The talk show as a broad generic category is one of the oldest and more durable electronic media forms, with roots dating back to the early days of radio in the US. Quite simply talk shows are performative conversations featuring a host and some combination of experts, celebrities and/or “average citizens.” They cover a wide array of subjects including news, politics, current events, sports, religion, hobbies, the arts, gossip, tips for home-makers, self-help therapy, as well as advice. As Rose (1985) notes, although it appears to be the loosest and most casual of genres, the talk show is carefully and purposefully crafted, based on the concept of “controlled spontaneity” and adhering to a predictable progression of situations and segments.

According to Wayne Munson (1993), talk shows of various sorts constituted between 15 and 25 percent of the total schedule during radio’s golden age, and their popularity has increased steadily over time. While the earliest programs consisted mainly of monologues by hosts and experts or celebrity guests, radio quickly embraced the concept of audience participation and by the early 1960s call-in “talk radio” had gained a permanent foothold in the schedule. Initially focused on current affairs and targeting an older male audience, in the 1970s talk radio fragmented to include several discrete subgenres that attracted women and younger listeners: talk/service and psychological advice; sports talk; the news/talk “gripe” show (sometimes known as “hot talk,” exemplified first by The Joe Pyne Show and then later by Rush Limbaugh); and “non-controversial” talk such as The Larry Kïng Show, which combines issue and celebrity interviews with call-ins.

On television, the talk show was traditionally devoted to either light entertainment, with comedy skits, music and celebrity guests, or to more serious discussion of news and public affairs among experts. In the early 1950s, the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) developed the longrunning late-night celebrity talk/variety Tonight Show, the news/talk Today Show and an afternoon program geared towards home-makers called The Home Show. More serious interview programs like Mike Wallace Interviews and Edward R. Murrow’s Person to Person also appeared on network prime time during the 1950s, early forerunners of a long line of male-oriented political talk shows such as Face the Nation, Firing Line and Crossfire.

The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the emergence of daytime (and early evening) variety chat shows, often known by the name of their host, including Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Dinah Shore, and girl talk, popular among middle-class female audiences.

This remains a volatile field for stars in the 1990s where failures (Whoopi Goldberg, Chevy Chase) are constantly replaced by new hosts and packages like Rosie O’Donnell or Roseanne.

The late 1960s also witnessed the debut of The Phil Donahue Show, the first of what would become a popular daytime format featuring a participatory studio audience and “ordinary people” as panelists (along with experts and the occasional celebrity). For almost two decades, Donahue was the only nationally syndicated program of its kind on the air. Eventually however, concommitant with the rise of “reality-based” programming more generally, Donahue was joined by Sally Jessy Raphael, Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo Rivera and Montel Williams. By the mid-1990s there were more than a dozen different daytime talk shows available in syndication from which local broadcasters might choose.

Most talk shows highlight “ordinary people” talking about their personal experiences.

Some shows are more serious and restrained, focusing on issues with a social or policy dimension such as sexual harassment, teen pregnancy, or gang violence; others are more sensational or tabloid, centered on interpersonal conflict and confronta-tion (love triangles, cheating spouses, or family feuds). Among the most controversial tabloid talk shows are those of Jerry Springer, whose guests and audience members routinely argue, shout and even come to physical blows, and Jenny Jones, whose onstage confrontations have had serious real-life consequences, including murder.