This is a gift link, an obit of a sociologist known for criticizing daytime talk shows like Oprah. Excerpt:
> “The Shameless World of Phil, Sally and Oprah,” Dr. Abt’s vociferous critique of daytime talk shows that was published in The Journal of Popular Culture in 1994, was credited with provoking a degree of soul-searching by Ms. Winfrey. Within months, the host was proclaiming her wish to “disassociate ourselves from the ‘trash pack’” in the programming of her hugely popular syndicated show.
> In the attention-getting article, Dr. Abt and her Penn State colleague, Mel Seesholtz, described the tabloid talk-show genre — the stuff of Montel Williams, Maury Povich and Ricki Lake, among others — as “exploitation, voyeurism, peeping Toms and freak shows,” presided over by hosts motivated chiefly by ratings.
> Many of the supposedly everyday people featured as guests, the professors wrote, seemed like caricatures in “real-life soap operas” — unfortunate and improvident victims who were being publicly humiliated.
> “Rather than being mortified, ashamed or trying to hide their stigma,” the article said, “‘guests’ willingly and eagerly discuss their child molesting, sexual quirks and criminal records in an effort to seek ‘understanding’ for their particular disease.”
> Dr. Abt and Dr. Seesholtz added that studio and home audiences “consume others’ misfortunes without feeling any responsibility to do anything to intervene.”
Graybeard_Shaving on
Oh man, I’d love to hear her thoughts on podcasters.
flowerpanes on
Reality tv also did a lot to make viewers
more inclined to put some truly obnoxious people up on a pedestal.
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This is a gift link, an obit of a sociologist known for criticizing daytime talk shows like Oprah. Excerpt:
> “The Shameless World of Phil, Sally and Oprah,” Dr. Abt’s vociferous critique of daytime talk shows that was published in The Journal of Popular Culture in 1994, was credited with provoking a degree of soul-searching by Ms. Winfrey. Within months, the host was proclaiming her wish to “disassociate ourselves from the ‘trash pack’” in the programming of her hugely popular syndicated show.
> In the attention-getting article, Dr. Abt and her Penn State colleague, Mel Seesholtz, described the tabloid talk-show genre — the stuff of Montel Williams, Maury Povich and Ricki Lake, among others — as “exploitation, voyeurism, peeping Toms and freak shows,” presided over by hosts motivated chiefly by ratings.
> Many of the supposedly everyday people featured as guests, the professors wrote, seemed like caricatures in “real-life soap operas” — unfortunate and improvident victims who were being publicly humiliated.
> “Rather than being mortified, ashamed or trying to hide their stigma,” the article said, “‘guests’ willingly and eagerly discuss their child molesting, sexual quirks and criminal records in an effort to seek ‘understanding’ for their particular disease.”
> Dr. Abt and Dr. Seesholtz added that studio and home audiences “consume others’ misfortunes without feeling any responsibility to do anything to intervene.”
Oh man, I’d love to hear her thoughts on podcasters.
Reality tv also did a lot to make viewers
more inclined to put some truly obnoxious people up on a pedestal.