Tabloid talk show
Encyclopedia
Tabloid talk shows are a genre of American television program
ming talk show
s that achieved peak viewership during the late 20th century. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through broadcast syndication, this genre originated with The Phil Donahue Show
and was popularized by the personal confession-filled The Oprah Winfrey Show
. Tabloid talk shows have sometimes been described as the "freak shows" of the late 20th century since most of their guests were outside the mainstream. The host invites a group of guests to discuss an emotional or provocative topic—ranging from marital infidelity to more outlandish topics—and the guests are encouraged to make public confessions and resolve their problems with on-camera "group therapy". Similar shows are popular throughout Europe.
The genre is sometimes described using the pejorative
slang
term "Trash TV", particularly when the show hosts appear to purposely design their shows to create controversy or confrontation, as in the case of Geraldo
(a 1988 show in which klansmen, anti-racist skinheads and Jewish activists were invited led to an on-camera brawl) and The Jerry Springer Show
, which focused on lurid tryst
s - often between family members. While sociologist Vicki Abt criticized tabloid TV shows, claiming that they are blurring the lines between normal and deviant behavior, Yale
sociology professor Joshua Gamson argues that the genre's focus on sexual orientation
provided a great deal of media visibility for gay
s, bisexuals, transsexuals, and transgender
people.
, as host of The Phil Donahue Show
. Donahue began to push the envelope with the discussion of topics deemed to be taboo
such as atheism and homosexuality. Donahue also distinguished himself from traditional talk shows by being the first to get off the stage, and take his microphone directly into the studio audience. For over a decade, Donahue's was the only show of this kind, and so tabloid talk shows had not yet been described as a genre, lucrative industry, or counterculture movement. All of that changed in 1986 when a relatively unknown 32 year old woman named Oprah Winfrey
became the first broadcaster able to challenge Donahue in the ratings. Winfrey's show quickly doubled Donahue's audience as her personal confessions and focus on therapy were seen by many as redefining the format.
Time magazine wrote, "Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye....They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session."
By confessing intimate details about her weight problems, tumultuous love life, and sexual abuse, and crying alongside her guests, Time Magazine credits Winfrey with creating a new form of media communication known as "rapport talk" as distinguished from the "report talk" of Phil Donahue:
"Winfrey saw television's power to blend public and private; while it links strangers and conveys information over public airwaves, TV is most often viewed in the privacy of our homes. Like a family member, it sits down to meals with us and talks to us in the lonely afternoons. Grasping this paradox, ...She makes people care because she cares. That is Winfrey's genius, and will be her legacy, as the changes she has wrought in the talk show continue to permeate our culture and shape our lives."
Winfrey continued Donahue's pattern of exploring topics that were at the time considered taboo. For an entire hour in the 1980s, members of the studio audience stood up one by one, gave their name and announced that they were gay. Also in the 1980s Winfrey took her show to West Virginia to confront a town gripped by AIDS paranoia because a gay man living in the town had HIV. Winfrey interviewed the man who had become a social outcast, the town's mayor who drained the swimming pool because the man had gone swimming, and debated the town's hostile residents. "But I hear this is a God fearing town" Winfrey scolded the homophobic studio audience, "where's all that Christian love and understanding?" During a show on gay marriage in the 1990s, a woman in Winfrey's audience stood up to complain that gays were constantly flaunting their sex lives and she announced that she was tired of it. "You know what I'm tired of," replied Winfrey, "heterosexual males raping and sodomizing young girls. That's what I'm tired of." Her rebuttal inspired a screaming standing ovation from that show's mostly gay studio audience.
Guests included Neo Nazis, polygamous men and their partners, and Black
and Jewish activists. By the fourth season, a show was dedicated to guests who claimed they had seen Elvis Presley
alive in a variety of different locations throughout the country, with one man revealing to the host that he talked to the singer in his local Burger King
.
Oprah's best friend, the former news anchor and talk show host Gayle King
said during an A&E
profile on Winfrey in 2003 that when they recently looked back at an episode list of the first six seasons, Oprah could not believe she used to host such provocative shows. With titles such as "I'm a Cross-Dresser" and "Priestly Sins", King believed the topics "didn't seem so sleazy" when Oprah did them.
for three straight years), the industry exploded with copycats, each competing to be more edgy and provocative than the one before. In 1991, Jerry Springer
debuted The Jerry Springer Show
, Jenny Jones
debuted The Jenny Jones Show
, Maury Povich
debuted The Maury Povich Show
, and Montel Williams
debuted The Montel Williams Show
. In 1993, Ricki Lake
debuted her own show
. With the abundance of these new shows, each of them was forced to compete with each other for higher ratings and higher ad revenues. This led the shows to topics considered outrageous in an attempt to keep viewers tuned in.
Future Congressman Bob Turner
, in his capacity as CEO of Multimedia Entertainment
, was particularly integral to the development of the format, having launched Springer's show in 1991 and guided pre-tabloid shows such as Donahue and Sally (the show hosted by Sally Jessy Raphael
since 1983) into the tabloid era. (Turner also oversaw more politically-oriented talk shows hosted by Dennis Prager
and Rush Limbaugh
that did not follow the tabloid format.) Turner oversaw the sale of Multimedia to Gannett, who in turn sold the talk show assets to what would eventually become modern NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal continues to produce the majority of tabloid talk shows still in production, which include Springer's and Povich's show, the latter of which NBC acquired in 1998. After Turner's departure, he worked on introducing the format to the UK through his association with Pearson plc
.
, which was oriented toward controversial guests and theatricality - one of the early shows was titled "Men in Lace Panties and the Women Who Love Them". Geraldo Rivera
's nose was broken in a well-publicized brawl during a 1988 show, involving racist skinheads
, anti-racist skinheads
, and black
and Jewish activists. This incident led to Newsweek
s characterization of his show as "Trash TV". The term Trash TV was applied to tabloid talk shows at their most extreme. Some of the program hosts have proudly accepted the "trash" label, such as The Jerry Springer Show, while others like Jenny Jones resent the statement.
One of the most extreme hosts was former singer and radio talk host Morton Downey, Jr.
He would take Donahue's casual dismissiveness and transform it to open hostility directed towards his guests in the form of blowing cigarette
smoke in their faces, shouting his catch phrase "Zip it!" at them, and occasionally ejecting them from the set. Though it was aired at night, and ostensibly dealt with serious political and social issues, The Morton Downey, Jr. Show
was a pioneer in the Trash TV subgenre; and its foul language, violent in-studio fights, and extremely dysfunctional guests lead to it becoming one of the most successful television
talk show
s of its time, though its success was extremely brief, and it was off the air after two years.
In 1987, Rivera hosted the first of a series of special reports in prime time dealing with an alleged epidemic of Satanic ritual abuse
. He stated: "Estimates are that there are over one million Satanists in this country ... The majority of them are linked in a highly organized, very secretive network. From small towns to large cities, they have attracted police and FBI attention to their Satanic ritual sexual child abuse, child pornography
and grisly Satanic murders. The odds are that this is happening in your town." Subsequent to the programs, there were outbreaks of Satanic hysteria in various American cities. He was noted for self-promotion and for inserting himself into stories: he twice had plastic surgery on his program, and his autobiography Exposing Myself caused headlines in 1991 by discussing his sexual dalliances, which included encounters with Bette Midler
and Margaret Trudeau
. He was the son-in-law of author Kurt Vonnegut
, while married to Edith Vonnegut
.
Ricki Lake
hit the scene as the youngest talk show host in the genre, and her show targeted a young and urban demographic. A typical show might present several lower middle class
women, each claiming to be "All that" (the show's catchphrase for someone with high fashion, personality, and sex appeal), with others debating the assertion. Other shows would present someone in an obviously bad relationship and have Lake recommend, "Dump that zero and get yoself a hero." Once Lake became a mother, family oriented shows became more common.
Lake's talk show was a frequent target for satire. It was repeatedly parodied during the 1990s on Saturday Night Live
, with male cast member Jay Mohr
impersonating Lake in drag. The show was also parodied fleetingly on Family Guy
where a guest on the show was quoted to have said, "Yo, Ricki, that's my girlfriend. She ain't supposed to be havin' no penis!". In addition, Lakes's show was referenced in the chorus of the hit 1998 song "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)
" by The Offspring
: "So if you don't rate, just overcompensate, at least you know you can always go on Ricki Lake."
The Jerry Springer Show
would gain a reputation as the most confrontational and sexually explicit, with stories of lurid tryst
s - often between family members, and with stripping guests and audience members. Although the show started as a politically-oriented talk show, the search for higher ratings in an extremely competitive market led Springer to topics often described as tawdry and provocative, increasing its viewership in the process. Topics included partners admitting their adultery to each other, women or men admitting to their partners that they were post-op-transexuals, paternity test shows, numerous features on the Ku Klux Klan
and other hate based groups
, and an exposee of shock rock
featuring El Duce from The Mentors
and an appearance from GWAR
. By this point, the hostility and simmering violence had been turned into a ritual
. Feuding family members would come out on stage, wigs invariably got knocked loose and clothing got torn, but stage security guard Steve
would separate the combatants before the action got too violent.
Though frequently criticized, Springer claimed that he had no creative control over the guests. If they were making up their story just to get their 15 minutes of fame, he and his producers knew nothing about it. He even dedicated a portion of one of his shows to showing outtakes, in which he caught a lesbian couple lying about their affair.
, strange fetishes, the Ku Klux Klan
, racism
, gays, marital jealousy, sexism
and adult movie
stars.
The Jerry Springer Show
is noted for being one of the trashiest shows of the genre and epitomizing the trash TV show, and indeed proudly proclaims itself as the worst television show in history, quoting a TV Guide
review of the show. Morning radio personality Howard Stern
, while rejecting the often applied label of "shock jock
", also incorporates many of these aspects in the televised versions of his daily radio show.
The label of "trash" has also been applied to various reality television
series that featured sexual encounters between participants (i.e. Big Brother) and contest shows like Fear Factor
that included contestants consuming or immersed in disgusting substances (insect
s, animal parts, etc.).
and popular throughout Europe.
Annita Pania
is the longest living representative of Trash TV in Greece
, which reached its peak during the mid-90s. Trash TV Arrives in Finland - by Anne-Riitta Isohella (Helsingin Sanomat
- April 9, 2002) Trash TV by Graham Keeley, a report on telebasura
in Spain
Trash TV in Germany
Trash TV blog in Greece
), died (e.g. Wally George
) or voluntarily ended their shows to pursue other interests, such as Ricki Lake. Many media analysts have attributed the decline in popularity of tabloid talk shows and daytime talk in general to competition from cable as well as the presumption that viewers were tiring of the constant recycling of subjects that are often shown on such programs. Another explanation would be that the same audience shifted directly over to the new "Reality" TV
genre that rose to prominence at around the same time, and most reality TV shows featured conflicts and raunchy material that would be normally seen in a tabloid talk show. As early as the late 1990s, hosts such as Oprah Winfrey, and to a lesser extent Montel Williams
, began to distance their programs from the genre by refocusing them to more serious subject matters or staying on stage like more traditional talk shows. Another example of this trend was Geraldo Rivera ending his show in 1998 to focus on his CNBC
News program full time. New talk shows also followed the trend of emphasizing less bawdy themes; The Ananda Lewis Show (2001–2002) made a point of being an alternative to the tabloid style talk shows still airing at the time.
The Phil Donahue Show
, seen by many as originating the genre, was cancelled in 1996 when it could not compete with the new crop of shows. Donahue and Rivera would attempt to re-establish their journalistic credentials on cable television
: Donahue with a short-lived talk show on MSNBC
, and Rivera going back to his "roving reporter" roots, filing reports on CNBC
, NBC
, and Fox News Channel
. Maury Povich began hosting a weekend news show in 2006 with wife Connie Chung
on MSNBC while still hosting his daytime show. Weekends with Maury and Connie
was cancelled after six months, due to low ratings and being panned by many of the same critics who criticized his daytime talk show. Jerry Springer, while continuing to host his televised "freak show
", also hosted a more serious talk show
on Air America
radio in the mid-2000s.
Only a handful of the shows from the tabloid talk era remained in production as of 2011, and only one new tabloid talk show between 2000 and that time: The Tyra Banks Show
, which ran from 2005 to 2010. Tyra was a replacement for Ricki Lake
after Lake quit her show. Tyras format was more contemporary like Oprah and Dr. Phil, but has gone over the limits of her show by having her audience members appear in their underwear along with her and most famously, pretending to suffer the effects from rabies
to a shocked reaction.
Tabloid shows have seen a slight comeback in the late 2000s and early 2010s, although with a greater emphasis on self-help
than their predecessors (owing to the popularity of shows such as Dr. Phil
). The Steve Wilkos Show
debuted in 2007. The once-defunct Tribune Entertainment
commissioned new pilots for tabloid-style talk shows hosted by radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge
and conservative talk radio host Bill Cunningham
, for possible debut in fall 2011; while Bubba's show was not picked up, The Bill Cunningham Show
began production in fall 2011. An American version
of the British tabloid talk show The Jeremy Kyle Show
also launched in fall 2011.
sociology professor Joshua Gamson credits the tabloid talk show genre with providing much needed high impact media visibility for gay
s, bisexuals, transsexuals, and transgender
people and doing more to make them mainstream and socially acceptable than any other development of the 20th century. In the book's editorial review Michael Bronski wrote "In the recent past, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people had almost no presence on television. With the invention and propagation of tabloid talk shows such as Jerry Springer
, Jenny Jones
, Oprah, and Geraldo, people outside the sexual mainstream now appear in living rooms across America almost every day of the week."
Gamson credits the tabloid talk show fad with making alternative sexual orientations and identities more acceptable in mainstream society. Examples include a recent Time magazine article describing early 21st century gays coming out of the closet younger and younger and gay suicide rates plummeting. Gamson also believes that tabloid talk shows caused gays to be embraced on more traditional forms of media. Examples include sitcoms like Will & Grace
, primetime shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and feature films like the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain
.
While having changed with the times from her tabloid talk show roots, Winfrey continues to include gay guests by using her show to promote openly gay personalities like her hairdresser, makeup artist, and decorator Nate Berkus
who inspired an outpouring of sympathy from middle America after grieving the loss of his partner in the 2004 tsunami on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Winfrey's "therapeutic" hosting style and the tabloid talk show genre has been credited or blamed for leading the media counterculture of the 1980s and 1990s which some believe broke 20th century taboos, led to America's self-help obsession, and created confession culture. The Wall Street Journal coined the term "Oprahfication" which means public confession as a form of therapy and Time magazine named Winfrey one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
Sociologist Vicki Abt criticised tabloid talk shows for redefining social norms. In her book Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV talk show, Abt warned that the media revolution that followed Oprah's success was blurring the lines between normal and deviant behavior. TV critic Jeff Jarvis
agreed saying "Oprah was the one that trashed daytime TV. She took the Donahue format and then brought on the whiny misfits and losers and screamers and shouters, and then everyone, including Donahue, followed her, until it went overboard. Then finally she came back and recanted and said, no, no, now I'm the queen of quality on TV." Talk shows were often spoofed in mainstream media, with Night Stand with Dick Dietrick
one of the full length spoofs of the medium (complete with fake guests and audience members asking questions).
called "Same-Sex Secret Crushes" taped on March 6, 1995, a gay
man named Scott Amedure
confessed his love for his friend, Jonathan Schmitz. Schmitz reacted with laughter while on the show, but became disturbed by the incident later. He had a history of mental illness
and alcohol
/drug abuse
. Three days after the show's taping, Schmitz killed Amedure. Schmitz was later convicted of second degree murder and received 25–50 years in prison. The episode was never aired.
Amedure's family then sued the producers of The Jenny Jones Show saying they should have known about Schmitz's mental illness history. In interviews, Jones said her producers told Schmitz that his admirer could be a male, but Schmitz maintained they misled him into thinking it would be a woman. While under oath, Jones admitted that the show didn't want Schmitz to know that his admirer was a man. Amedure's family won the initial ruling and the show was ordered to pay them $25 million. The verdict was later overturned by the Michigan
appellate court
. The case is now studied in law school
tort
classes because of the legal significance of saying the show's producers were not responsible for guests' safety after they had left the studio. Ratings for the Jenny Jones show declined in the years after the case and it was cancelled in 2003. Donahue was also the subject of occasional controversy. In an episode dealing with transvestism
, Donahue briefly wore a dress over his suit as a joke. Some critics complained that Donahue was sinking to level of his more tasteless competitors.
Oprah Winfrey interviewed Phil Donahue at his Manhattan Penthouse in what she described as a "full-circle" moment. "If there had been no Phil Donahue show, there would be no Oprah Winfrey show," she wrote in the article's introduction. "He was the first to acknowledge that women are interested in more than mascara tips and cake recipes—that we're intelligent, we're concerned about the world around us, and we want the best possible lives for ourselves."
In the interview Donahue explained that "the show became a place where women discussed issues that didn't naturally come up, and certainly not in mixed company. Much of what we talked about on the air is what women had been talking about in ladies' rooms." Donahue recalled that he finally had to do a show about Doctors who hate Donahue because for the first time women were challenging their physicians.
Donahue also discussed how hosting the show helped him overcome his own taboos. "I put a gay guy on in 1968—a real live homosexual sitting right next to me. I was terrified...I'm from Notre Dame. And believe me that's the one thing you didn't want to be doing at Notre Dame was hangin' with gay people...If you don't understand those feelings then you don't understand homophobia. There's a reason for the closet. As the years went by after that show, I got involved in gay politics, and through my activism, I began to realize what it must be like to be born, to live, and to die in the closet."
Donahue also commented on the new crop of tabloid talk shows, such as Jenny Jones—'One-Night Stand Reunions'. When Winfrey reminded him "You started all this" he replied, "If that's what you think, I'm proud. What I'm most proud of is that we involved the audience more than anybody else in the game. People who owned the airwaves got to use them in this wild thing called democracy." While both Winfrey and Donahue admitted to having done shows that were "naughty", both wondered if newer shows like Jerry Springer had crossed over into a whole different territory. Reflecting on the genre as a whole Donahue added, "If you want to know about America's culture in the last half of the 20th century, watch some of these programs."
. The UK also produces its own trash TV shows, which are largely similar to their American counterparts, albeit more tame. Most hosts get involved more with guests, rather than taking an apathetic attitude in a fashion similar to Jerry Springer and usually the audience is not as involved. Jeremy Kyle
, for example, is known for his confrontational attitude towards those on the programme, while others like Trisha Goddard
are more pacifist. Springer himself did a series on ITV
as The Jerry Springer Show. Vanessa Feltz
's programme The Vanessa Show was cancelled by the BBC
as a result of some of the participants being actors from an agency, although it was known previously for outlandish stories similar to the American shows.
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
s that achieved peak viewership during the late 20th century. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through broadcast syndication, this genre originated with The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's...
and was popularized by the personal confession-filled The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
. Tabloid talk shows have sometimes been described as the "freak shows" of the late 20th century since most of their guests were outside the mainstream. The host invites a group of guests to discuss an emotional or provocative topic—ranging from marital infidelity to more outlandish topics—and the guests are encouraged to make public confessions and resolve their problems with on-camera "group therapy". Similar shows are popular throughout Europe.
The genre is sometimes described using the pejorative
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
term "Trash TV", particularly when the show hosts appear to purposely design their shows to create controversy or confrontation, as in the case of Geraldo
Geraldo (TV series)
Geraldo is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Geraldo Rivera that aired in syndication from September 7, 1987, to June 12, 1998. On the last two seasons, it was known as The Geraldo Rivera Show. Both titles were produced by Investigative News Group in association with Tribune...
(a 1988 show in which klansmen, anti-racist skinheads and Jewish activists were invited led to an on-camera brawl) and The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
, which focused on lurid tryst
Tryst
Tryst may refer to:*A meeting of two lovers, as in courtship*Tryst , a book by Elswyth Thane*Tryst , a play by Karoline Leach*A nightclub at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel...
s - often between family members. While sociologist Vicki Abt criticized tabloid TV shows, claiming that they are blurring the lines between normal and deviant behavior, Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
sociology professor Joshua Gamson argues that the genre's focus on sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
provided a great deal of media visibility for gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
s, bisexuals, transsexuals, and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
people.
History
Tabloid talk shows began in 1970 with Phil DonahuePhil Donahue
Phillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
, as host of The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's...
. Donahue began to push the envelope with the discussion of topics deemed to be taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
such as atheism and homosexuality. Donahue also distinguished himself from traditional talk shows by being the first to get off the stage, and take his microphone directly into the studio audience. For over a decade, Donahue's was the only show of this kind, and so tabloid talk shows had not yet been described as a genre, lucrative industry, or counterculture movement. All of that changed in 1986 when a relatively unknown 32 year old woman named Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
became the first broadcaster able to challenge Donahue in the ratings. Winfrey's show quickly doubled Donahue's audience as her personal confessions and focus on therapy were seen by many as redefining the format.
Time magazine wrote, "Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye....They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session."
By confessing intimate details about her weight problems, tumultuous love life, and sexual abuse, and crying alongside her guests, Time Magazine credits Winfrey with creating a new form of media communication known as "rapport talk" as distinguished from the "report talk" of Phil Donahue:
"Winfrey saw television's power to blend public and private; while it links strangers and conveys information over public airwaves, TV is most often viewed in the privacy of our homes. Like a family member, it sits down to meals with us and talks to us in the lonely afternoons. Grasping this paradox, ...She makes people care because she cares. That is Winfrey's genius, and will be her legacy, as the changes she has wrought in the talk show continue to permeate our culture and shape our lives."
Winfrey continued Donahue's pattern of exploring topics that were at the time considered taboo. For an entire hour in the 1980s, members of the studio audience stood up one by one, gave their name and announced that they were gay. Also in the 1980s Winfrey took her show to West Virginia to confront a town gripped by AIDS paranoia because a gay man living in the town had HIV. Winfrey interviewed the man who had become a social outcast, the town's mayor who drained the swimming pool because the man had gone swimming, and debated the town's hostile residents. "But I hear this is a God fearing town" Winfrey scolded the homophobic studio audience, "where's all that Christian love and understanding?" During a show on gay marriage in the 1990s, a woman in Winfrey's audience stood up to complain that gays were constantly flaunting their sex lives and she announced that she was tired of it. "You know what I'm tired of," replied Winfrey, "heterosexual males raping and sodomizing young girls. That's what I'm tired of." Her rebuttal inspired a screaming standing ovation from that show's mostly gay studio audience.
Guests included Neo Nazis, polygamous men and their partners, and Black
Negro
The word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...
and Jewish activists. By the fourth season, a show was dedicated to guests who claimed they had seen Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
alive in a variety of different locations throughout the country, with one man revealing to the host that he talked to the singer in his local Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
.
Oprah's best friend, the former news anchor and talk show host Gayle King
Gayle King
Gayle King is editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine and the best friend of Oprah Winfrey. She has previously worked as a television news anchor and talk show host...
said during an A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
profile on Winfrey in 2003 that when they recently looked back at an episode list of the first six seasons, Oprah could not believe she used to host such provocative shows. With titles such as "I'm a Cross-Dresser" and "Priestly Sins", King believed the topics "didn't seem so sleazy" when Oprah did them.
After Oprah
Soon many imitators began to appear, and by the time word spread that Winfrey had negotiated the most lucrative deal in television (a deal that would eventually make her the richest African American of the 20th century and the world's only black billionaireBlack billionaires
According to the 2011 Forbes Billionaire List, Nigeria's Aliko Dangote with a net worth of $13.8 billion is the richest Black person in the world...
for three straight years), the industry exploded with copycats, each competing to be more edgy and provocative than the one before. In 1991, Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer
Gerald Norman "Jerry" Springer is a British-born American television presenter, best known as host of the tabloid talk show The Jerry Springer Show since its debut in 1991...
debuted The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
, Jenny Jones
Jenny Jones (presenter)
Jenny Jones is a former Canadian American stand-up comedian and talk show host. She hosted The Jenny Jones Show from 1991 to 2003.-Life and career:...
debuted The Jenny Jones Show
The Jenny Jones Show
The Jenny Jones Show is an American syndicated daytime tabloid talk show that was hosted by comedian/actress/singer Jenny Jones. It was produced by Telepictures and was distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution...
, Maury Povich
Maury Povich
Maurice Richard "Maury" Povich is an American TV talk show host who currently hosts his self-titled talk show Maury.-Personal background:...
debuted The Maury Povich Show
Maury (TV series)
Maury is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich.When the series first aired in 1991, the show was called The Maury Povich Show and was produced by MoPo Productions in association with Paramount Domestic Television...
, and Montel Williams
Montel Williams
Montel Brian Anthony Williams is an American television personality, radio talk show host and actor. He is best known as host of the long-running The Montel Williams Show, and more recently as a spokesperson for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance...
debuted The Montel Williams Show
The Montel Williams Show
The Montel Williams Show is a syndicated talk show hosted by Montel Williams. On January 30, 2008 it was announced that The Montel Williams Show would stop production on new episodes at the end of the 2007-2008 television season after seventeen years...
. In 1993, Ricki Lake
Ricki Lake
Ricki Pamela Lake is an American actress, producer, and television host. She is best known for her starring role as Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray, her ground-breaking documentary film The Business of Being Born, and her talk show which was broadcasted internationally from...
debuted her own show
Ricki Lake (talk show)
Ricki Lake was the first daytime tabloid talk show hosted by American actress Ricki Lake.The show specialized in sensationalist topics involving invited guests and incorporated questions and comments from a studio audience...
. With the abundance of these new shows, each of them was forced to compete with each other for higher ratings and higher ad revenues. This led the shows to topics considered outrageous in an attempt to keep viewers tuned in.
Future Congressman Bob Turner
Bob Turner (politician)
Robert L. "Bob" Turner is the United States Representative for New York's 9th congressional district which straddles parts of Brooklyn and Queens. He is a member of the Republican Party, holding his first public office. He was elected in September 2011 to complete the term of Democrat Anthony...
, in his capacity as CEO of Multimedia Entertainment
Multimedia Entertainment
Multimedia Entertainment was an American television production/distribution company originally formed in 1968.-History:...
, was particularly integral to the development of the format, having launched Springer's show in 1991 and guided pre-tabloid shows such as Donahue and Sally (the show hosted by Sally Jessy Raphael
Sally Jessy Raphaël
Sally Lowenthal , better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American talk show host, known for the eponymous Sally talk show she hosted for two decades.-Early years:...
since 1983) into the tabloid era. (Turner also oversaw more politically-oriented talk shows hosted by Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager is an American syndicated radio talk show host, syndicated columnist, author, and public speaker. He is noted for his conservative political and social views emanating from conservative Judeo-Christian values. He holds that there is an "American Trinity" of essential principles,...
and Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
that did not follow the tabloid format.) Turner oversaw the sale of Multimedia to Gannett, who in turn sold the talk show assets to what would eventually become modern NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal continues to produce the majority of tabloid talk shows still in production, which include Springer's and Povich's show, the latter of which NBC acquired in 1998. After Turner's departure, he worked on introducing the format to the UK through his association with Pearson plc
Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...
.
Trash TV
The genre is sometimes described using the pejorative slang term "trash TV", particularly when the show hosts appear to purposely design their shows to create controversy or confrontation. One of the earliest of the post-Oprah shows was GeraldoGeraldo (TV series)
Geraldo is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Geraldo Rivera that aired in syndication from September 7, 1987, to June 12, 1998. On the last two seasons, it was known as The Geraldo Rivera Show. Both titles were produced by Investigative News Group in association with Tribune...
, which was oriented toward controversial guests and theatricality - one of the early shows was titled "Men in Lace Panties and the Women Who Love Them". Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
's nose was broken in a well-publicized brawl during a 1988 show, involving racist skinheads
Nazi-Skinheads
White power skinheads are a white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations....
, anti-racist skinheads
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice
Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice are anti-racist skinheads who oppose neo-Nazis and other political racists, particularly if those racists identify themselves as skinheads....
, and black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
and Jewish activists. This incident led to Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
s characterization of his show as "Trash TV". The term Trash TV was applied to tabloid talk shows at their most extreme. Some of the program hosts have proudly accepted the "trash" label, such as The Jerry Springer Show, while others like Jenny Jones resent the statement.
One of the most extreme hosts was former singer and radio talk host Morton Downey, Jr.
Morton Downey, Jr.
Morton Downey, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter and later a television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash TV" format on his program The Morton Downey Jr. Show....
He would take Donahue's casual dismissiveness and transform it to open hostility directed towards his guests in the form of blowing cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
smoke in their faces, shouting his catch phrase "Zip it!" at them, and occasionally ejecting them from the set. Though it was aired at night, and ostensibly dealt with serious political and social issues, The Morton Downey, Jr. Show
Morton Downey, Jr.
Morton Downey, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter and later a television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash TV" format on his program The Morton Downey Jr. Show....
was a pioneer in the Trash TV subgenre; and its foul language, violent in-studio fights, and extremely dysfunctional guests lead to it becoming one of the most successful television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
s of its time, though its success was extremely brief, and it was off the air after two years.
In 1987, Rivera hosted the first of a series of special reports in prime time dealing with an alleged epidemic of Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse
Satanic ritual abuse refers to the abuse of a person or animal in a ritual setting or manner...
. He stated: "Estimates are that there are over one million Satanists in this country ... The majority of them are linked in a highly organized, very secretive network. From small towns to large cities, they have attracted police and FBI attention to their Satanic ritual sexual child abuse, child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
and grisly Satanic murders. The odds are that this is happening in your town." Subsequent to the programs, there were outbreaks of Satanic hysteria in various American cities. He was noted for self-promotion and for inserting himself into stories: he twice had plastic surgery on his program, and his autobiography Exposing Myself caused headlines in 1991 by discussing his sexual dalliances, which included encounters with Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
and Margaret Trudeau
Margaret Trudeau
Margaret Joan Sinclair Trudeau Kemper is the former wife of the late Pierre Trudeau, the 15th Prime Minister of Canada.-Early years and marriage:...
. He was the son-in-law of author Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
, while married to Edith Vonnegut
Edith Vonnegut
Edith Vonnegut is an American painter.Her work — most of which juxtaposes heavenly beings and mundane activities — has been showcased at galleries across the United States, and is featured in the book Domestic Goddesses, along with her humorous commentary...
.
Ricki Lake
Ricki Lake
Ricki Pamela Lake is an American actress, producer, and television host. She is best known for her starring role as Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray, her ground-breaking documentary film The Business of Being Born, and her talk show which was broadcasted internationally from...
hit the scene as the youngest talk show host in the genre, and her show targeted a young and urban demographic. A typical show might present several lower middle class
Lower middle class
In developed nations across the world, the lower middle class is a sub-division of the greater middle class. Universally the term refers to the group of middle class households or individuals who have not attained the status of the upper middle class associated with the higher realms of the middle...
women, each claiming to be "All that" (the show's catchphrase for someone with high fashion, personality, and sex appeal), with others debating the assertion. Other shows would present someone in an obviously bad relationship and have Lake recommend, "Dump that zero and get yoself a hero." Once Lake became a mother, family oriented shows became more common.
Lake's talk show was a frequent target for satire. It was repeatedly parodied during the 1990s on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, with male cast member Jay Mohr
Jay Mohr
Jay Mohr is an American actor and stand up comedian. He is known for his role as Professor Rick Payne in the TV series Ghost Whisperer, the title role in the CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried, which ran from 2008 to 2010, and the back-stabbing sports agent Bob Sugar in Jerry Maguire.-Early life:Mohr was...
impersonating Lake in drag. The show was also parodied fleetingly on Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
where a guest on the show was quoted to have said, "Yo, Ricki, that's my girlfriend. She ain't supposed to be havin' no penis!". In addition, Lakes's show was referenced in the chorus of the hit 1998 song "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)
Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)
-Australia CD Maxi:-Europe CD Maxi:-Composition and lyrics:Beginning with a sample of the pseudo-German nonsense phrase "Gunter glieben glauchen globen" from Def Leppard's song "Rock of Ages," chanted as a replacement for the traditional "1, 2, 3, 4" to start the recording, the song ridicules a...
" by The Offspring
The Offspring
The Offspring is an American punk rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1984. Known as Manic Subsidal until 1986, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dexter Holland, lead guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg K. and drummer Pete Parada...
: "So if you don't rate, just overcompensate, at least you know you can always go on Ricki Lake."
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
would gain a reputation as the most confrontational and sexually explicit, with stories of lurid tryst
Tryst
Tryst may refer to:*A meeting of two lovers, as in courtship*Tryst , a book by Elswyth Thane*Tryst , a play by Karoline Leach*A nightclub at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel...
s - often between family members, and with stripping guests and audience members. Although the show started as a politically-oriented talk show, the search for higher ratings in an extremely competitive market led Springer to topics often described as tawdry and provocative, increasing its viewership in the process. Topics included partners admitting their adultery to each other, women or men admitting to their partners that they were post-op-transexuals, paternity test shows, numerous features on the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
and other hate based groups
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, and an exposee of shock rock
Shock rock
Shock rock is an umbrella term for artists who combine rock music with elements of theatrical shock value in live performances.-History:Screamin' Jay Hawkins was arguably the first shock rocker...
featuring El Duce from The Mentors
The Mentors
The Mentors are an American heavy metal band noted for its deliberately sexist shock rock lyrics.They formed in 1977 in Seattle, Washington and relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1979, where their irreverent attitude aligned them with the city's punk rock scene. Their music has developed...
and an appearance from GWAR
GWAR
Gwar is a satirical heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, United States, in 1984. The band is best known for its elaborate science fiction/horror film inspired costumes, obscene lyrics and graphic stage performances, which feature humorous enactments of politically and morally taboo...
. By this point, the hostility and simmering violence had been turned into a ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
. Feuding family members would come out on stage, wigs invariably got knocked loose and clothing got torn, but stage security guard Steve
Steve Wilkos
Steven John "Steve" Wilkos is an American television personality, a former U.S. Marine and officer with the Chicago police. He currently hosts his own talk show, The Steve Wilkos Show, but is best known as the former director of security on The Jerry Springer Show...
would separate the combatants before the action got too violent.
Though frequently criticized, Springer claimed that he had no creative control over the guests. If they were making up their story just to get their 15 minutes of fame, he and his producers knew nothing about it. He even dedicated a portion of one of his shows to showing outtakes, in which he caught a lesbian couple lying about their affair.
Characteristics
The wave of trash TV shows from the 1990s brought many new characteristics to the subgenre. These characteristics include frequent obscenities, controversial guests, and in-studio fighting. Topics are always more provocative, disgusting, and offensive than those of typical talk shows. For example, most trash TV shows include a wide variety of topics, including extramarital affairs, paternity test results, rebellious teenagers who are then sent off to boot camp, bestiality, incestIncest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, strange fetishes, the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, gays, marital jealousy, sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
and adult movie
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
stars.
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
is noted for being one of the trashiest shows of the genre and epitomizing the trash TV show, and indeed proudly proclaims itself as the worst television show in history, quoting a TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
review of the show. Morning radio personality Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
, while rejecting the often applied label of "shock jock
Shock jock
Shock jock is a slang term used to describe a type of any radio broadcaster who attracts attention using humor that a significant portion of the listening audience may find offensive. The term is usually used pejoratively to describe provocative or irreverent broadcasters whose mannerisms,...
", also incorporates many of these aspects in the televised versions of his daily radio show.
The label of "trash" has also been applied to various reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series that featured sexual encounters between participants (i.e. Big Brother) and contest shows like Fear Factor
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. The original Dutch version was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC adapted it to the American market in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. The show pits contestants against each other in a variety of stunts for a...
that included contestants consuming or immersed in disgusting substances (insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, animal parts, etc.).
In Europe
American talk shows like Jerry Springer and homegrown European imitations are widely syndicatedTelevision syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
and popular throughout Europe.
Annita Pania
Annita Pania
Annita Pania is a Greek television hostess.Before presenting her first dating show, "To Hrisso Koufeto" , she was a teacher of French language and a songwriter....
is the longest living representative of Trash TV in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, which reached its peak during the mid-90s. Trash TV Arrives in Finland - by Anne-Riitta Isohella (Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. In 2008, its daily circulation was 412,421 on weekdays and 468,505 on Sundays...
- April 9, 2002)
Telebasura
Telebasura is a Spanish disparaging term for non-fiction TV programs which are perceived to be "junk".Obviously, the classification of a particular program as telebasura may be subjective, but the term is widely used in the media in Spanish-speaking countries, and there have been attempts to define...
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
Decline and resurgence
By the early 2000s, the genre began to decline in popularity with viewing audiences, and certain hosts either saw their shows cancelled due to low ratings (e.g. Jenny Jones and Sally Jessy RaphaëlSally Jessy Raphaël
Sally Lowenthal , better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American talk show host, known for the eponymous Sally talk show she hosted for two decades.-Early years:...
), died (e.g. Wally George
Wally George
Wally George, born George Walter Pearch , was an American conservative radio and television commentator...
) or voluntarily ended their shows to pursue other interests, such as Ricki Lake. Many media analysts have attributed the decline in popularity of tabloid talk shows and daytime talk in general to competition from cable as well as the presumption that viewers were tiring of the constant recycling of subjects that are often shown on such programs. Another explanation would be that the same audience shifted directly over to the new "Reality" TV
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
genre that rose to prominence at around the same time, and most reality TV shows featured conflicts and raunchy material that would be normally seen in a tabloid talk show. As early as the late 1990s, hosts such as Oprah Winfrey, and to a lesser extent Montel Williams
Montel Williams
Montel Brian Anthony Williams is an American television personality, radio talk show host and actor. He is best known as host of the long-running The Montel Williams Show, and more recently as a spokesperson for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance...
, began to distance their programs from the genre by refocusing them to more serious subject matters or staying on stage like more traditional talk shows. Another example of this trend was Geraldo Rivera ending his show in 1998 to focus on his CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
News program full time. New talk shows also followed the trend of emphasizing less bawdy themes; The Ananda Lewis Show (2001–2002) made a point of being an alternative to the tabloid style talk shows still airing at the time.
The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's...
, seen by many as originating the genre, was cancelled in 1996 when it could not compete with the new crop of shows. Donahue and Rivera would attempt to re-establish their journalistic credentials on cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
: Donahue with a short-lived talk show on MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, and Rivera going back to his "roving reporter" roots, filing reports on CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, and Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
. Maury Povich began hosting a weekend news show in 2006 with wife Connie Chung
Connie Chung
Connie Chung, full name: Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich is an American journalist who has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow and U.S...
on MSNBC while still hosting his daytime show. Weekends with Maury and Connie
Weekends with Maury and Connie
Weekends with Maury and Connie is an MSNBC television news series featuring light-hearted take on news of the week.It was hosted by talk show host Maury Povich and his wife, television news anchor Connie Chung. Beginning in early 2006, it appeared every weekend morning on MSNBC until Dan Abrams was...
was cancelled after six months, due to low ratings and being panned by many of the same critics who criticized his daytime talk show. Jerry Springer, while continuing to host his televised "freak show
Freak show
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
", also hosted a more serious talk show
Springer on the Radio
Springer on the Radio was an American radio program broadcast from WCKY and later WSAI in Cincinnati from January 17, 2005 to December 5, 2006 and syndicated nationally on the Air America Radio network from April 1, 2005 to September 18, 2006 when it moved to Air America syndication, meaning that...
on Air America
Air America Radio
Air America was an American radio network specializing in progressive talk programming...
radio in the mid-2000s.
Only a handful of the shows from the tabloid talk era remained in production as of 2011, and only one new tabloid talk show between 2000 and that time: The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
, which ran from 2005 to 2010. Tyra was a replacement for Ricki Lake
Ricki Lake (talk show)
Ricki Lake was the first daytime tabloid talk show hosted by American actress Ricki Lake.The show specialized in sensationalist topics involving invited guests and incorporated questions and comments from a studio audience...
after Lake quit her show. Tyras format was more contemporary like Oprah and Dr. Phil, but has gone over the limits of her show by having her audience members appear in their underwear along with her and most famously, pretending to suffer the effects from rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
to a shocked reaction.
Tabloid shows have seen a slight comeback in the late 2000s and early 2010s, although with a greater emphasis on self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
than their predecessors (owing to the popularity of shows such as Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
). The Steve Wilkos Show
The Steve Wilkos Show
The Steve Wilkos Show is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The show debuted on September 10, 2007, two months after Wilkos' departure as director of security on The Jerry Springer Show.-History:...
debuted in 2007. The once-defunct Tribune Entertainment
Tribune Entertainment
Tribune Entertainment was a television production and syndication company owned and operated by Tribune Broadcasting in the mid-1980s. Many programs offered from Tribune Entertainment have been broadcast on the company's television stations....
commissioned new pilots for tabloid-style talk shows hosted by radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge
Bubba the Love Sponge
Todd Alan Clem is an American radio personality better known by his Legal name Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. He is the host of The Bubba the Love Sponge Show on various Cox Radio and Beasley Broadcast Group stations, formerly on Sirius XM Howard 101, as well as on RadioIO.-Early career and the...
and conservative talk radio host Bill Cunningham
Bill Cunningham
Bill Cunningham is an American talk radio host. His full-time job is hosting The Big Show with Bill Cunningham, a local show on 700 WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cunningham now hosts Live on Sunday Night, it's Bill Cunningham, which is syndicated to over 300 stations by Premiere Radio Networks. He is...
, for possible debut in fall 2011; while Bubba's show was not picked up, The Bill Cunningham Show
The Bill Cunningham Show
The Bill Cunningham Show is an American first-run syndicated talk show that is hosted by conservative radio host Bill Cunningham, who also serves as co-producer in his first foray into daytime talk television...
began production in fall 2011. An American version
The Jeremy Kyle Show (U.S. TV series)
The Jeremy Kyle Show is an American daytime television tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle that debuted in the United States and Canada on September 19, 2011. The series is based on Kyle's successful British talk series of the same name, which has been broadcasting on the UK's ITV since July...
of the British tabloid talk show The Jeremy Kyle Show
The Jeremy Kyle Show
The Jeremy Kyle Show is an award-winning British daytime television tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle that has been broadcast on ITV since 4 July 2005. The show is recorded and produced by Granada Television at the Granada Studios on Quay Street in Manchester city centre and broadcast each...
also launched in fall 2011.
Influence
In the scholarly text Freaks Talk Back, YaleYALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
sociology professor Joshua Gamson credits the tabloid talk show genre with providing much needed high impact media visibility for gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
s, bisexuals, transsexuals, and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
people and doing more to make them mainstream and socially acceptable than any other development of the 20th century. In the book's editorial review Michael Bronski wrote "In the recent past, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people had almost no presence on television. With the invention and propagation of tabloid talk shows such as Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer
Gerald Norman "Jerry" Springer is a British-born American television presenter, best known as host of the tabloid talk show The Jerry Springer Show since its debut in 1991...
, Jenny Jones
Jenny Jones (presenter)
Jenny Jones is a former Canadian American stand-up comedian and talk show host. She hosted The Jenny Jones Show from 1991 to 2003.-Life and career:...
, Oprah, and Geraldo, people outside the sexual mainstream now appear in living rooms across America almost every day of the week."
Gamson credits the tabloid talk show fad with making alternative sexual orientations and identities more acceptable in mainstream society. Examples include a recent Time magazine article describing early 21st century gays coming out of the closet younger and younger and gay suicide rates plummeting. Gamson also believes that tabloid talk shows caused gays to be embraced on more traditional forms of media. Examples include sitcoms like Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
, primetime shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and feature films like the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee. It is a film adaptation of the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx with the screenplay written by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry...
.
While having changed with the times from her tabloid talk show roots, Winfrey continues to include gay guests by using her show to promote openly gay personalities like her hairdresser, makeup artist, and decorator Nate Berkus
Nate Berkus
Nathan Jay "Nate" Berkus is an American interior designer and daytime television host. He runs the Chicago interior design firm Nate Berkus Associates and has been a regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, offering design advice to viewers. May 25, 2010, was his last day on The Oprah Winfrey Show...
who inspired an outpouring of sympathy from middle America after grieving the loss of his partner in the 2004 tsunami on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Winfrey's "therapeutic" hosting style and the tabloid talk show genre has been credited or blamed for leading the media counterculture of the 1980s and 1990s which some believe broke 20th century taboos, led to America's self-help obsession, and created confession culture. The Wall Street Journal coined the term "Oprahfication" which means public confession as a form of therapy and Time magazine named Winfrey one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
Sociologist Vicki Abt criticised tabloid talk shows for redefining social norms. In her book Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV talk show, Abt warned that the media revolution that followed Oprah's success was blurring the lines between normal and deviant behavior. TV critic Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis is an American journalist. Previously he was a television critic for TV Guide and People magazine, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner.-Career:Until recently Jarvis was...
agreed saying "Oprah was the one that trashed daytime TV. She took the Donahue format and then brought on the whiny misfits and losers and screamers and shouters, and then everyone, including Donahue, followed her, until it went overboard. Then finally she came back and recanted and said, no, no, now I'm the queen of quality on TV." Talk shows were often spoofed in mainstream media, with Night Stand with Dick Dietrick
Night Stand with Dick Dietrick
Night Stand with Dick Dietrick was an American television comedy show that satirizes American tabloid talk shows such as The Jerry Springer Show and The Jenny Jones Show. The series was originally broadcast in first-run syndication from 1995 to 1997, as well as on the E! Entertainment Television...
one of the full length spoofs of the medium (complete with fake guests and audience members asking questions).
Controversy
On an episode of The Jenny Jones ShowThe Jenny Jones Show
The Jenny Jones Show is an American syndicated daytime tabloid talk show that was hosted by comedian/actress/singer Jenny Jones. It was produced by Telepictures and was distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution...
called "Same-Sex Secret Crushes" taped on March 6, 1995, a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
man named Scott Amedure
Scott Amedure
Scott Bernard Amedure was an American murder victim who was fatally shot after revealing on The Jenny Jones Show that he was attracted to an acquaintance. The acquaintance, Jonathan Schmitz–who had a long-standing history of mental illness–later shot Amedure and was found guilty of second degree...
confessed his love for his friend, Jonathan Schmitz. Schmitz reacted with laughter while on the show, but became disturbed by the incident later. He had a history of mental illness
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
and alcohol
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
/drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...
. Three days after the show's taping, Schmitz killed Amedure. Schmitz was later convicted of second degree murder and received 25–50 years in prison. The episode was never aired.
Amedure's family then sued the producers of The Jenny Jones Show saying they should have known about Schmitz's mental illness history. In interviews, Jones said her producers told Schmitz that his admirer could be a male, but Schmitz maintained they misled him into thinking it would be a woman. While under oath, Jones admitted that the show didn't want Schmitz to know that his admirer was a man. Amedure's family won the initial ruling and the show was ordered to pay them $25 million. The verdict was later overturned by the Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
appellate court
Appellate court
An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...
. The case is now studied in law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
tort
Tort
A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...
classes because of the legal significance of saying the show's producers were not responsible for guests' safety after they had left the studio. Ratings for the Jenny Jones show declined in the years after the case and it was cancelled in 2003. Donahue was also the subject of occasional controversy. In an episode dealing with transvestism
Transvestism
Transvestism is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing clothing traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations. -History:Although the word transvestism was coined as late as the 1910s,...
, Donahue briefly wore a dress over his suit as a joke. Some critics complained that Donahue was sinking to level of his more tasteless competitors.
Oprah talks to Phil Donahue
For the September 2002 issue of O, The Oprah MagazineO, The Oprah Magazine
O: The Oprah Magazine, sometimes simply abbreviated to O, is a monthly magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Corporation.-Overview:...
Oprah Winfrey interviewed Phil Donahue at his Manhattan Penthouse in what she described as a "full-circle" moment. "If there had been no Phil Donahue show, there would be no Oprah Winfrey show," she wrote in the article's introduction. "He was the first to acknowledge that women are interested in more than mascara tips and cake recipes—that we're intelligent, we're concerned about the world around us, and we want the best possible lives for ourselves."
In the interview Donahue explained that "the show became a place where women discussed issues that didn't naturally come up, and certainly not in mixed company. Much of what we talked about on the air is what women had been talking about in ladies' rooms." Donahue recalled that he finally had to do a show about Doctors who hate Donahue because for the first time women were challenging their physicians.
Donahue also discussed how hosting the show helped him overcome his own taboos. "I put a gay guy on in 1968—a real live homosexual sitting right next to me. I was terrified...I'm from Notre Dame. And believe me that's the one thing you didn't want to be doing at Notre Dame was hangin' with gay people...If you don't understand those feelings then you don't understand homophobia. There's a reason for the closet. As the years went by after that show, I got involved in gay politics, and through my activism, I began to realize what it must be like to be born, to live, and to die in the closet."
Donahue also commented on the new crop of tabloid talk shows, such as Jenny Jones—'One-Night Stand Reunions'. When Winfrey reminded him "You started all this" he replied, "If that's what you think, I'm proud. What I'm most proud of is that we involved the audience more than anybody else in the game. People who owned the airwaves got to use them in this wild thing called democracy." While both Winfrey and Donahue admitted to having done shows that were "naughty", both wondered if newer shows like Jerry Springer had crossed over into a whole different territory. Reflecting on the genre as a whole Donahue added, "If you want to know about America's culture in the last half of the 20th century, watch some of these programs."
In the United Kingdom
American trash TV is widely viewed in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The UK also produces its own trash TV shows, which are largely similar to their American counterparts, albeit more tame. Most hosts get involved more with guests, rather than taking an apathetic attitude in a fashion similar to Jerry Springer and usually the audience is not as involved. Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle
Jeremy Kyle is an English radio and television presenter, best known for his British daytime television chat show on ITV, The Jeremy Kyle Show. Kyle is also the host of an American talk show of the same name that premiered on 19 September 2011.-Radio career:From 1986 to 1995, Kyle worked as a...
, for example, is known for his confrontational attitude towards those on the programme, while others like Trisha Goddard
Trisha Goddard
Patricia "Trisha" Goddard is a British television presenter and actress best known for her morning talk show, Trisha Goddard, which is broadcast on a mid morning slot on Channel 5 in the UK. In Australia she is known as a long time presenter of Play School.-Background:Goddard was born in London,...
are more pacifist. Springer himself did a series on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
as The Jerry Springer Show. Vanessa Feltz
Vanessa Feltz
Vanessa Jane Feltz is an English television personality, broadcaster and journalist. She currently presents an early morning radio show on BBC Radio 2, a mid morning phone-in show on BBC London 94.9. In 2011, she started hosting The Vanessa Show on Channel 5. The first series ended on June 24th...
's programme The Vanessa Show was cancelled by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as a result of some of the participants being actors from an agency, although it was known previously for outlandish stories similar to the American shows.
List of shows
- The Bill Cunningham ShowThe Bill Cunningham ShowThe Bill Cunningham Show is an American first-run syndicated talk show that is hosted by conservative radio host Bill Cunningham, who also serves as co-producer in his first foray into daytime talk television...
(2011-present), hosted by Bill CunninghamBill CunninghamBill Cunningham is an American talk radio host. His full-time job is hosting The Big Show with Bill Cunningham, a local show on 700 WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cunningham now hosts Live on Sunday Night, it's Bill Cunningham, which is syndicated to over 300 stations by Premiere Radio Networks. He is...
. - Carnie! (1995–1996) , hosted by Carnie WilsonCarnie WilsonCarnie Wilson is an American singer and television hostess, perhaps best known as a member of the pop music group Wilson Phillips.-Early life and musical career:...
. - The Charles Perez ShowCharles PerezCharles Perez Rinehard is a former American television news reporter, anchor and former talk show host.-Career:Before entering the news business, Perez was best known as host of the nationally syndicated The Charles Perez Show...
(1994–1996) - Forgive or ForgetForgive or ForgetForgive or Forget is an American talk show aired in national syndication from June 1998 to May 2000. The original host of the show was Mother Love, but she was replaced with former Head of the Class actress Robin Givens for the series' third and last season.The premise of the show involved people...
(1998–2000), hosted for most of its run by Mother LoveMother LoveMother Love is an American entertainer. From 1998 to 2000, she was the original host of Forgive or Forget. In addition, she has hosted on radio in Los Angeles radio stations KLSX, KACE FM, and a show on KFI. She came from Cleveland OH radio. She also appeared in such films as Volcano, Mr. Nanny and... - Gabrielle (1995–1996), hosted by Gabrielle CarterisGabrielle CarterisGabrielle Anne Carteris is an American actress known for her role as Andrea Zuckerman on the early seasons of the 1990s television series Beverly Hills, 90210.-Personal life:...
. - GeraldoGeraldo (TV series)Geraldo is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Geraldo Rivera that aired in syndication from September 7, 1987, to June 12, 1998. On the last two seasons, it was known as The Geraldo Rivera Show. Both titles were produced by Investigative News Group in association with Tribune...
(1987–1998), hosted by Geraldo RiveraGeraldo RiveraGeraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
, a.k.a. The Geraldo Rivera Show - Gordon ElliottGordon ElliottGordon Elliott is a British-born Australian journalist and producer. He is the executive producer of ABC's daytime program The Chew, but is probably better known for his 1990s TV talk show program, The Gordon Elliott Show....
(1994–1997), hosted by Gordon ElliottGordon ElliottGordon Elliott is a British-born Australian journalist and producer. He is the executive producer of ABC's daytime program The Chew, but is probably better known for his 1990s TV talk show program, The Gordon Elliott Show.... - Hot SeatHot Seat (talk show)Hot Seat is a syndicated, politically-oriented, though often satirical and comedic television talk-show that began in the early 1980s, hosted by conservative commentator Wally George...
(1983 - late 1990s), hosted by Wally GeorgeWally GeorgeWally George, born George Walter Pearch , was an American conservative radio and television commentator... - The Jenny Jones ShowThe Jenny Jones ShowThe Jenny Jones Show is an American syndicated daytime tabloid talk show that was hosted by comedian/actress/singer Jenny Jones. It was produced by Telepictures and was distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution...
(1991–2003), hosted by Jenny JonesJenny Jones (presenter)Jenny Jones is a former Canadian American stand-up comedian and talk show host. She hosted The Jenny Jones Show from 1991 to 2003.-Life and career:... - The Jeremy Kyle ShowThe Jeremy Kyle Show (U.S. TV series)The Jeremy Kyle Show is an American daytime television tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle that debuted in the United States and Canada on September 19, 2011. The series is based on Kyle's successful British talk series of the same name, which has been broadcasting on the UK's ITV since July...
(2011-present), hosted by Jeremy KyleJeremy KyleJeremy Kyle is an English radio and television presenter, best known for his British daytime television chat show on ITV, The Jeremy Kyle Show. Kyle is also the host of an American talk show of the same name that premiered on 19 September 2011.-Radio career:From 1986 to 1995, Kyle worked as a... - The Jerry Springer ShowThe Jerry Springer ShowThe Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
(1991–present), hosted by Jerry SpringerJerry SpringerGerald Norman "Jerry" Springer is a British-born American television presenter, best known as host of the tabloid talk show The Jerry Springer Show since its debut in 1991... - Maury (TV series)Maury (TV series)Maury is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich.When the series first aired in 1991, the show was called The Maury Povich Show and was produced by MoPo Productions in association with Paramount Domestic Television...
(1991–present), hosted by Maury PovichMaury PovichMaurice Richard "Maury" Povich is an American TV talk show host who currently hosts his self-titled talk show Maury.-Personal background:...
, a.k.a. The Maury Povich Show - The Montel Williams ShowThe Montel Williams ShowThe Montel Williams Show is a syndicated talk show hosted by Montel Williams. On January 30, 2008 it was announced that The Montel Williams Show would stop production on new episodes at the end of the 2007-2008 television season after seventeen years...
(1991–2008), hosted by Montel WilliamsMontel WilliamsMontel Brian Anthony Williams is an American television personality, radio talk show host and actor. He is best known as host of the long-running The Montel Williams Show, and more recently as a spokesperson for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance...
a.k.a. Montel (note: this show dropped the tabloid format by 2006) - The Morton Downey, Jr. Show (1987–1989), hosted by Morton Downey, Jr.Morton Downey, Jr.Morton Downey, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter and later a television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash TV" format on his program The Morton Downey Jr. Show....
- The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
(1986–2011), hosted by Oprah WinfreyOprah WinfreyOprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
, a.k.a. Oprah (note: this show dropped the tabloid format by the early-1990s). - The Phil Donahue ShowThe Phil Donahue ShowThe Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's...
(1970–1996), hosted by Phil DonahuePhil DonahuePhillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
, a.k.a. Donahue - The Queen Latifah ShowThe Queen Latifah ShowThe Queen Latifah Show is an American talk show hosted by Grammy Award winning female rap artist Queen Latifah. Aired in syndication, the series ran from September 1999 until August 2001.-Overview:...
(1999–2001), hosted by Queen LatifahQueen LatifahDana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy... - The Richard Bey Show (1987–1996), hosted by Richard BeyRichard BeyRichard Wayne Bey is an American talk show host. He was popular in the 1990s as host of The Richard Bey Show, a daytime talk show containing ordinary people's personal stories incorporated into entertaining competitive games....
- Ricki LakeRicki Lake (talk show)Ricki Lake was the first daytime tabloid talk show hosted by American actress Ricki Lake.The show specialized in sensationalist topics involving invited guests and incorporated questions and comments from a studio audience...
(1993–2004), hosted by Ricki LakeRicki LakeRicki Pamela Lake is an American actress, producer, and television host. She is best known for her starring role as Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray, her ground-breaking documentary film The Business of Being Born, and her talk show which was broadcasted internationally from... - Rolonda (1994–1997), hosted by Rolonda WattsRolonda WattsRolonda Watts is an American actress, producer, voice over artist, novelist, motivational speaker, and television and radio talk show host. She was the host of eponymous Rolonda, an internationally-syndicated talk show which aired from 1994 to 1998...
- Sally (1985–2002), hosted by Sally Jessy RaphaelSally Jessy RaphaëlSally Lowenthal , better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American talk show host, known for the eponymous Sally talk show she hosted for two decades.-Early years:...
, a.k.a. The Sally Jesse Raphael Show - The Steve Wilkos Show (2007–present), hosted by Steve WilkosSteve WilkosSteven John "Steve" Wilkos is an American television personality, a former U.S. Marine and officer with the Chicago police. He currently hosts his own talk show, The Steve Wilkos Show, but is best known as the former director of security on The Jerry Springer Show...
. - Tempestt (1995–1996) , hosted by Tempestt BledsoeTempestt BledsoeTempestt Bledsoe is an American actress. She is best known for her childhood role as Vanessa Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
. - The Tyra Banks ShowThe Tyra Banks ShowThe Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
(2005–2010), hosted by Tyra BanksTyra BanksTyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...
.