Daytime Talk Shows - Essay Example

The daytime talk television shows have raised a lot of controversies. Bad taste is considered synonymous with the shows. American culture degradation has been optimized by the willingness of the invited persons to laugh, shout, bicker, and sob in reference to their personal issues publicly. This article discusses what happens behind the scenes of daytime television talk shows (Gross, Katz, and Ruby 115).

Look for things that cause you to think "I didn't know that “or "I never thought of it like that."

Laura Grindstaff discusses the various things that occur behind the scenes when Talk Shows are being prepared. There are things that she points out that I never thought of like that and some that I did not know. Talk shows have a lot of strange spaces for matters to be discussed. Matters like misuse, manipulation, consent, and choice within the context of entertainment are clearly depicted in Talk shows. The entertainment context itself is embedded in bigger cultural landscapes with social inequality as its character. Grindstaff argues that unlike other elites and celebrities shown on television, the” ordinary people” who come as guests in the talk show in the daytime are forced to be emotional about their lives and private affairs to attract and entice audiences. She believes that for talk shows, it is necessary to manipulate the people so as to create moments that are dramatic. The dramatic scenes seen on the daytime talk shows are not stories of natural occurrences but rather directed by producers (Shuyisun 1).

Identify the thesis of the article and the criteria the author states or implies for assessing responsibility. If the author does not draw a conclusion about the criteria say so and explain what you think they should be.

In the “Daytime talk show” article, Grindstaff proposes that as much as the daytime talk show makes profit and entertainment from the privacy of people, the show stages a platform for manipulation in the context of entertainment. Grindstaff claims that the show uses the emotional expressiveness of people to get ratings. Grindstaff mentioned that asking producers to define manipulation is the same as wanting a fish to define and describe an aquarium. Some level of manipulation is always required because the producers are supposed to package stories so as to enhance the drama for the audience. The producers as well present the stories of ordinary people in the show. Talk show raises questions about digital media deception. It gets hard nowadays for people to establish whether the issues digital media presents are unreal or real (Gross, Katz, and Ruby 118).

Offer your own insight, perhaps on the fairness of the conclusion, or a solution, or why and how we deal with the situation.

I think talk shows should not manipulate ordinary people's guests and should only recruit those people that are willing to participate. Other talk shows should emulate shows like Maury which are looked at with some respect because there is control over guests, and the participants are willingly involved. The guests in Maury's show come willingly share secrets that shock, to find out who fathers their child, or confront a person in the air. Another good talk show that Grindstaff talked about is Ellen. Ellen brings on celebrities to her show. Celebrities know how to handle their emotions and know what to say and how best to say it. In case Ellen involves ordinary people; her intention is to give them money or help them (Shuyisun 1).

The guests to the show should make sure that prior to the show; they have some knowledge and the shown content so that they are completely aware of the situation in which they are getting in. They should make sure that they have seen a talk show before they can appear and participate in one (Shuyisun 1).

The media focuses so much on the elites in society; ordinary people, for this reason, do not exist within the entertainment industry as well as the official established news-making routines. Naturally, ordinary people are not newsworthy. For an ordinary person to access the media, he/she needs to be unusual, disruptive, and deviant. The show talk producers take advantage of that fact and hence manipulate them to participate in the show.