Trashy to classy
In the world of entertainment, television 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 Maury Povich and Geraldo. Anyone who watches talk shows on a regular basis knows that each talk show varies in style and format. One might enjoy watching the sometimes trashy subject matter found on Jerry Springer, While others might enjoy the more serious and light hearted feel of the Tyra Banks 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 Oprah Winfrey show.
Jerry Springer could easily be named 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 Jerry Springer show, the topic is women who cheated on their boyfriends and are ready to confess, except the boyfriends are in for an even bigger surprise. As it turns out not only have they been cheating. They have been cheating with their boyfriend’s best friend, who is a girl, and just happens to be waiting back stage. Another episode tells of a John Wayne Bobbit type case, but with a more twisted plot. This man cut off his own penis because he claimed that his homosexual neighbor was stalking him. Shocking, indeed, but the list of talk material goes on from dangerous love triangles, teenage prostitutes, adult film stars, broken homes, pregnant strippers, devil worshipers, and the ever popular Jerry Springer show regulars, the members of the Ku Klux Klan. Clearly the Jerry Springer show is a display and exploitation of society’s moral catastrophes, yet people are willing to eat up the intriguing predicaments of other people’s lives.
Oprah Winfrey was once a follower of the trash...