Television: The reflection of our society.
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 Montel 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 lighthearted 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. .
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Jerry Springer could easily be considered the king of "trash talk." The topics on his shows 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 quite a different level. In a vintage Springer show, one finds women who cheated on their boyfriends or husbands and are ready to confess. However the boyfriends are in for a bigger surprise. As it turns out, not all the women have been secretly seeing other guys, but rather seeing other women, who by surprise also happen to be waiting backstage. Another episode tells of a lot more twisted story. 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 to 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 disasters and catastrophes, yet people are willing to eat up the intriguing predicaments of other people's lives.