The Deceit of Day Time Talk Shows such as Jerry Springer As you walk apprehensively onto the stage, the large audience howls those infamous expressions. You nervously seat yourself beside your fiancée not knowing what to expect; you are nervous and overcome with anxiety. Finally, Jerry, in his scratchy, high-pitched voice, utters those predictable words, "So, don't you have something to tell your boyfriend?" She turns to you, holding your hand in the most gentle and loving manner, gazes into your eyes and says, "Remember about four months ago when I disappeared that night at your parent's house? Well, that night your sister and I went to your old room and had a long talk. Since, you haven't paid me enough attention lately I have been sleeping with her ever since." The crowd moans again, as if they did not hear her side of the story two minutes before you arrived. You suddenly feel the anxiousness that you experienced earlier quickly diminished and replaced by intense rage. You turn to Jerry while he instigates with a devilish grin, "Wow, she has been cheating with your sister, how does this make you feel?" Your anger only builds; you scream at your girlfriend and ask how she could be such a damn *%&#…! Jerry interrupts the somber moment and yells into the microphone, "Alright, lets meet your sister!" As you see your sister walk through the door and slob your soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, you hear that irritating chant echoing through the crowd again. You jump to your feet and lunge towards your sister, but are instantly pulled away by security guards and forced to return to this degrading dilemma asking yourself the same question you asked yourself on the plane to Chicago, "Why did I accept an invitation to this show... ... middle of paper ... ... No one is forced to watch television. Therefore, if there is something on television that disturbs you, and such television programs negatively affect you, then you are not forced to watch it. As we watch, listen, and are entertained, trash television talk shows are changing our perceptions, rewriting our cultural roles, altering our social relationships, and ultimately our relationships with the ordinary world. Talk shows offer us a quasi-world of indefinite margins. They create a sensational community, without any of the social and personal responsibilities that are attached to real life. For some, the concept is an appealing notion: therapy as entertainment. The central distortion that these shows advocate is that they give useful therapy to guests and useful advice to the audience. Whether you believe it or not, trash talk shows are arenas for real people.
When asked "What is the trashiest show on television?" I wouldn't doubt that the majority of the population would agree that it was The Jerry Springer Show. The show deals with people and there issues in the way like many other self-help shows do, for example Oprah or Dr. Phil, but the issues that are dealt with are quite different. Although one may argue that the people on The Jerry Springer Show are simply freaks, a sociologist would say that the issues on the show are dysfunctions of society and this show is an outlet for them to show off their abnormality. We must first understand the life of Jerry Springer to analyze his role on the show. Without a doubt, the show affects the morals and norms of society along with our perception of class, gender, and sexuality. Another important aspect is the role of the audience on the show and how that effects the roles of the guests.
The shows portrays a melting pot of each character lives with money, sex, social media, and relationships unfiltered and toxic, yet irrelevant to the real –world. Another key point is the exploitation of the television world and the millions of viewers, that it’s okay sociably to exemplify deviant behaviors in real –life. Also, culturally and sociably, the reality show creates a bigger problem as the platform provided for the cast is characterized in a negative state. On the negative side, this creates the illusion to act in like manner, from the deviant behavior portrayed on
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 Jesse Raphael. 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 the content, while at the same time standing out above the rest, than the Jerry Springer and Oprah Winfrey shows.
Jerry Springer is one of the most popular daytime talk show hosts. Each day on the Jerry Springer show, guest talk about their problems in front of national television. Jerry Springer helps his guest work through their problems by adding in comments to fuel the argument. During the show, the audience is watching the problem’s unfold with a dramatic twist to the guest’s conflicting matters. A typical day on the Jerry Springer show is filled with cursing, shouting and fighting. The fighting adds to the affect of the problem and keeps the audience entertained. The problem with the Jerry Springer show comes when the youth of America watches the program after they get home from school which is around 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon. A show like this only promotes violence and even talks about sexual content. One example is why a woman cheated on her husband with his sister. That might sound odd or out of the ordinary, but it attracts peoples’ attention and even our children’s.
Reality based television has a broad landscape ranging from competitive game-like shows to programs following the daily lives of a group of people. Every major network now has some form of reality programming because the genre’s shows are high in viewership and require low costs for production. The genre is appealing to viewers because it provides them with a first-hand look into the lives of everyday people, which allows them to observe social behavior that helps them determine what is appropriate or not (Tyree, 2011, p. 397). Since the majority of modern reality stars start out as unknowns, frequent viewers of reality programming believed that fame is obtainable if they appear on a popular show (Mendible, 2004). According to Mendible’s evaluation of the genre in the article Humiliation, Subjectivity, and Reality TV, people enjoy reality programs beca...
As we approach the darker realms of talk shows, we come to talk shows such as the Jerry Springer show. At first impression, one may get the inherent idea that the show is basically is exploiting the misery and troubles of real life people who do not live the blessed lives that we imagine up in our ideal minds. There is no doubt to me at all that the main aim of such shows is to exploit the lives of these misfits and the more dirt the producers get, the higher their ratings. But unfortunately, it is ironic that when the decrease in society's morals is highlighted in every episode Springer airs the producers are getting richer. Looking deeper at the show, we can safely say that the show is based mainly on relationships between people. Morality is first pu...
Dickson, Mary. "Trash TV? Jerry Springer and Howard Stern Light up the Ratings and Networks Rake in the Dough." Salt Lake City Weekly 29 May 1998. Print.
The Legacy of the Jerry Springer Show For years we have heard the audience yell "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!" and go crazy for those Jerry beads. But will Jerry Springer actually be remembered years from now? Some may argue that no, Jerry Springer was just a phase and no one will care about it in the future. They may be right at some level. No one really watches the show like before, but Jerry Springer has left an impact on American culture which is something worth talking about.
A. “Reality TV Offers an Amoral Message.” Reality TV. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford, Ph.D. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2008, 32-37. Print.
Human beings require their pleasures for a daily need be filled, whether it be a guilty one or not, the pleasure is there. In Jennifer Pozner’s Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV we step through where reality TV has taken our guilty pleasure on another level. TV is one of every Americans center of attention at some point during the day or week, which provide us with the visualization of what we watch to become a consumption of our life and views. Jennifer’s aim is intended to have readers look at our social trends with an analytical lens so that people don’t dismiss what they are seeing as meaningless, and her point being not to stop these activities, but to understand what we are seeing and watching on TV.
Television is a vital source from which most Americans receive information. News and media delegates on television have abused theirs powers over society through the airing of appealing news shows that misinform the public. Through literary research and experimentation, it has been proven that people's perception of reality has been altered by the information they receive from such programs. Manipulation, misinterpretation, word arrangement, picture placement and timing are all factors and tricks that play a major role in the case. Research, experimentation, and actual media coverage has pinpointed actual methods used for deceptive advertising. Television influences society in many ways. People are easily swayed to accept a belief that they may not normally have unless expressed on television, since many people think that everything they hear on television is true. This, however, is not always the case. It has been observed that over the past twenty to thirty years, normal social behavior, even actual life roles of men and women and media, regulatory policies have all been altered (Browne 1998). Media has changed with time, along with quality and respectability. Many Americans receive and accept false information that is merely used as an attention grabber that better the show's ratings and popularity. Many magazines and Journal reviews have periodically discussed the "muckraking" that many tabloid shows rely on to draw in their viewers. This involves sensationalizing a story to make it more interesting, therefore increasing the interest of the audience. "Along the way, all sorts of scandalous substance and goofy tricks appear, but not much mystery in the logic," (Garnson 1997). People often know that these shows aim to deceive them, but still accept the information as truth. Many times, people have strong opinions on certain topics. Yet, when they are exposed to the other side of the argument, they may be likely to agree with the opposite view. As Leon Festinger said, "If I chose to do it (or say it), I must believe in it," (Myers 1997). This is an example of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, which pertains to acting contrary to our beliefs. Television influences many people to change their original beliefs. It has the viewers think that the majority of other people hold the contrary idea. Once these views are presented, people have the option to hol...
The celebrity gossip industry has affected our assumptions about entertainment. Usually, we assume that entertainment is just for fun, entertainment is only a reflection of our culture, and entertainment is a personal choice. Nowadays, entertainment is not just for fun. Celebrities entertain us in many ways, but sometimes we do not enjoy what they do yet we still watch them. For instance, many teen idols have had meltdowns. Although it is not fun to...
Lehmann, Carolin. “Reality TV: A Blessing or a Curse? An Analysis of the Influence of Reality TV on U.S. Society.” Academia. Edu 5 Nov. 2012. 29 Nov. 2013.
Television isn't all bad. It placates us and creates a comfortable background while we take care of business at home and when we're tired it lulls us to sleep. TV is a companion for the elderly and a convenient babysitter for the young. It makes burglars think we're home when we're not. It entertains us cheaply with live action sports, incomparable performing arts and singular events of the world all in living color. It educates us about everything from the cells in our body to the galaxies in the universe. Besides, what would life be like without TV? Could we stand the silence? How would we relax? What would we do with so much time on our hands?
Ballaro believes television programs are entertaining and at times boring but it does not promote negative effects on viewer’s behavior. According to Ballaro “ It is the responsibility of the parents to supervise their children’s television viewing habits”. It is not the television broadcasters fault for the parent’s negligence of supervision. Television programs have a parental guidance for a reason, thus parents can do several things to prevent their children from watching these shows. Television contains offensive and foolish behavior but it is not harmful to everyone. The materials that television programs contain are just fictional and used to attract viewers. If it is offensive to the viewer then they have the choice to turn off the television. It is freedom of choice to watch the show. Ballaro said, “ There is lack of evidence that tells any effects of television is on the viewer”. The effects of reality television lie on the viewer than on television broadcasters because viewers have the option to change the channel or turn off the TV in general. According to Ballaro “...