Trash TV, which consists of talk shows such as those of
Jerry Springer and the "reality shows" such as Survivor and The
Real World, has been characterized by Jim Impoco (1996) as consisting of programs that deliberately seek out the lowest
common denominator, focus on sordid and squalid topics, and
often interject a fair amount of blatant sexual misconduct into
their contents. Driving the proliferation of "trash TV" is a
quest for higher ratings from audiences and higher advertising
fees from sponsors (Crabtree, 1995). In this brief report, it
will be argued that the redeeming social value of such shows,
which include talk shows and "reality programs" like Survivor
and its ilk is minimal at best and non-existent at worst.
Crabtree (1995) commented fairly early on that trash TV,
including talk shows hosted by Springer, Ricki Lake, Sally
Jessie Raphael, Maury Povich, and so forth, was rapidly
replacing traditional morning and afternoon television
programming and standing up well in ratings wars with the now
old-fashioned "soap operas." Programs with titles such as
"Transvestite Makeovers, " "Women Who Marry Their Rapists, " and
Gay Gang Members" (to name a few of the less sordid ad lurid
shows airing in the mid-1990s as "talk TV") were available all
Crabtree (1995) suggested that such titles may be equally
at home on an adult-video shelf. As of 1995, there were 23 such
talk programs in which the deepest, most intimate and least
uplifting or moral issues -incest, May-September romances,
trans-sexualism, cross-dressing husbands, multiple sex partners
and confusion over a baby's paternity, and so on -were common
topics. Viewers were introduced to real people for whom these
and other similar issues were the stuff of day-to-day life.
Viewers could, it was theorized, learn about such issues from
those who have lived them; moral lessons could be learned, ...