hosts, experts, or both.
Reasons these shows are commonly described as trash TV are many, but chiefly they are embedded in the readily observable results of confluence in format and content that has been described as "talk show sensationalism" (Freeman 12). Critics of the genre, who deplore the marked difference between sensationalist and traditionally responsible news and entertainment, have been at the forefront of characterizing it:
It goes like this. A guest comes on, confesses to some horrible secret: He's two-timing his girlfriend, she's pregnant by another man, he's gay, she's gay, he's a she--whatever. The confession starts a tussle. Or a cat fight, or a bare-knuckle brawl. Furniture is thrown. Security steps in. Bleep, bleep, bleep: unsuitable language (Waxman D1).
Waxman is describing the most highly rated show of the genre, the Jerry Springer Show, though that show is by no means sui generis. In November 1997, 6.7 million viewers watched the Jerry Springer Show, which first aired in 1991, pushing its ratings higher than the longtime daytime-talk ratings leader, Oprah (Waxman D1; Collins 63). The show could be called king among princes of the type, and it has come into direct and contentious confrontation with mainstream exponents of the mass media. Trash TV more generally, in its variety of forms, has also become a focus of scrutiny on the part of social theorists and trend watchers, not least because the well-documented ratings popularity of the Jerry Springer Show suggests that it can be used as an index of the state of the culture. For all of these reasons it is a major focus of this research.
It is a convention of what are called daytime talk shows that they bear the title of and are promoted as offerings of their respective hosts: Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Springer, Geraldo Rivera, Montel Williams, Ricki Lake, Sally Jessy Raphael, etc. Typically, they air in syndication, i.e., not on network television schedules ...