These days it is hard to tune into daytime or late night television without coming across a TV talk show of sorne kind. From Oprah to The Jerry Springer Show, the range is stunning. In the US alone, viewers can choose on any given day between over 20 nationally syndicated talks shows. The range of topics on these shows is equally stunning, featuring everything from alien abduction and teenage pregnancy to racism and vampirism. The outrageous, bizarre, and often disturbing social behavior so

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... fully paraded about on contemporary TV talk shows makes it clear that airing out our dirty laundry on national television is now an enormously popular form of entertainment. In a 1995 edition of American TV Cuide, Oprah Winfrey (aka "The Queen of Trash") spoke out against contemporary TV talk shows-that is, against the very broadcasting genre and cultural phenomenon she helped to create: