FREE ESSAY ON DOING IT PUBLICLY

DOING IT PUBLICLY

With talk shows ruling day-time television, people are left with little choice but to
watch this humiliating form of
entertainment. Turn the television on in the afternoon and you will find a large variety
of talk shows to choose from.
Maybe we have become a nation addicted to hearing our neighbors' seamy personal
problems".Personally, I feel it
is both the lack of choice and the attraction to other peoples problems.
Many of the topics on talk shows are degrading to our society. If person came to
America for the first time and watched television, they would probably see a talk show.
The model a talk show
would give of American society is horrifying. For example, a common talk show topic is
teens having multiple sex
partners at young ages. However, not all teens are sexually active at such a young age.
For this reason talk shows
are misleading not only to foreigners but to children and young adults who are learning
about morals and our
society. In a letter to the corporate CEO's distributing these programs, William Bennett
and Senator Joseph
Lieberman asked: Would you want your young children to view a program showcasing the
sexual adventures of a
14-year-old girl who married her 71-year-old foster father(Flint and Wharton). To those
who do not tune into
these shows this discription may sound like an exaggeration; however, it is not. This is
exactly the type of topics on
some shows. Not only are half the shows ridiculous with topics of deceit, revenge and
extreme behavior, but some
of them are false(Flint and Wharton). On the Jerry springer Show a Canadian comedy troupe
went on the show and
created a story. The story was that one of the men had an affair with his baby-sitter.
After the show appeared on
television, the troupe members went to the press saying how they
deceived the program and its audience(You 52). Some people will do anything to be
on television. Some shows trick people into situations. The Jenny Jones show has had
several episode entitled
Secret Crush. In these episode secret admirers are revealed to her guests. In some cases
her guests are displeased
with their secret admirer. I can remember one episode that I watched. A woman was
surprised by a man who had a
secret crush on her. She was very disturbed when she realized who he was. She proceeded
to tell Jenny that this
man was insane and was pursuing her.This could have been avoided if the woman was told
who the secret admirer
was before the show. However, if this was done the show would not be as interesting. In
another incident, one of
Jenny's guests confronted a secert crush, and it led to tragedy. Amedure, a male guest
had a crush on Johnathan
Schmitz, another male. Amedure surprised Schmitz with his feelings on the show; however,
Schmitz was expecting
a woman, from the impression he was given by the shows producers. Schmitz said he was
publicly embarrassed
when Amedure revealed on national television that he had a gay crush on him. After the
show Jonathan Schmitz
was charged with the murder of Amedure. Schmitz shot Amedure and killed him( In some
shows the guests are not informed of the topic, and they end up being embarrassed by a
ridiculous
topic. This is wrong because these people with their loved ones or friends sometimes
involved are mislead
and sometimes humiliated on
national television by the producers. Even though the guests agree to appear on the
shows because they wanted to, some regret it after the show (You 40). Therefore, we can
not pose the guests as
helpless victims because they are adults. Also, if they have seen a talk show before they
went on one, they would
know what they were getting themselves into. In my opinion there are just too many talk
shows. According to
Larry Pollock there are 32 talk shows on television right now(Flint and Wharton). There
are a few talk shows that
are conscientious and have very interesting and educational topics. For example Oprah
Winfrey and Maury Povich
are two shows that have many rewarding topics such as family reunions. They also have
educational topics on child
and spousal abuse. These shows are good because they expose us to different things that
are going on in the world,
things that we can change. The best thing to do is to shift through all the talk shows
and get rid of the garbage. In
the nineteen eighties, soap operas and game shows ruled day-time television. If we can
find something entertaining
to replace talk shows, we can make them a fad of the past.