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Television Talk Shows Essay

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Television Talk Shows

The United States’ longest running program is actually a news/talk show called Meet the Press. It began as a radio program in 1945, and had little changes when it was aired on NBC for the first half-hour television broadcast in November 1947. Meet the Press May have been the first talk show to be shown on television, but it wasn’t the first regularly scheduled talk show. Sylvester Weaver produced the first regularly programmed talk show called Broadway Open House from May 1950 to August 1951. Two Veteran Jerry Lester and Morey Amsterdam, who were stand up comedians, shared the hosting duties for this talk/variety program. Broadway Open House was a mixture of routines, singing, dancing and comedy, which …show more content…

with NBC’s “The Today Show,” ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and CBS’s “Early Morning Show.” NBC and ABC have been in heavy competition for early morning ratings throughout the nineties, but when they each went through major changes with their hosts CBS’s “Early Morning Show” climbed its way onto the charts. In the article “Trash TV in the Nineties” the author states that, “NBC has attempted to build on Today’s popularity by launching a new morning show called Later Today in the fall of 1999.” By doing this, producers were hoping it would put NBC back on top. These three shows are very similar in their type of format. They are news, information, and entertainment oriented. In order to create competition, they are all put on within the same time frame. “The Today Show” is on the longest, running from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m., while “Good Morning America” and “Early Morning Show” only run until 9:00 a.m. People generally put these types of shows on while getting ready for their day. They can take the place of reading the paper, which many people may not have time to do. These shows keep the American public informed by being on during these few convenient hours.

Within one hour the types of talk shows change drastically. From nine to ten A.M. shows such as “Jerry Springer,” “Ananda Lewis,” and “Regis and Kelly” fill the channels. These shows have something for everyone. “Jerry Springer” has the crazy and outrageous guests, while Ananda

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