the main Austin campus, McCombs offers classes outside Central Texas in Dallas, Houston and internationally in Mexico City...

 at the University of Texas, Austin. Cramer's special guest on the seventh edition was William R. Johnson
William R. Johnson
William R. Johnson is president, CEO and chairman of H. J. Heinz. He worked at Drackett as an assistant product manager for Behold furniture polish, starting at $13,000 a year...

, President, Chairman, and CEO of H.J. Heinz Co.

The third stop in this leg was on April 4, 2007 at the Kelley School of Business
Kelley School of Business
The Kelley School of Business is a top-ranked American business school operated by Indiana University. As of 2009, approximately 5,500 full-time students are enrolled on its Bloomington campus, as well as 1,750 students at the Indianapolis campus...

 at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

. The show was actually broadcast from the school's basketball arena, Assembly Hall
Assembly Hall (Bloomington)
Assembly Hall is a 17,456-seat arena on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the home of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball teams. It opened in 1971 , replacing the current Gladstein Fieldhouse. The court is named after Branch McCracken, the men's basketball coach who led...

. Cramer's special guest on the eighth edition was Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban is an American business magnate and investor. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet....

, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...

 and a 1981 Indiana University graduate.

The fourth stop in this year's tour was on September 7, 2007 at the Marshall School of Business
Marshall School of Business
The USC Marshall School of Business is a private research and academic institution at the University of Southern California. It is the largest of USC's 17 professional schools. The current Dean is James G. Ellis. In 1997 the school was renamed following a US$35 million donation from alumnus Gordon S...

 at USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

. Cramer's special guest on the ninth Back to School edition was Bob Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

.

The fifth stop in this year's tour took place on October 18, 2007 at the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Management
Georgia Institute of Technology College of Management
The College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology was established in 1934, and is consistently ranked in the top 30 management programs in the nation. It draws its distinction from its roots in a world-renowned technical university....

 located in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

. It was originally scheduled to take place on April 24, 2007, but was postponed and rescheduled, due to the on-campus shooting deaths at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia
Blacksburg, Virginia
Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 42,620 at the 2010 census. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which...

 on April 16, 2007. Cramer's special guest on the tenth edition was E. Neville Isdell
E. Neville Isdell
Edward Neville Isdell is an Irish businessman, former chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company.-Early Life & Career:...

, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...

. Incidentally, Cramer's interview with Isdell was filmed on location at that company's headquarters in Atlanta. This is the first Mad Money to be filmed outdoors and was filmed in the center atrium of the Management Building in the new Tech Square section of the campus. Georgia Tech was the final stop for the 2007 leg of the Back to School college tour.

Back to School (2008)

The Back to School college tour resumed on March 26, 2008 at the Smeal College of Business
Smeal College of Business
The Smeal College of Business is the business school of Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1953, and is named after Mary Jean and Frank Smeal. The College offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral degrees, including a Master of Business Administration Program,...

 at Penn State University. This was the first stop on the 2008 leg of the college tour and the 11th Back to School broadcast overall.

The 12th Back to School show aired on November 12, 2008 at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

. This was also the second and final stop of the college tour for the year.

Back to School (2009)

On Earth Day, April 22, Jim resumed the Back to School college tour at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

 Fisher College of Business in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

. Jim's special guest was Toll Brothers
Toll Brothers
Toll Brothers is a Horsham, Pennsylvania based luxury homes builder.-Company Overview:Toll Brothers is a residential and commercial real estate development company with communities in 50 markets throughout 19 states...

 Chairman and CEO Robert Toll, who joined the show via satellite remote.

The Mad Money Back to School tour originated from Oklahoma University on October 30, 2009. Jim's special guests were Chesapeake Energy
Chesapeake Energy
Chesapeake Energy is the second largest producer of natural gas in the United States, a top 15 producer of U.S. liquids and the most active driller of new wells, according to an November 2011 investor presentation. It recorded 3Q 2011 natural gas production of an average of approximately of...

 CEO Aubrey McClendon
Aubrey McClendon
Aubrey Kerr McClendon is the chief executive officer, chairman, and co-founder of Chesapeake Energy Corporation . He is an outspoken advocate for natural gas as a cleaner and safer alternative to oil and coal fuels...

 (on set) and Devon Energy
Devon Energy
Devon Energy Corporation , is among the largest U.S.-based independent natural gas and oil producers. Based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the company's operations are focused on North American onshore exploration and production...

 Chairman and CEO Larry Nichols
Larry Nichols
J. Larry Nichols is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corporation. Nichols co-founded Devon with his father, John Nichols, in 1971 and assumed the company's chairmanship in 2000. He has served as Devon's CEO since 1980 and was President from 1976 until...

. This program also covered that day's 250-point plunge on the Dow.

Others

  • 1st Anniversary Special : On March 14, 2006, the 1st Mad Money Anniversary show occurred. The episode was a mix of answering stock questions with a great number of clips from previous episodes. The anniversary special also introduced two new sound button animations, replacing the original bull and bear animations with more animated, cartoon-like bulls and bears, but retaining the green and red backgrounds. (Green means up, and red means down on a ticker.) Also, during the Lightning Round, when callers made mention of the book (Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World), they were greeted by 4 dancing girls holding large cardboard cutouts of the front cover.
  • 2nd Anniversary Special : On March 14, 2007, the 2nd Mad Money Anniversary show occurred. The episode looked at highlights from the show's sophomore year, including clips of guests Cramer has interviewed on the show.
  • 500th episode : The 500th episode of Mad Money aired on June 11, 2007. The episode featured memorable clips from some of the first 499 episodes, as well as a mix of call-ins and stock questions.
  • Mad Money: It's a Family Affair (2007) : A special Father's Day
    Father's Day
    Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days...

     episode of Mad Money aired on June 14, 2007. Mad Money: It's a Family Affair, featured children (10 years and older) and parents in the studio audience. Ken Cramer (Jim's father) made a special guest appearance on that show.
  • 3rd Anniversary Special : The 3rd Mad Money Anniversary show aired on March 14, 2008. This episode was taped in front of a live studio audience (just like the previous Main Event and Back to School shows) and featured memorable clips from the first 3 years of the show. The rarely-seen "Am I Nuts?" segment also returned.
  • Mad Money at the Half : These special half-hour editions of Mad Money were aired live at 1:30 p.m. ET during the 2008 Summer Olympics
    2008 Summer Olympics
    The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

     over two weeks, from August 11, 2008 to August 22, 2008. Due to CNBC's Olympics coverage, Fast Money Now (1pm ET) and Mad Money at the Half (1:30pm ET) were both seen in place of the second hour of Power Lunch
    Power Lunch
    Power Lunch is a television business news program on CNBC, airing between 1:00pm and 2:00pm Eastern Time. It is presented by Tyler Mathisen, Sue Herera, and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. Simon Hobbs will fill in on occasion. Bill Griffeth anchored the program alone from 1996 to 2002...

    , while original episodes of Fast Money and Mad Money were shown in the 9pm ET and 11pm ET timeslots, respectively.
  • 1,000th episode: The 1,000th episode of Mad Money aired April 8, 2009. This episode was taped in front of a live studio audience (just like in the Main Event & Back to School shows). Andy Reid
    Andy Reid
    Andrew Walter "Andy" Reid is the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, a post he has held since 1999. Since 2001, he has also been the team's executive vice president of football operations...

    , head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles
    Philadelphia Eagles
    The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

    , made a surprise appearance as he joined the show by phone during the Lightning Round.
  • Mad Money: It's a Family Affair (2009): A special Father's Day episode of Mad Money aired June 19, 2009. Like the 2007 version, it featured children, parents and other family members in the studio audience.
  • 5th Anniversary Special: On March 15, 2010, the 5th Anniversary show was broadcast from Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (NBC Studios) in New York and featured a live studio audience, similar to the Back to School shows. Cramer's guest was Brian Williams
    Brian Williams
    Brian Douglas Williams is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network, a position he assumed in 2004...

    , anchor of the NBC Nightly News
    NBC Nightly News
    NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...

    .

Viewer "Challenges"

Mad Money has promoted two viewer challenges, one in late 2005 and another in early 2006.

In October 2005, the "Mad Money Challenge" was introduced—an online stock trading game where people ('investors') must earn the most money possible by investing in real stocks on the NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...

 and NYSE. Players received $100,000 in false money to invest in any stock they wanted. From October 2005 to December 20, 2005, over 40,000 people participated, with the top investor (identified as "Greg from Massachusetts") winning with more than $250,000 and having the opportunity to speak with Cramer live on Mad Money.

The second challenge was the "Booyah Challenge". In this contest (which ended on February 28, 2006), viewers attempted to utter the most creative "Booyah." The two winners were featured in the July 12, 2006 Mad Money Main Event, and assisted Cramer in the chair toss at the start of the Lightning Round.

Production

Mad Money is recorded in the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 5,281. The borough houses the world headquarters of CNBC and the American headquarters of Unilever, and is home to both Ferrari and Maserati North America.Englewood Cliffs...

, studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...

 of the Global Headquarters of CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

, a national cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...

 owned by NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...

 and parent company GE
Gê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....

.

The show is recorded occasionally with a live studio audience around 4 p.m. most weekdays for air that night, to be repeated occasionally when a live show is not viable. As the show is being ingested digitally in the Thomson
Thomson SA
Technicolor SA , formerly Thomson SA and Thomson Multimedia, is a French international provider of solutions for the creation, management, post-production, delivery and access of video, for the Communication, Media and Entertainment industries. Technicolor’s headquarters are located in Issy les...

 Grass Valley
Grass Valley (company)
Grass Valley, previously known as Grass Valley Group, is a privately held company based in California, USA. Grass Valley produces technology for the video and broadcast industry. On January 29, 2009, Thomson announced its intention to sell the Grass Valley business unit...

 MAN, the show is assembled by the editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

 and producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 to be made into the air product viewers watch Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. (ET). When difficulties arise, the show is occasionally "hot-rolled".

As of August 2007, among the many Mad Money contributors are executive producer Regina Gilgan; producer Kat Ricker; line producer, George Manessis; head writer Cliff Mason; tape producer Chris Schwarz, responsible for creating and delivering the final show to air. Segment producers include Kate Welsh and Heather Butler, as well as assistant producers, Candy Cheng and Jackie Fabozzi, who compile elements needed for air, and help determine the show's editorial direction. Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....

 Adrenaline edited elements are created by CNBC Staff Avid Editors such as Darren Kotler, Conrad deVroeg, Nick Stantzos, and Steven Banton, and the show is constructed with CNBC Staff Grass Valley
Grass Valley (company)
Grass Valley, previously known as Grass Valley Group, is a privately held company based in California, USA. Grass Valley produces technology for the video and broadcast industry. On January 29, 2009, Thomson announced its intention to sell the Grass Valley business unit...

 NewsEdit Editors Keri Conjura, Vanessa DiPietro, Julie Lajterman, Marc Telesca, and Cosimo Camporeale.

Original music for Mad Money was composed and performed by Willie Wilcox of Willie Wilcox Music.

Mad Money was licensed for a brief fictional segment in the 2008 film version of Iron Man
Iron Man (film)
Iron Man is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron...

 by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 and Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios, originally Marvel Films, is an American television and motion picture studio based in Manhattan Beach, California. Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, a self-contained part of the The Walt Disney Company conglomerate....

. In the segment, shortly after Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) declares Stark Industries
Stark Industries
In the fictional world of Iron Man, Stark Industries, later also known as Stark International, Stark Innovations, Stark/Fujikawa, Stark Enterprises and currently Stark Resilient, is a fictional multi-billion dollar corporation owned and run by businessman Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark, also known as...

 will no longer manufacture weapons, Jim Cramer is shown on Mad Money advising people in his trademark flair to sell off stock in Stark Industries.

Reception

According to Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

, on July 7, 2008, the show had 228,000 viewers for its 6 pm airing and 133,000 viewers for its 11 pm rebroadcast. On March 9, 2009, the show had 328,000 viewers for 6 pm and 176,000 viewers for 11 pm.

In January 2006, Joseph Nocera
Joseph Nocera
Joseph "Joe" Nocera is an American business journalist and author. He became a business columnist for The New York Times in April 2005. In March 2011, Nocera became a regular opinion columnist for The Times' Op-Ed page, writing on Tuesdays and Saturdays...

, a business columnist at The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, opined that the "people who are watching Mad Money and following Cramer's advice are fools." In late January 2007, Henry Blodget
Henry Blodget
Henry Blodget is an American former equity research analyst, currently banned from the securities industry, who was senior Internet analyst for CIBC Oppenheimer during the dot-com bubble and the head of the global Internet research team at Merrill Lynch...

—himself indicted for civil securities fraud in 2002 and banned for life from the securities industry—criticized Cramer for overstating his abilities as a market forecaster, noting that in 2006 Cramer's suggested portfolio lost money "despite nearly every major equity market on earth being up between about 15% and 30%." In August 2007, Cramer called for the Federal Reserve to support hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...

s that were losing money in the subprime mortgage crisis
Subprime mortgage crisis
The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was one of the first indicators of the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages....

, prompting Martin Wolf
Martin Wolf
Martin Wolf, CBE is a British journalist, widely considered to be one of the world's most influential writers on economics. He is associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times.-Early life:...

, the chief economics commentator for the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

, to accuse Cramer of advocating an offensive and catastrophic "socialism for capitalists". In March 2009, Cramer and CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

 were criticized by Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...

 of the Comedy Central's The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...

. Stewart questioned CNBC's reporting practices and what should have been done to possibly aid in preventing the economic crisis occurring at the time. See the Jon Stewart's 2009 criticism of CNBC
Jon Stewart's 2009 criticism of CNBC
On March 12, 2009, television personality Jim Cramer appeared as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The host of CNBC's Mad Money, Cramer appeared in response to host Jon Stewart's highly-publicized week-long criticism of CNBC...

 for further details. Some regular listeners to the program have noted that Cramer has a history of denying or attempting to mitigate bad advice he has given on the show. For example, during the banking melt-down of 2009, Cramer suggesting buying some of these stocks because they were prime take-over targets. Later, after the stocks crashed to record lows and in some cases went bankrupt and/or lost all shareholder value, Cramer denied to a caller(s) that he ever recommended buying these stocks as they crashed.

See also

  • Kudlow & Cramer
    Kudlow & Cramer
    Kudlow & Cramer was a CNBC American business and politics television program with conservative Lawrence Kudlow and liberal Jim Cramer. The program initially replaced Hardball with Chris Matthews, which moved to sister channel MSNBC, for the 8 p.m. Eastern Time slot, but later moved to the 5 p.m...

  • TheStreet.com
    TheStreet.com
    -History:TheStreet.com, Inc., was co-founded in 1996 by Jim Cramer and Martin Peretz. It is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market. The company is headquartered at 14 Wall Street in New York City. Its stock was made public in May 1999 under the direction of past Chairman and Chief Executive Officer...

  • Street Signs (a CNBC business news program, anchored by Erin Burnett
    Erin Burnett
    Erin Isabelle Burnett is the anchor of CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront. She was the co-anchor of CNBC's Squawk on the Street program and the host of CNBC's Street Signs program...

    , that features Cramer's "Stop Trading!" segment)
  • Fast Money
    Fast Money (CNBC)
    Fast Money is an American financial stock trading talk show that began airing on the CNBC cable/satellite TV channel on 2006-06-21. Since October 10, 2007, it has broadcast every weeknight at 5pm ET, one hour after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, until mid-2011 when it was...

     (a CNBC financial investing program, hosted by Melissa Lee
    Melissa Lee (journalist)
    Melissa Lee is a Chinese American reporter and news anchor for CNBC. Since January 2009 she has occasionally hosted Closing Bell when Maria Bartiromo is unavailable...

    , which follows a similar format)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK