Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV Talk Show

By Vicki Abt and Leonard Mustazza

Book Overview

More than just a commentary on the aesthetics of the genre, this book looks at the evolution and cultural significance of these programs, disputing claims that they are nothing more than harmless entertainment. In the work's revealing first half, Vicki Abt and Leonard Mustazza uncover the mechanics of the talk-show game. The second half examines the behind-the-scenes economic games and their implications, revealing a web of complex commercial and political interests that influence their production. A detailed description of the corporate players and the revenues they are generating is also provided. The study concludes with suggestions for what we as a culture might do to protect ourselves from its inherent deceptions and misinformation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879727527
• ISBN13: 9780879727529
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Popular Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant expose of cultural corruption

The disturbing anomie of "trash TV" and its connection to multi-billion dollar corporate media consolidation are given a brilliantly-argued treatment in this concisely-written book. The authors have produced a clarion call-to-arms warning us of the dangers of coagulating media moguldom. While occasionally marred by ideological partisanship, the authors' description of the interconnected web of toxic TV talk shows and the desolate value-vacuum of a society ravaged by a culture war is dead-accurate. Worth the price of admission alone is the chapter on the rules of the trash talk show game wherein millionaire "hosts" act as tabloid ringmasters, flogging pathetic, often desperate "guests" into a confessional frenzy. The diagnosis is clear, but what is the cure? Abt and Mustazza quixotically call for government re-regulation, licensure of media professionals and taxation. But the sickness outlined here goes beyond any political solutions. All told, a classic illustration of Marshall McLuhan's prophetic vision of the media as extensions of the human sensorium and the way new media effect changes that are never value-neutral