Talk Shows

            In the world of entertainment, TV talk shows have undoubtedly flooded every inch of space on daytime television. Many of us have seen and heard the often recycled topics found on such veteran shows as Geraldo and Sally Jessy Raphael. And anyone who watches talk shows on a regular basis knows that each one varies in style and format. One might enjoy watching the sometimes trashy subject matter found on Jenny Jones, while someone else might prefer the more serious and light hearted feel of the Maury Povich show. But no two shows are more profoundly opposite in content, while at the same time standing out above the rest, than the Jerry Springer and the Oprah Winfrey show. Jerry Springer could easily be considered the king of "trash talk." The topics on his show are as shocking as they get. For example, the show takes the ever common talk show themes of love, lust, sex, sexuality, adultery, cheating, guilt, hate, conflict and morality to a different level. In a vintage Springer show, one finds women who cheated on their boyfriends and are ready to confess. But the boyfriends are in for a bigger surprise. As it turns out that all the women haven't been secretly seeing other guys, but seeing other women, who also happen to be waiting backstage. Another episode tells of a John Wayne Bobbit type case, but with a more twisted plot. A male cuts off his own manhood because he claimed that his homosexual neighbor was stalking him. Shocking, indeed, but the list of talk material goes on from dangerous love triangles, broken homes, pregnant strippers, teenage prostitutes, adult film stars, devil worshippers and the ever popular talk show regulars, the members of the Ku Klux Klan. Clearly, the Jerry Springer show is a display and exploitation of societies moral catastrophes, yet people are willing to eat up the intriguing predicaments of other peoples lives. Oprah Winfrey was once a follower of the trash TV format, but her long running popular TV talk show has since been reformed.