Talking Up Problems

The aliens sat at their main console, watching in awe of the images they had just finished downloading from outer space. On their viewing screen they saw strange looking people trying to get unleashed from the grasps of bouncers, so that they may fight with each other. Unknowingly, they had picked up some television talk show programming from the planet earth. As the aliens continued watching they could easily tell that these creatures were uncivilized and some how found satisfaction in the pain of others. They saw incest, love triangles, prostitution, poverty, and misbehaving children. However, the fact that they saw these conditions was not extraordinary, it was they way that they were portrayed by the talk show. The people on the programming seemed generally proud and satisfied with their current affairs. This of course blatantly shows how the television genre of talk shows can be mentally damaging to the guests on the talk shows.

Three major talk shows that display these sorts of actions are: Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, and Jenny Jones. These three talk shows seem to thrive off of the misfortunes of others. They draw in viewers with outlandish guests who would rather look like a fool begging for the forgiveness of a lover, than accepting the fact that their own misconduct has led to their demise. The talk shows are always looking for the best shock value that they can find, regardless of the effects it may have on the participants in the talk shows. Issues like sexual orientation, incest, cheating, prostitution, abuse, and misbehaving children often fill these shows with new problems everyday. These shows deal with issues that no other respectable program would. However, these programs still retain an active viewing base because deep down we all like to see others’ misfortunes so that we can feel better about our own life.

These talk shows may deal with issues that other shows won’t, but they tend to deal with them in a fashion that suits the television network the best, not the guests. Many times on these shows emotions run high, especially anger and sadness. Someone always ends up crying in between the few fistfights that might break out. Since actions have been taken against the networks for letting the guests have an all out fight on television, these shows usually contain bouncers or mediators. However, the networks want to keep those ratings high so they’re not going to let the bouncers break up the fight too early.

These kinds of talk shows usually get their shock value from lies and surprises. The shock could be a crush a guest has had on someone else for years or an affair that has been a secret until now, when the adulterer wants to leave the partner for the lover. On one episode of the Jenny Jones Show, a guest told another man of a sexual fantasy he had about them, the man the guest had invited declared himself ‘100 percent heterosexual’. Later back in their home state the guest was shot by the other man who claimed, the embarrassment of the show had ‘eaten away’ at him (Gamson, 189). This surprise damaged one of the participants’ mental state to the point that he was able to justify murder in his mind.

Talk shows are always willing to let two women come on the show and fight over one man. In an episode of Jerry Springer, a female guest brings another woman, who the guest suspects of cheating with her boyfriend, out on stage and tells her to stop having sex with her man. However, through it all we don’t see the boyfriend come out on stage until the very end of the segment. The boyfriend is just as guilty as the cheating woman; it takes two to have sexual relations. The guest should be mad at her boyfriend and not the other woman. It’s her boyfriend’s job to stay loyal not the other woman’s. The talk show, host and audience, never point these facts out, they just encourage the two women to keep fighting by raising the noise level of the show chanting “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry”.

The audiences of these shows help to damage the participants’ mental state by shouting out discriminate views and degrading slurs at the guests. Some of the audience members may even challenge the guests physically. At one point during an episode of Jerry Springer, the audience shouted “We like lesbians” repeatedly at a female guest who was cheating on her boyfriend of two years with another woman.

The host of these talk shows also helps in damaging the participants’ mental state. During one of these talk shows the host usually plays the role of antagonist. Asking questions to the guests like, “Are you going to let her cheat with your man?” and “Are you going to stay with this man even though he’s cheated on you?”. This kind of questioning during a heated argument between guests fuels the emotions already swirling inside the guests. The host intensifies the issue by suggesting to the original guest that it’s time to bring out the boyfriend regardless of whether or not the guest is finished explaining his or her anger towards the lover.

The tactics of these types of shows are so that they instigate anger and inject emotion into situations that may be calmer under normal conditions. Television shows are surrounded by hype (Monaco, 178). Talk shows try to increase the hype by finding storylines that don’t exist or putting emphasis on the negative parts of peoples’ relationships. When a person is being surprised on a talk show they usually gets their surprise backstage, while they listen to the guest tell everyone else first. This makes the situation uncomfortable for the recipient of the surprise because they feel like they are the last to know. Also, the overall settings of these talk shows are not a welcoming comforting environment, and not well suited for calm confrontations. The stages are usually brightly lit, while the backstage area seems darker than a normal room. Then when the guest is brought out on stage their surprised feeling is increased by this sudden light change. This light change in it’s self is enough to place the guests in a poor mood.

In conclusion, talk shows are damaging to the mental well being of those participating. They can upset normal lives and leave guests being ridiculed for years. These shows end with a confused feeling, leaving the viewer wondering how long will it take for the cheaters to cheat again. These talk shows are damaging because they never solve any problems that the guests have, they just expose the problems.

Works Cited

Gamson, Joshua. “Do Ask, Do Tell.” Common Culture. Ed. Michael Petracca, and

Madeleine Sorapure. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. 184-193.

Monaco, Paul. “Common Contemporary Themes.” Common Culture. Ed. Michael Petracca,

and Madeleine Sorapure. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. 174-

183.

“My son needs ‘tough love’!” The Jenny Jones Show. United Paramount Network. KMSP,

Minneapolis. 1 Mar. 2002.

“Sexy Love Triangles.” The Jerry Springer Show. Warner Brothers Network. KMWB,

Minneapolis. 28 Feb. 2002.

“Too fat to be a model?” The Ricki Lake Show. Warner Brothers Network. KMWB,

Minneapolis. 1 Mar. 2002.