Talk Shows

People have opinions. They have opinions about everything. People like to share those opinions with the world. People also like to know what other people's opinions are. Voila! TALK SHOW!

Television talk shows can be divided in at least two different ways. They can be divided by time period in which they are shown, and they can be divided by subject matter as well.

They can be divided according to their time slots. There are morning talk shows ("Good Morning America," "The Early Show," "The Today Show," etc.), afternoon talk shows ("Oprah," "Dr. Phil," etc.) and there are late-night talk shows ("The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Show with David Letterman," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," etc.) The subject matter of talk shows is often dictated by the time slot. For example, morning talk shows usually discuss news, weather, and interesting happenings, while afternoon talk shows are more apt to discuss relationships and entertainment personalities. Late-night topics are usually much racier in nature than talk shows in other time slots.

Talk shows can be divided by their subject matter; tabloid talk shows, politically based talk shows, sports-based talk shows, and others. Legal matter talk shows are big right now. Tabloid talk shows are most often aired during late morning hours or early afternoon on weekdays. Sports-based talk shows are most often aired on weekends during daylight hours. Sunday mornings are reserved for politically based talk shows. Talk shows based on legal matters are often aired during the early evening hours, as well.

Generally all talk shows feature a host who guides the discussion, questions guests, takes calls, opens and reads mail, etc. Sometimes the talk show "host" consists of a panel of several people with varying views on the same topic. Sometimes talk shows degenerate into shouting matches between panel members.