Talk Shows Research Articles

Visual Content-Based Segmentation of Talk and Game Shows

In this article we present a method to remove commercials from talk and game show videos and to segment these videos into host and guest shots. In our approach, we rely mainly on information contained in shot transitions, rather than analyzing the scene content of individual frames. We utilize the inherent difference in scene structure of commercials and talk shows to differentiate between them. Similarly, we make use of the well-defined structure of talk shows, which can be exploited to classify shots as host or guest shots. The entire show is first segmented into camera shots based on colour histogram. Then we construct a data-structure (shot connectivity graph) that links similar shots over time. Analysis of the shot connectivity graph helps us to automatically separate commercials from program segments. This is done by first detecting stories and then assigning a weight to each story based on its likelihood of being a commercial. Further analysis on stories is done to distinguish shots of the hosts from shots of the guests. We have tested our approach on several full-length shows (including commercials) and have achieved video segmentation with high accuracy. The whole scheme is fast and works even on low- quality video (160x120 pixel images at 5 Hz).

Book Review: Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity. By Joshua Gamson. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998, 288 pp., $15.00 (paperback)

Book Review: Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity. By Joshua Gamson. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998, 288 pp., $15.00 (paperback)

Research Talk Shows

Research Talk Shows

Movies, Celebrity Specials, Late Night Talk Shows, Commercials, Stamps, and Tabloid Journalism Send Mixed Messages About Adoption

Movies, Celebrity Specials, Late Night Talk Shows, Commercials, Stamps, and Tabloid Journalism Send Mixed Messages About Adoption

Talk Shows, Reality Shows: French Specificities and Postmodern Implications

Talk Shows, Reality Shows: French Specificities and Postmodern Implications

Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity.

Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity.

Publicity Traps: Television Talk Shows and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Visibility

The article examines daytime talk shows in the USA where non-conforming genders and sexualities have been public for more than two decades. Using interviews, focus group, video and transcript data, the paper highlights three political issues. First, the shows make transparent a class division within gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. Second, the shows encourage a `rowdy outrageousness' which intensifies animosities between populations (e.g. between gays and bisexuality). Finally, the shows trigger battles over public space. The author concludes that talk shows encourage viewers to separate `bad' sexualities from `good' ones, and to link the appearance of sexual non-conformists to inappropriate uses of public space.

Local Talk in the Global Village: An Intercultural Comparison of American and German Talk Shows

Local Talk in the Global Village: An Intercultural Comparison of American and German Talk Shows

Book Reviews

The Printed Image and the Transformation of Popular Culture 1790–1860. Patricia Anderson. Jim and Tummy—Charismatic Intrigue Inside PTL. Joe E. Barnhart. Reading Audiences: Young People and the Media. David Buckingham, editor. The Lure of the Sea. Alain Corbin. Time and Money: The Making of Consumer Culture. Gary Cross. Viewing, Reading, Listening: Audiences and Cultural Reception. Jon Cruz and Justin Lewis, editors. Business and the Culture of the Enterprise Society. John Deeks. Small Nations, Big Neighbour: Denmark and Quebec/Canada Compare Notes on American Popular Culture. Roger de la Garde, William Gilsdorf and Ilja Wechselmann, editors. Handbook of Chinese Popular Culture. Wu Dingbo and Patrick D. Murphy, editors. Ginger Rogers: A Bio‐Bibliography. Jocelyn Faris. Christmas in the Good Old Days. Daniel J. Foley. Festivals of Europe. Gordon Cooper. Festivals of Western Europe. Dorothy Gladys Spicer.The Cosby Show: Audiences, Impact, and Implications. Linda K. Fuller. Utopian/Dystopian Literature: A Bibliography of Literary Criticism. Paul G. Haschak. Cultural Studies. Fred Inglis. Walt Disney: A Bio‐Bibliography. Kathy Merlock Jackson. Censored: The News That Didn't Make the News—And Why. Carl Jensen. Leisure in a Changing America: Multicultural Perspectives. Richard Kraus. Masked Culture: The Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Jack Kugelmass. “Pedlar in Divinity”: George Whitejield and the Transatlantic Revivals. Frank Lambert. Sport and the English Middle Classes 1870–1914. John Lowerson. Dance Marathons; Performing American Culture in the 1920s and 1930s. Carol Martin. The Casting Couch and Other Front Row Seats: Women in Films of the 1970s and 1980s. Marsha McCreadie. Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney. Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman. All Talk: The Talkshow in Media Culture. Wayne Munson. Dickens' Journalism: Sketches by Boz and Other Early Papers 1833–39. Vol 1. Edited by Michael Slater. The Dark Side of Dickens: Cannibalism, Passion, Necessity. Harry Stone. Fiction, Crime and Empire: Clues to Modernity and Postmodernism. Jon Thompson. Re‐Made in Japan: Everyday Life and Consumer Taste in a Changing Society. Edited by Joseph J. Tobin. Nation, Culture, Text: Australian Cultural and Media Studies. Edited by Graeme Turner. Wal‐Mart: A History of Sam Walton's Retail Phenomenon. Sandra S. Vance and Roy V. Scott. The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theatre. Maggie Valentine. Ringling: The Florida Years 1911–1936. David C. Weeks. Liquid Nourishment. Edited by C. Arne Wilson. Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle: A Bio‐Bibliography. Robert Young, Jr. History Laid Bare: Love, Sex and Perversity from the Ancient Etruscans to Warren G. Harding. Richard Zacks. How I Wrote “Jubilee.” Margaret Walker. Talking Heads: Political Talk Shows and Their Star Pundits. Alan Hirsch. Populur Culture: East and West. Isaac Sequeira.

Ideology in Interpersonal Communication: Beyond the Couches, Talk Shows, and Bunkers

Ideology in Interpersonal Communication: Beyond the Couches, Talk Shows, and Bunkers

The Shameless World of Phil, Sally and Oprah: Television Talk Shows and the Deconstructing of Society

The Shameless World of Phil, Sally and Oprah: Television Talk Shows and the Deconstructing of Society

News Coverage and Talk Shows in the 1992 Presidential Campaign

One of the question marks of the 1992 presidential campaign was how television would cover it. After the debacle of campaign coverage in 1988, television vowed to do better. At issue was the amount of substantive information vs. the time spent on the horse race, strategy, and campaign events.Campaign coverage is important because of the role of information in democratic choice. Essential to democratic participation is the opportunity to choose among alternatives. Given alternatives, citizens can say “yes” or “no,” thereby giving consent to the policies which best represent their interests (Schattschneider 1975, 138). Schattschneider also emphasized that the alternatives must be relevant to voters' concerns. Unfortunately, television coverage of elections does not emphasize information about public issues.Another important aspect of campaign coverage is its potential effect on election outcomes: public opinion is shaped by the tone, quantity, and content of the candidates' coverage.Questions about the political effects of news, the nature of campaign information, and the relationship between democracy and information provide an interesting framework to examine campaign communication in 1992. Did television news offer voters adequate issue information? How did talk shows compare to news in terms of information? Finally, what impact, if any, did the two formats have on the outcome of the election?This paper will examine Bill Clinton's news coverage and talk show appearances from June 2 to July 22.

News Coverage and Talk Shows in the 1992 Presidential Campaign

News Coverage and Talk Shows in the 1992 Presidential Campaign

Simulating Television Talk Shows

Simulating Television Talk Shows

Family Experts on Television Talk Shows: Facts, Values, and Half-Truths

The television show is increasingly becoming a forum for the dissemination of family knowledge to the lay public. This study examines the behavior of professional and lay family experts on one of the more popular television talk shows. The results indicate that neither professional nor lay experts use generally accepted standards of scholarship when communicating family knowledge to the television audience. The need for the development of specific standards of scholarship for the family experts who appear on television, as well as the desirability of educating the public and the producers of television talk shows with regard to these standards, are discussed.

On the Futility of Transcribing Talk Shows

On the Futility of Transcribing Talk Shows